Analyzing The Character Of Friar Lawrence In Shakespeare's 'Romeo And Juliet'

I think that Friar Lawrence shouldn't be punished because he never tried to cause any of the bad things that happened to Romeo and Juliet intentionally. He also is always trying to make Verona a safer place for its citizens. He also helped Juliet and Romeo be together even though he knew that he would be punished if he did. He even helped them when he knew it would not end the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues which was one of the main reasons he helped them to begin with. In the end the Friar was a truly selfless individual who put the needs of Romeo and Juliet and Verona’s citizens over the needs of himself

I do believe however that Lord Capulet should be punished because he caused a lot of the conflicts that led to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. He directly caused Juliet to need to drink the potion by selfishly forcing her to marry Paris so that he didn’t look bad. He also didn’t let anybody even try to defend Juliet’s side just because he was angry. Which is a sign of a very terrible parent. Lord Capulet was selfish he didn’t listen to reason when he was angry and was overall a bad individual who indirectly caused
Even though it seemed cruel when she told Juliet that she would have Romeo killed for her that was only because she thought that it would help Juliet because she didn’t know that she was in love with him. She didn’t argue with Lord Capulet because in the time that the story is set in women had no say in basically anything so it would have been a fruitless effort. She also gave Juliet the choice to marry Paris in the beginning of the story which even though the choice was taken away later was still much better than how most marriages happen in the time Romeo and Juliet is set in happened. Lady Capulet while not the nicest most considerate character in the story still never did anything that she would deserve punishment for