The friar is unenthusiastic when Romeo initially reveals his relationship with Juliet. He responds by warning that “[these] violent delights [of love] have violent ends” (II. vi. 9). He also says, “ Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so. / Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow” (II. vi. 14-15). After Romeo first informs the friar of his love for Juliet, Friar Lawrence warns Romeo to cease his haste in loving her. In spite of this, in later scenes, only after hearing a few words of Romeo’s enticement, Friar Lawrence briskly agrees to marry the young lovers. The duplicity of the friar’s intent can first be studied here. He understands wedding the adolescent lovers is breaking the standards of the feud, yet he agrees for the apparent reason that “this alliance may so happy prove / To turn [Romeo’s and Juliet’s] households' rancor to pure love” (II. iii. 98-99). However, the friar’s hesitance at first, then his quick agreement is suspicious behavior; it makes one question the friar’s motives to ignore his reasoning. A synopsis of how Friar Lawrence would gain political power by wedding Romeo and Juliet may lie in the idea of the ancient turmoil between the Montagues and the Capulets. If Friar Lawrence could mend the feud between the two Veronese families, he would be acknowledged for being the sole person to create peace after several years of
The friar is unenthusiastic when Romeo initially reveals his relationship with Juliet. He responds by warning that “[these] violent delights [of love] have violent ends” (II. vi. 9). He also says, “ Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so. / Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow” (II. vi. 14-15). After Romeo first informs the friar of his love for Juliet, Friar Lawrence warns Romeo to cease his haste in loving her. In spite of this, in later scenes, only after hearing a few words of Romeo’s enticement, Friar Lawrence briskly agrees to marry the young lovers. The duplicity of the friar’s intent can first be studied here. He understands wedding the adolescent lovers is breaking the standards of the feud, yet he agrees for the apparent reason that “this alliance may so happy prove / To turn [Romeo’s and Juliet’s] households' rancor to pure love” (II. iii. 98-99). However, the friar’s hesitance at first, then his quick agreement is suspicious behavior; it makes one question the friar’s motives to ignore his reasoning. A synopsis of how Friar Lawrence would gain political power by wedding Romeo and Juliet may lie in the idea of the ancient turmoil between the Montagues and the Capulets. If Friar Lawrence could mend the feud between the two Veronese families, he would be acknowledged for being the sole person to create peace after several years of