The role of Friar Lawrence in the play parallels that of the Nurse. The Friar is a responsible and respected religious man. He gives support and advice to Romeo (and later Juliet) and is also fond of Romeo and a fatherly figure to him. Like the Nurse, the Friar is also very good intentioned and worries for Romeo when he is miserable over Rosaline. He is glad when he finds out that Romeo has stopped loving Rosaline saying “That’s my good son.” Using the word ‘son’ indicates to us the closeness between the Friar and Romeo. He cares for Romeo and wants the best for him, and as with the Nurse, this can sometimes cloud his judgement. As well as being a religious man the Friar has a good knowledge of plants and herbs, including the making of potions. It is this knowledge that ultimately contributes to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet at the end of the play. Romeo soon asks the Friar to “consent to marry us today.” The Friar agrees saying for a special reason. He hopes that this marriage would “Turn your household’s rancour to pure love.” He wants this marriage to bring the families together. This is probably the biggest error of judgement made in the play and had the Friar not married Romeo and Juliet, the tragic events of the play would not have unfolded. Although the Friar did help the young lovers by marrying them, he also warned them against being to hasty in their marriage saying: "Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast." This shows us that although the Friar acted in haste along with Romeo and Juliet, he is still warning the lovers not to continue acting in haste. When Romeo is distressed after being forced into exile, the Friar tries to comfort him and hatches another plan which also furthers the plot in a tragic way. He decides to send Romeo to nearby Mantua where Juliet can meet up with him soon. Sadly, once again things do not go as Friar Lawrence originally planned. When Romeo threatens to kill himself the Friar steps in and persuades Romeo against it. He seems quite angry with Romeo for suggesting such a think and asks him “art thou a man?” and telling him that “thy tears are womanish” He reminds Romeo that if he killed himself, he would also be killing Juliet because she loves him so much, “wilt thou slay thyself, And slay thy lady that in thy lives.” The Friar also tries to persuade Romeo that the situation is actually not as bad as it seems. His enemy Tybalt is dead, instead of facing death for his actions his punishment is turned to exile. Both him and Juliet are also both well and the Friar finally manages to cheer up the miserable Romeo by telling him go to Juliet’s chamber and “comfort her” and spend the night with her. After Romeo has gone to Mantua, the Friar soon begins to comfort a distressed Juliet. This shows us how the Friar is a kind, good-intentioned man who cares about the people close to him. Though his intentions are good, his plan to help Juliet is another drastic error of judgement which furthers the Tragedy and it is this eventual mistake of the Friar’s that results in the deaths of the young lovers. The Friar’s plan was that the potion that would make Juliet appear dead and in that time she will miss the wedding to Paris and be put in the burial chamber. During the effect of the sleeping potion, the Friar would have written to Romeo, explaining everything. This plan did not eventually work as planned as fate took over.
The Nurse is responsible for the death of Juliet because she abandoned Juliet at the end of the play. In one wrong move, she lost Juliet’s trust and willingness to confide in her. She told Juliet that she should marry Paris and forget about Romeo saying “O, he’s a lovely gentleman! Romeo’s a dishclout to him.” This is a catastrophic mistake and Juliet is completely shocked by it and asks the Nurse “speak’st thou from thy heart?” The Nurse says yes and Juliet is distressed. She shouts at the Nurse “Ancient damnation” meaning damned old woman. Juliet tells the Nurse that they shall “henceforth…be twain.” This means that Juliet will no longer confide with the Nurse. She tells the Nurse that she’ll now go “to the Friar” and confide in him. This must be a crushing blow to the Nurse to have the person she loves most turn against her but the reader is meant to feel that she brought it about herself. This shocking change in Juliet’s character shows us how completely alone she must feel; She is forced into the desperate situation of taking advice and the potion from Friar Lawrence because she has been abandoned by the person she trusts and cares about most. Because of the Nurse’s change in advice and going against what she knows Juliet wants, she has forced Juliet into and isolated situation of not knowing what to do. The Nurse has ultimately caused the death of both of them because she has forced Juliet into taking the potion.
Overall though, I feel that the Friar is more responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. By marrying them, he placed them into an impossible situation. Even tough the Friar’s original intentions for marrying them was to bring the people he cared about (the two families) closer together, it didn’t happen like this purely because neither family knew about the secret marriage. The Friar is also responsible for both Romeo and Juliet’s deaths because his letter, containing the explanation to Juliet’s ‘death’ did not reach him, causing Romeo to take his own life thinking Juliet is dead and further resulting in Juliet’s death after she finds Romeo dead. This, I feel, is the most devastating error in the whole play. Had the letter reached Romeo, he would have known that Juliet wasn’t dead, causing both their lives to be spared. The final mistake made by the Friar was when he fled the vault just after Juliet had found her husband dead. He fled the vault, leaving a devastated Juliet alone with her dead husband. His own fear for himself took priority and had he not acted so selfishly he could have prevented the death of Juliet. Friar Lawrence’s huge errors of judgement ultimately resulted in the deaths of the young lovers. These errors of judgement, although caused by his care for his friends, had dire consequences. Had the Friar’s plans not all have been so far-fetched such as the plan for Juliet to drink sleeping potion, the events of the play might not have unfolded in the way that they did.
In conclusion, and in answer to the original question, both the Nurse and Friar Lawrence play crucial roles in the play. The both provided guidance and support to the key characters, who were both young and needed help, and then abandoned these people at a time when they needed them most. Both of them have responsibilities to carry for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. They both carry out actions which further the plot and force Romeo and Juliet into further desperate situations. As we are told from the opening lines of the play “star-cross’d lovers” the lovers are fated to die. Their deaths come about as the result of people acting in haste and making errors of judgement. These people have to suffer the consequences of their actions for the rest of their lives.
