Friar Laurence

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A character study

The character I am going to study is friar Laurence, in this study I am going to give a detailed description of him, show were he plays a significant role, say how I would represent him in my own view if I was to direct the play and then I will write a detailed conclusion of the study.

Friar Laurence's position in the play is that he is the responsible one, mainly responsible for Romeo, but also because he has a logical overview of everything and does things guided by his knowledge. His role in society is the holy man, and is used by everyone and so is one the most trusted persons in the whole of Verona. He's personality is a very relaxed state of mined personality he believes things happen because that's life; he understands Romeo doesn't know the difference between a crush and love,

'Is rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear,

So soon forsaken? Young men's love then lies

Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes' (act2 scene3)

I think his qualities are his views and opinions that he offers especially to Romeo. I think they are special to Romeo because the friar is very level headed and sees everything on a down to earth way and so this levels off Romeos very unreasonable views and actions which is a good thing as the mood of the time was duel to prove yourself and I'm sure that with out the aid of friar Laurence Romeo would have surly met his match already.

Even though friar Laurence has good qualities this doesn't mean he always uses them all of the time he does makes mistakes, after all he is only human, for example he agreed to wed Romeo and Juliet in secrecy so when lord Capulet announced that Juliet would marry Paris it made things very difficult for himself and the couple. Another of his actions that weren't well calculated was when he gave Juliet the potion that would make her appear dead, as he didn't know if the message would reach Romeo successfully in his banishment, well the play being as it is the message didn't get to Romeo so Romeo only knew that Juliet was dead and that is was an act, and Romeo being Romeo he couldn't live without his love so he goes to Verona with some poison and then kills himself at Juliet's grave, then Juliet's wakes to see the dead Romeo and then kills herself,
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'Yea, noise? Then I'll be brief- o happy dagger! (Snatching Romeo's dagger) this is thy sheath (stabs herself) there rust and let me die' (act5 scene3)

But now all the of friar Laurence's action are stupid, one is so great it possibly couldn't be understood by most, he sees Juliet awake to see Romeo dead but he walks away and he knew full well that Juliet would kill herself, I think he did this because he knew that a life full of pain is no life at all and Juliet thought that she would meet Romeo in ...

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