Friar Lawrence In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Friar Lawrence and the Nurse are to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet in both direct and indirect ways. To begin, Friar Lawrence decides to marry Romeo and Juliet because of his idealistic views on ending the brawl between the two houses, without thinking of the repercussions. After deliberating over marrying Romeo and Juliet, Friar says,“[i]n one respect I’ll thy assistant be:/For this alliance may so happy prove/To turn your households’ rancour to pure love.” (II.iii 90-92) Friar Lawrence believes that Romeo’s love for Juliet is superficial and transparent, however, the idea of uniting the Montagues and Capulets is far too tempting. Although this could lead into disastrous results,
When Juliet asks for help from the nurse about how to change her father’s mind about her upcoming marriage, the nurse herself gives up on all hope and this is reflected upon Juliet as well. With no one left to depend on, Juliet becomes mentally incapable of dealing with the crisis in her hands. The nurse and Friar Lawrence are both very important people to Romeo and Juliet, thus having important roles in their deaths. Friar Lawrence is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because of his shoddy planning, and disregarding the fact that marrying the two wouldn’t be very logical in favour of uniting the two houses. Although he thinks Romeo is a fickle boy, who does not really know what it means to love a woman, he does not emotionally manipulate Romeo, and has good intentions at heart. Despite his intentions to help the couple, he is rash, and made life-changing decisions far too quickly for a positive outcome. However, the deaths of Romeo and Juliet can also be blamed on the nurse, in an indirect