The Tragedy Of Friar Lawrence In Shakespeare's 'Romeo And Juliet'
Everyone always has that one person to blame for anything that went wrong. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet loved each other, however, their plans went wrong and they both ended up dead by accident. Multiple people could be blamed for this incident, but the person that should be blamed the most would be Friar Lawrence. He was supposed to be a holy man that cared about what other people are going through and to help them out. Instead, he set this whole play up for failure, because he was more worried about marrying a person that was already married. So he could also be described as a little too optimistic and a manipulative person. Either way, Friar Lawrence isn’t innocent. He was too hopeful about
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what would happen, and that makes people screw up.
Friar Lawrence started all of this when he first married Juliet and Romeo. He knew that their marriage wasn’t going to go well, as he said so himself. “These violent delights have violent ends and in their triumph die, like fire and powder, which as they kiss, consume” (Shakespeare 418). Not only have they met the day before for only five seconds, they wanted to get married after knowing each other for a day. And yet, Friar Lawrence still married them, even after he said to take it slow. So now he’s a hypocrite because he can’t even follow his own directions.
If Friar Lawrence was a fool, he would be one of the biggest fools in the story.
He kept telling people dangerous actions they should take, even though he wouldn’t take them himself. These specific actions were irrational and should’ve been reconsidered. When he first presented himself as a fool is when he first agreed to marry Romeo and Juliet. The whole plan to marry was a bad idea, and Friar Lawrence still agreed. The second time he proved himself a fool is when he told himself that he should keep the plan going. Friar Lawrence knew that his plan was going wrong, but he was still trying to fix it by making changes. However, his “new plan” was built out of leaves and just one blow from the wind would bring it down. So keeping the plan going was a fool move that he should have abandoned. The last part where he proves himself a fool is when he told Juliet to take a potion that would put her into a death like sleep while he sent a friar to get Romeo. There were multiple things wrong with this plan. For example, He should have realized that the letter might not get there and that he should have told Romeo his plan before he left. Also, the plan was already messed up so the whole thing was a lost cause and Friar Lawrence was just making it
worse.
Don’t forget that Friar Lawrence is also manipulative. He set up the whole problem in the first place, and told people what to do, like chess pieces. He told Juliet and Romeo his original plan, but as things were going bad, he screwed up somewhere to the point he had to make things up as he went. When he told Romeo to stay at Mantua, he was more focused on not marrying Juliet to Paris than to what was going on. So he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing when he told Juliet and Romeo what to do. As a result, he was being irrational about what he was doing, so he put people in danger. He told Juliet to take a potion, that could possibly go wrong, and to wait until Romeo got her. Trying to make the new plan work was like trying to roll a seven on a six-sided die. The plan was bound to go wrong, but Friar Lawrence didn’t care very much. He just wanted to get out of marrying Paris and Juliet.
Even though Friar Lawrence is one of the worst fools in the story, there is also the second-most blamed. Romeo, the first fool, is also to blame. He thought he could get away with marrying Juliet and that he could have a happy life with her. However, as Friar Lawrence said, “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast” (Shakespeare 411), which Romeo does exactly the opposite Friar Lawrence said and he stumbles. And in their time, stumbling is a bad sign. So, that signals that Romeo was being a fool when he decides to rush things to where it gets out of control. But the real fool is Friar Lawrence. He agreed to Romeo’s rush, even though he knew that bad things would happen. In reality, his plan was blowing up in his face. In Friar Lawrence’s mind, his plan was going “perfect”. This is why fools like Friar Lawrence shouldn’t be trusted and needs to be set straight.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. New York, Pearson Education Inc., 2017, pp. 377-478
what would happen, and that makes people screw up.
Friar Lawrence started all of this when he first married Juliet and Romeo. He knew that their marriage wasn’t going to go well, as he said so himself. “These violent delights have violent ends and in their triumph die, like fire and powder, which as they kiss, consume” (Shakespeare 418). Not only have they met the day before for only five seconds, they wanted to get married after knowing each other for a day. And yet, Friar Lawrence still married them, even after he said to take it slow. So now he’s a hypocrite because he can’t even follow his own directions.
If Friar Lawrence was a fool, he would be one of the biggest fools in the story.
He kept telling people dangerous actions they should take, even though he wouldn’t take them himself. These specific actions were irrational and should’ve been reconsidered. When he first presented himself as a fool is when he first agreed to marry Romeo and Juliet. The whole plan to marry was a bad idea, and Friar Lawrence still agreed. The second time he proved himself a fool is when he told himself that he should keep the plan going. Friar Lawrence knew that his plan was going wrong, but he was still trying to fix it by making changes. However, his “new plan” was built out of leaves and just one blow from the wind would bring it down. So keeping the plan going was a fool move that he should have abandoned. The last part where he proves himself a fool is when he told Juliet to take a potion that would put her into a death like sleep while he sent a friar to get Romeo. There were multiple things wrong with this plan. For example, He should have realized that the letter might not get there and that he should have told Romeo his plan before he left. Also, the plan was already messed up so the whole thing was a lost cause and Friar Lawrence was just making it
worse.
Don’t forget that Friar Lawrence is also manipulative. He set up the whole problem in the first place, and told people what to do, like chess pieces. He told Juliet and Romeo his original plan, but as things were going bad, he screwed up somewhere to the point he had to make things up as he went. When he told Romeo to stay at Mantua, he was more focused on not marrying Juliet to Paris than to what was going on. So he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing when he told Juliet and Romeo what to do. As a result, he was being irrational about what he was doing, so he put people in danger. He told Juliet to take a potion, that could possibly go wrong, and to wait until Romeo got her. Trying to make the new plan work was like trying to roll a seven on a six-sided die. The plan was bound to go wrong, but Friar Lawrence didn’t care very much. He just wanted to get out of marrying Paris and Juliet.
Even though Friar Lawrence is one of the worst fools in the story, there is also the second-most blamed. Romeo, the first fool, is also to blame. He thought he could get away with marrying Juliet and that he could have a happy life with her. However, as Friar Lawrence said, “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast” (Shakespeare 411), which Romeo does exactly the opposite Friar Lawrence said and he stumbles. And in their time, stumbling is a bad sign. So, that signals that Romeo was being a fool when he decides to rush things to where it gets out of control. But the real fool is Friar Lawrence. He agreed to Romeo’s rush, even though he knew that bad things would happen. In reality, his plan was blowing up in his face. In Friar Lawrence’s mind, his plan was going “perfect”. This is why fools like Friar Lawrence shouldn’t be trusted and needs to be set straight.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. New York, Pearson Education Inc., 2017, pp. 377-478