Prince Escales: What was your involvement in the death of Romeo and Juliet?’
Narrator: The Friar looks scared and probably wishes that he were not here today. He’s looking around to see that everyone is looking at him. He feels that he has let him self, Romeo and Juliet and the rest of the Town down. He begins after a slight pause.
Friar Lawrence: Well Romeo had come to me for help; he had wished that I married him and Juliet together. He said that him and Juliet were in love and they wished to be together for the rest of there life and wanted to get married, and then they said that they would not be able to marry with their parents approval and so I got then married to each other, but all with one good reason. I only wished that…’
Narrator: Prince interrupts.
Prince Escales: ‘When was it that Romeo came to you, was he in any good state of mind to make any decisions, and was he aware of what he was saying and what he wanted?’
Narrator: Friar Lawrence continues.
Friar Lawrence: Romeo came to me in the early morning of Tuesday, it was about daybreak and yes I believe that he was in a good state of mind and he was very well aware of what he was doing and what he wanted. To begin with I was not sure that he was in love with Juliet as he was, not so long ago, after Rosaline, but I definitely knew that it was love between Romeo and Juliet and not lust. It was love at first sight, Romeo was saying to me. But from what I knew Romeo had gone to the Capulets mask ball on Monday evening where he saw fair Juliet and fell instantly in love with her. Juliet later discovered that Romeo was a Montague, but it seemed that this did not stop her from falling in love with him too. Romeo told me that he went back to see fair Juliet that night without anyone else knowing. He said that he stood at her balcony and he made a promise to Juliet that he would marry her.’ Romeo and Juliet both loved each other and I didn’t want the hearts to be broken and also in the back of my mind I was thinking that I may be able to end their family feud if they recognised how much Romeo and Juliet loved each other.
Narrator: Friar looks down and everyone continues to glance at him. The Prince continues.
Prince Escales: ‘What was your relationship with Romeo like?’
Friar Lawrence: ‘I believe that we had a extremely strong relationship, one of the main reason why our relationship was strong was because we had trust in each other, and we knew that we would never let each other down, we new that we wouldn’t let our secrets out to anyone else . Romeo firstly came to me at my cell. I was actually surprised to see him so early in the morning, as he was there so early I new he had something to talk to me about. The moment he walked in my cell he started talking to me about a lovely young woman that he had fallen in love with the night before, I then realised that Romeo’s heart was set on the daughter of the rich Capulet, Juliet, and Romeo specifically was intending to marry Juliet. I was confused as I new of his past relationship with Rosaline and asked what happened to Rosaline in his life and I was asking why he didn’t want to be with her anymore. Romeo explained to me that what he felt for her was just nothing like what he felt for Juliet, which was true love (‘for doting, not for loving,’). I agreed to marry Romeo and Juliet, as I believed that it could have been true love and I also believed that if they were to be together then perhaps this union would end years of feuding between their families. I warned Romeo of the dangers of quick love. (‘Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast’) but he still wanted to get married to his love, Juliet. We were close, but it seems not close enough as he did not think about my advice, which was thinking about what he was doing.’ I was the first person Romeo came to see when he had any problems and I was the one who had to give him advice. I may have given him some good advice and maybe some bad, but no human can always give good advice. He to me was a son of mine; I had the strongest relationship to him that I had to anyone else apart from God. He was a holy sin of mine.
Narrator: From this you can see that Friar Lawrence did care for Romeo as he advised him and asked him on a number of a occasions if he was aware of what he was doing and if he had considered the consequences, he also told Romeo that there is a danger of quick love and this shows that he himself had considered what may happen unlike Romeo.
Prince Escales: ‘Why did you seem to think that if you married the couple it would stop the feuding within the Montague’s and the Capulet’s? If they were to be married would it not have made the matters worse?’
Narrator: The prince wants some answers and he wants to find out want happened. He’s aware of the family’s feuding and thinks that it should have stopped along time ago. Friar Lawrence is standing and staring, he looks around and everyone is staring at him expecting an answer. He doesn’t understand why he is all to blame for the deaths as other people contributed to the deaths as well as him.
Friar Lawrence: ‘The first reason I married the couple was because they loved each other and fair Juliet was in a tricky situation, but the idea of ending the feud within the families only occurred to me after I had said to Romeo that I would marry him and Juliet. I thought that if they saw how two people could not fight but love within the families they might realise and learn from the couple. I was hoping that it would bring the two families together but this didn’t happen until the death of both Romeo and Juliet. So in the end it was at the cost of the lover’s life.’
Narrator: Friar Lawrence looks around. Everyone turns from looking at him to the Montagues and the Capulets. He was feeling a sense of relief as the audience turned from looking at him to the parents of the lover’s. The prince looks around and realises that the audience have an eye for the Montagues and the Capulets; he continues to question Friar Lawrence to see what else he could get out of him.
Prince Escales: ‘That’s all okay, but what caused their death in the first place? They couldn’t have just decided to kill themselves, they were now married, and they had their lives ahead of them.’
Narrator: Friar Lawrence didn’t really want to tell Prince Escales about the solution he gave to Juliet. So he stays quiet but the Prince wants an answer.
Prince Escales: Why would they just kill themselves? They had their entire lives ahead of them. Answer me Friar!’
Narrator: Friar Lawrence is unsure of what to say. Does he tell the truth or does he’s doesn’t know. He looking around and everyone are staring at him again. He notices that the nurse is in the crowd and remembers that she knew about it so he could not lie. So he had to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Friar Lawrence: ‘Paris came to see me. He wanted that I married him and Juliet. I told him that I would marry him and Juliet although I was already aware that Juliet was already married to Romeo. He told me that the wedding would occur earlier than planed, on Thursday. Paris thought Juliet was upset, presuming that this sadness is the result of Tybalt's death, but I knew that it was due to their situation. Juliet on came back later she despaired of her situation; she started thinking like Romeo, of suicide. She wanted to kill her self because she didn’t want to marry Paris. I suggested an alternative (‘Hold daughter; I do spy a kind of hope, which craves as desperate an execution as that is desperate which we would prevent’), a cunning plan as desperate as the terrible situation she wished to avoid. I suggested that if Juliet were willing to die to avoid marriage, then she would have no objection to drinking a solution of mine, which simulates death. I told her to take the solution the night before her wedding and that she would appear dead. Then once Juliet was found dead, she would be buried in the same ancient vault in which all the dead Capulet lie. This is what happened. She appeared dead and everyone assumed that she was dead. But she wasn’t really, I didn’t kill her!’
Narrator: The prince and everyone in the courtyard were surprised, yet ever so confused. They just heard Friar Lawrence say that the substance only made Juliet appear dead. The nurse was thinking that she saw Juliet and that she wasn’t even breathing. How could such a substance do such a thing? The prince was angry.
Prince Escales: Why could they not find another way of getting away from the marriage?
Narrator: Friar Lawrence stops the Prince and continues with telling us of what happened.
Friar Lawrence: ‘By this time I would have got to Juliet, Juliet would have been awake, and Romeo who I tried to informed of this plan by letter, would have watched Juliet awake and then take Juliet to Mantua (‘Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua’), where they could live happily after… but when the letter was on the way to Romeo he had already heard that Juliet was dead and so he had already left the location that the friar was going to give him the letter, and therefore the letter informing Romeo that Juliet was not actually dead, did not reach him, so it was too late.’
Narrator: Tension is building; nobody actually knows what happened in great detail.
Friar Lawrence: ‘I then remembered that Juliet would awaken within three hours; I headed for the ancient burial vault of the Capulet's. I tried again to inform Romeo of Juliet's good health by letter, and that I will keep Juliet with me in my cell until he arrives. But unfortunate Romeo once again did not receive this letter, so he was still unaware that Juliet was not dead. I arrived, but I was too late. Before I got there Romeo and Paris already laid alone dead. I think that they may have got into a fight and that Romeo killed Paris. When I arrived I saw both Paris and Romeo lying dead on the floor in different places. I went up to Romeo and discovered that he had taking some poison. It is now that Juliet awoke.’
Narrator: Prince, the Montague’s and the Capulet’s all stood in silent for awhile until Lady Capulet started shouting.
Lady Capulet: ‘Why did you not bring her out, why then did she kill her self? My love Juliet why did this have to be ‘.
Narrator: Lady Capulet starts to cry, Capulet and the nurse calm her down. Friar Lawrence is feeling guilty. He was wishing that he had bought her out.
Friar Lawrence: ‘I … I am terribly sorry Lady Capulet… I was telling fair Juliet to leave with, but saw dear Romeo lying dead on the floor and she would not leave with me. I was scared. I heard voices… I didn’t know of what to do. I didn’t what to be found out… I’m sorry dear Lady Capulet…’
Narrator: The Prince told everyone to remain silent. He stood up and told everyone that what they have heard this evening is a terrible story that couldn’t have been stopped.
Prince Escales: ‘It has been very hard for everyone over the last few days. We have all heard of what happened to Romeo and Juliet and how their love ended in a tragedy, a tragedy that will be unforgotten. I ask everyone here today to think of this as a lesson. Friar Lawrence was not all in fault. He was doing what he believed was right for Romeo and Juliet. He was not aware that their marriage would end their lives. He has told me here in front of you all of what had happened. To a certain extent he could be blamed but in the end it happened and Friar Lawrence cannot be blamed for it all as it was not all his fault but it was partly. He tried his hardest to get Romeo and Juliet together and he had it all planned but things did not go his way. Romeo did not receive the letter, this was not Friar Lawrence’s fault because he tried to get it to reach to him but in the end it was because of fate that the letter did not reach Romeo in time, so do you say that Friar Lawrence is he to be blamed for this incident? In my view I do not blame the Friar for this at an extent, I would rather it to be blamed to fate, as I feel that fate played the biggest part in the tragedy. Friar Lawrence you will continue with your duty as normal, I just advise you to think about your actions in the future. And I tell you all present today that this is a love story to remember it and learn from. Don’t let hate come in between love, because if you do, things go wrong like it has for Romeo and Juliet.’
