“Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour” (1,3,12)
In a similar way, the Friar seemed to know more about Romeo than his own father did. When Romeo was walking on his own in the woods, his father didn’t know the reason why he was upset, even Benvolio didn’t know till he asked. But the Friar already knew that he was upset about Rosaline.
“God pardon sin! Wast thou with Rosaline?” (2,3,44)
Another way in which the two relationships were similar is the way the Nurse and the Friar cared about Juliet and Romeo. We can tell how much the Nurse cared about Juliet when she lost her temper with Mercutio and then warned Romeo not to hurt her and not to play with her emotions and not to two-time her. The Nurse went to see Romeo to tell him that Juliet wants to meet him.
If you should deal double with her,
Truly it were an ill thing to” (2,4,153-154)
The Friar showed how much hr cared for Romeo when he was prepared to risk his reputation and to deceive the family to help Romeo be with Juliet. This happened after Tybalt’s death.
“…Pass to Mantua,
Where thou shalt live till we can find time,
To blaze you marriage, reconcile your friends
Beg pardon of the prince, and call thee back…” (3,3,149-152)
The Nurse and the Friar were also alike in how much they were prepared to risk for Juliet and Romeo. The Nurse proved this by sticking up for Juliet when Old Capulet was preparing to get her married, but when Juliet refused to get married, he swore to her, and said he was going to kick her out of the house but that was when the Nurse stepped in and protected Juliet. She risked her job and did something even Lady Capulet wouldn’t dream of doing.
“You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so” (3,5,169)
The Friar cared deeply for Romeo so much that he was prepared to risk his reputation for Romeo. The Friar deceived the families many times to get Romeo and Juliet married, and tried to help Romeo to be with Juliet, he deceived the Capulets’ when he gave Juliet the potion so that everyone would look as if she had died but she hadn’t really. Eventually, his actions caused the deaths of Romeo and Juliet although it wasn’t done intentionally, even though he tried to save them both.
“Take thou this vial, being then in bed,
And this distilling liquor drink thou off” (4,1,93-94)
Of course, the Nurse and Friar Lawrence have some differences; the Friar was well educated whereas the Nurse wasn’t, and in terms of status, the Friar was well respected whereas the Nurse was part of the family but treated as a middle class working woman.
However, the similarities were closer to Romeo and Juliet. Both of them had made serious mistakes but they intended to do them for a good reason.
