If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help,/ Do thou but call my resolution wise,/ And with this knife I’ll help it
presently./ [She shows him her knife]/God joined my heart
and Romeo’s, thou our hands;/ And this hand, by thee to
Romeo’s sealed,/ Shall be the label to another deed,/ Or my
true heart with treacherous revolt/ Turn to another, this shall
slay them both.(IV.i.51-60)
In saying this, Juliet demonstrates that she will kill herself if she cannot be with Romeo, claiming that her same hand used to marry her to Romeo will be the same on to stab her with the dagger it is holding. Therefore, without Friar Lawrence, Romeo and Juliet are not married in the storyline, and are able to avoid their tragedy by forgetting about each other. Without him the reader is also unable to understand Romeo and Juliet’s characters as fully, and the reader is not aware of the impending tragedy because Friar Lawrence’s foreshadowing is the most descriptive within the play.
Secondly, the character of Lord Capulet, with his authority over Juliet and contributions to the conflict, plays a major role in the storyline. Being the father of Juliet, the decision of whether or not one may marry her is ideally his decision because of the society the play takes place within. Initially his view upon Paris’s request to marry Juliet was more modern than was common of people in the age the play is in, and he decides that she should be older before she is married. Lord Capulet’s instincts when Juliet becomes depressed lead him to believe that she is weeping because her cousin, Tybalt, is dead, so he decides to marry her to Paris, believing the marriage will make her happy again. When Juliet refuses to marry Paris, Lord Capulet’s rage drives his character’s modernized personality into an overbearing one with the common attitude of the time, that a daughter is her father’s property and must obey his wishes. After this change he says, “hang, beg, starve, die in the streets,/For by my soul, I’ll ne’er acknowledge thee,/Nor what is mine shall never do thee good.”(III.v.204-206). In saying this, Lord Capulet has placed Juliet into the position where she has to decide within a few days between giving up her way of life to be with Romeo, or forgetting about him and marrying Paris to keep her family pleased. Without this decision being put upon Juliet she would not drink the potion, Romeo would not have believed that she is dead, and he and Juliet wouldn’t kill themselves. Lord Capulet’s forcing Juliet to marry Paris leads her to seek help from Friar Lawrence, who says to her,
If, rather than to marry County Paris,/ Thou hast the
strength of will to slay thyself,/ Then is it likely thou
wilt undertake/ A thing like death to chide away this
shame,/ That cop’st with death himself to ‘scape from
it;/ And if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy.(IV.i.74-77)
In this statement Friar Lawrence has given Juliet her alternative to marrying Paris and she accepts it readily. The Friar’s plan is for Juliet’s family to believe she is dead and for Romeo to come and take her to Mantua with him after she is placed in the Capulets’ crypt. As a direct result of Lord Capulet’s actions, Friar Lawrence’s character is revealed to have deep feelings for Juliet and Romeo as he disregards the sorrow of the Capulet family in order to reunite the married lovers. His disregard for the Capulet family is realistic as he is helping to plot against Lord Capulet, who is a main creator of conflict within the story. Because of Lord Capulet’s contributions to the conflict the theme is produced with the understanding that he is an example of a person who does not know the lesson and suffers as a result, making him an important character for the theme to be produced. He further illustrates the theme when he says to Lord Montague, “As rich shall Romeo’s by his lady’s lie,/Poor sacrifices of our enmity.”(V.iii.314-315). In saying this he shows that he has realized that his hate is to blame for his loss, and that the loss was beyond worth while his hate gained him nothing. Therefore, Lord Capulet is clearly an important character whom without the conflict would not have continued, Friar Lawrence would not have revealed the bounds he was willing to go to for Juliet, and the theme would not have been well produced.
Lastly, Prince Escalus’s political power and influence are important forces acting within the story. In the opening scene, a civil brawl between Capulets and Montagues breaks out and Prince Escalus enters and puts an end to it. Enraged by the violent outbreak in his city, the prince declares, “If ever you disturb our streets again,/Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.”(I.i.98-99). In this declaration the prince has said that the law will execute any Montague or Capulet that fights in the streets in exchange. This law is the same one that is broken when Romeo slays Tybalt, which results in Romeo being banished from Verona because Tybalt kills Mercutio. Once the Prince comes and declares that Romeo is banished, Friar Lawrence later tells Romeo resulting in an emotional episode from him. When he hears that he is banished he reacts poorly to the softening of his punishment, after which Friar Lawrence remarks, “Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art./Thy tears are womanish;”(III.iii.199-120). In saying this Friar Lawrence highlights the immaturity of Romeo’s reaction to Prince Escalus’s gift to Romeo. Although responsible for the law that divides Romeo from Juliet, the Prince’s presence in the story is that of a bystander to the conflict between the Capulets and Montagues, giving him the perspective to say, “See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,/ That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love,”(V.iii.302-303). In saying this he has summarized and highlighted the moral Lord Capulet and Lord Montague have learned from their children’s deaths, which in turn is the theme of the story. Therefore, Prince Escalus is an imposing character within the play important to its plot, Romeo’s character development, and theme.
In conclusion, the secondary characters of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare are characters whom make large contributions to the plot, and the development of characters and the theme. The three characters proven to have such an effect are Friar Lawrence, Lord Capulet, and Prince Escalus.
