Friar Lawrence is a holy man and he has known Romeo and Juliet for the whole of their lives. He is their confessor and gives them guidance throughout their lives. Romeo and Juliet trust Friar Lawrence and go to him for help and guidance whenever they need it.
We first meet Friar Lawrence when he is in his garden tending his herbs and flowers which he uses for medicinal purposes. Friar Lawrence knows all about the plants and what each plant can cure diseases and illnesses but others can kill:
“Within the infant of this weak flower
Poison hath residence, and medicine power.”
Romeo goes to see Friar Lawrence to tell him about how he is in love with a Capulet, Juliet. Friar Lawrence is very surprised because Romeo told him that he was in love with Rosaline not long before:
“Holy Saint Frances, why a change is here!
Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear,
So soon forgot? Young men’s love lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.”
Friar Lawrence cautions Romeo to be careful because the Friar thinks Romeo is going to fast. The Friar does not want it to end in tragedy.
Friar Lawrence finally agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet because he hopes that by doing so he will end the Montague and Capulet’s quarrel:
“For this alliance may so happy prove
To turn your households rancour to pure love.”
I think that Friar Lawrence is acting for what he believes is the best because he thinks that this could be a way to stop the families’ quarrels. He doesn’t realise that what he is going to do will end in tragedy. I don’t think that he would have married them if he had known what the outcome would be. Friar Lawrence is slightly naïve though and this may be why he married them without thinking it over properly.
We next meet the Friar when he is marrying Romeo and Juliet. He tells the married couple not to be too passionate as this could lead to disaster because of the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets:
“These violet delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume.”
He is proved right because, at the end, Romeo and Juliet die.
Romeo runs to Friar Lawrence to tell him that he has killed Tybalt, because Tybalt killed Mercutio first. Romeo knows that he is to be banished from Verona. The Friar is not pleased with Romeo’s childish behaviour when he says he is going to commit suicide because he thinks that he will not be able to see Juliet again:
“Hold thy desperate hand!
Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art:
Thy tears are womanish, thy wild acts denote
The unreasonable fury of a beast.”
Earlier in the play, the audience is told that Prince Escalus will have any man that causes trouble in Verona and murders someone else, killed. The Friar reminds Romeo of how lucky he is that he has not been killed for killing another man. He tells Romeo that it is “dear mercy” but that Romeo “seest it not”. Prince Escalus has only banished Romeo not had him killed. Romeo was lucky to beat Tybalt because Tybalt was such an excellent swordsman:
“Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slew’st Tybalt
There art thou happy.”
Romeo is banished to Mantua but Friar Lawrence tells him that while he is there he will try to sort things out and make it possible for him to be with Juliet again:
“…pass to Mantua,
Where thou shalt till we can find a time
To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends.”
Romeo is thrilled that he and Juliet will be reunited.
Juliet also goes to the Friar for help because she is not happy. She tells him that she has to marry Paris because her mother and father, Lord and Lady Capulet, are forcing her to do this. She feels very worried because she is already married to Romeo and her parents don’t know this.
Friar Lawrence’s solution her troubles is to give her a potion that will send her to sleep for a long time. He tells her to “take thou this vial” on the night before her wedding and it will make her look like she is dead on the day of her marriage so that she does not have to marry Paris. He will then send a letter to Romeo explaining what has happened so that Romeo can come back to take Juliet with him to Mantua:
“That very night
Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.”
However, the letter that is supposed to get to Friar Lawrence has sent with Friar John to Romeo explaining what he has to do never reaches Romeo. This “unhappy fortune” means that Romeo hears that Juliet is dead. Balthasar sees Juliet’s funeral taking place and tell Romeo that she is dead. Romeo wants to kill himself rather than live without Juliet. He buys poison from a reluctant Apothecary and then goes to the tomb to see Juliet. When he arrives at the tomb, Paris is there. Romeo fights and kills Paris.
Friar Lawrence rushes to the tomb but arrives too late. He finds two bodies – those of Paris and Romeo. Romeo has drunk the poison and killed himself. Friar Lawrence tries to tries to persuade Juliet to leave with him but she will not.
The Friar leaves the tomb because he hears the watch approaching outside:
“I hear some noise…
I dare stay no longer.”
Juliet then takes her own life. She tries to commit suicide by kissing Romeo’s lips to get some of the poison from them but when that doesn’t work, she takes Romeo’s dagger and buries it into her chest, then falls on Romeo’s body dead.
In the final scene, Friar Lawrence confesses to Prince Escalus what he has done – how he married Romeo and Juliet and tried to get them reunited when Romeo was banished to Mantua. He offers to give his life for what he has done:
“If ought in this
Miscarried by my fault, let my old life
Be sacrificed.”
In my opinion, I think that Friar Lawrence was wrong to get so involved with Romeo and Juliet because he caused such sorrow for both the Montagues and Capulets. However, I feel that he thought that what he was doing was going to help Romeo and Juliet and also end the feud between the two families.
I don’t think that Friar Lawrence is totally to blame for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. The part he played did makes him partly responsible for it. However, if Romeo hadn’t killed Tybalt, then he wouldn’t have been banished to Mantua and then he and Juliet might have been able to run away safely so that they could have been together. Also, Friar Lawrence tried to get the letter to Romeo explaining about Juliet being asleep and not dead but unfortunately it didn’t reach him in time. Then Friar Lawrence went to the tomb to stop Romeo and tell him what had really happened but once again he was too late. Friar Lawrence tried his best but sadly his plans always seemed to go wrong and eventually ended in tragedy.
