The Friars advice is actually very good. The fact that he advises Romeo that he is moving too fast, and it would be of benefit to Romeo if he listened to him, means that perhaps the events following this death could have been prevented if Romeo hadn’t married Juliet. Friar Lawrence’s attitude soon changes however and he goes from saying, “To lay one in, another out to have” to then agreeing that it would be good for them to marry. “To turn your household’s rancour to pure love.” This is what the Friar believes will happen if the couple wed, i.e., that the feuding families will cease their arguments and unite if their children become married. Here is the first piece of evidence to show that Friar Lawrence is responsible for the deaths.
If he hadn’t given in to their marriage ceremony perhaps the deaths of Romeo and Juliet could have been prevented. If the wedding had been called off, Juliet wouldn’t have needed to take the poison in the first place, nor would she have needed to awaken to see him, because there would be no reason to see him again. Also, if she hadn’t married Romeo, Juliet would probably have married Paris.
The couple are married by the Friar, in Act 2, Scene 6. This occurs secretly in the Friars cell. Just before their ceremony, he gives more of his opinions to Romeo. He states that although it is a good strong love, it can end abruptly with sorrow. …”The violent delights have violent ends...” This is an ironic piece of advice because it seems to have links to the end of the play, as it does end violently. This shows that the advice he is giving is perhaps too wise?
Another example of his accurate opinions is…”Therefore love moderately, long love doth so; Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow” Here he is saying that if they had slowed their relationship down it would last much longer but if they go too fast………..This is again exactly what happened in the play.
As a result of the Friar marrying Romeo and Juliet he is putting himself in a horrible position, because he doesn’t realise that soon it will be his fault that he is in this dilemma
Following the marriage ceremony, after the bride has returned to her family home, the Capulets know nothing of what has just happened. Tybalt and Benvolio have confronted Romeo and Mercutio. There is a quarrel between the families and Mercutio is slain. In retaliation Romeo kills Tybalt (Juliet’s cousin), but Romeo is not sentenced to death because it was a revenge killing. Instead, he is banished from Verona and is to go live in Mantua.
Before this had been decided Friar Lawrence had hidden Romeo in his cell and again they had many discussions, this time about why Romeo shouldn’t kill himself.
The Friar tries to explain that it is good news, and that being banished is not a bad punishment. “Not body’s death, but body’s banishment”. Romeo’s argument is that if he is banished from Verona, then he might as well be banished from the world, because of course he won’t be able to see Juliet. “There is no world without Verona’s walls…hence ‘banished’ is banished from the world, and world’s exile is death…”
Friar Lawrence is determined to stop Romeo from killing himself, “I’ll give thee armour (advice) to keep of that word….” Romeo ignores him, and repeats himself, and so it continues. All the advice he gives to Romeo to stop his suicidal ramblings is good. He calms him often, but at one point Romeo tries to stab himself. The nurse (who has turned up to see him) stops him.
A piece of advice that I see as very good “Wilt thou slay thyself, and slay thy lady that in thy life lives?” is basically saying that if you kill yourself, many others will be affected, especially Juliet. He also points out that he would end up in a worse place, as “doing damned hate upon thyself “ is a sin, and in killing himself, would end up in Hell.
If Romeo had succeeded in carrying out his threat to kill himself, he would have been found inside the Friars cell, which would have been an offence. He was supposed to have been banished to Verona, and the Friar, who is supposed to be a faithful Catholic is sinning by keeping him there.
Lord Capulet has ordered Juliet to be joined in matrimony with Paris on the next Thursday! As Juliet is not in love with Paris and is already married to Romeo she is obviously distraught, and in panic. She needs advice, and as all Catholics would do, she goes to see the Friar. The pair discuss what they could do to prevent her marriage to Paris going ahead. Juliet thinks that nothing can be done and resigns herself to the marriage, but the Friar thinks of a plan, “Hold, daughter, I do spy a kind of hope, which craves as desperate an execution…” He decides to supply Juliet with a potion that will make her appear dead. In fact, she will be asleep for approximately 48 hours. Juliet is obviously desperate but this is a dangerous solution, ”And if thou dar’st, I’ll give the remedy: ‘O bid me leap, rather than marry Paris, from off the battlements of any tower…” In that speech (lines 77-88) Juliet uses powerful adjectives to create the mood that she is in and how much she would want to do anything rather than marry Paris “…Things that hear them told have made me tremble – And I will do it without fear or doubt. To live an unstained wife to my sweet love”. Everything points to the marriage going ahead, and the Friar tells Juliet that she must stay alone in her room, without the nurse, and drink the medicine.
This seems at first to be a successful solution, but if looked into further, many consequences can be borne from it. The Friar hadn’t thought deeply about what the future possible outcome might be. Firstly, the medicine might not work, or worse, Juliet could really die; Romeo could be caught; she might fall asleep later than planned, or the wrong person might be there when she awakens. Although the Friar thinks that his plan will bring the two families together, this can all change now, as Lord Capulet will not know of their marriage, so will not be able to make peace with Lord Montague. Most importantly, the Friar doesn’t think of the effect upon the families, who will believe that Juliet is really dead, nor has he thought of the effect it will have on himself. If the plan is unsuccessful, he will never be treated the same way again.
I believe that he should have either told the families outright of Romeo and Juliet’s marriage, or confronted Juliet’s views and actually thought more deeply about other possible consequences.
Juliet returns home and confronts her father. She asks his forgiveness and agrees to marry Paris, then goes to bed and takes the poison. Although the Friar didn’t think about the consequences, so far, his plan seems to be running smoothly. Juliet is found, presumed dead, and a funeral service is arranged. After the funeral ceremony, the Friar rushes in late to the place where Juliet lays, still thinking that everything is fine. Instead he finds out that a letter to Romeo, explaining the circumstances, has not been delivered. When Friar Lawrence enters the tomb he finds Romeo, dead, and poisoned, laid across his beloved. Juliet wakes up as expected only to find her husband, dead in front of her. To begin with, the Friar tries to prevent her from seeing Romeo, but then explains everything to her. “Come, come away. Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead” To wake up after two days of unconsciousness, to this news, must have been unbearable. “Poison I see has been his timeless end” Juliet realises that she too wants to die but there is no poison left. She tries to get some off his lips but instead takes his dagger. “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief, O happy dagger. This is thy sheath, there rust, and let me die”
From the Friars plan there are no happy endings. The whole idea of their marriage, the families friendship and their re-uniting after 48 hours is a catastrophe. Everything that happens is all down to the advice the Friar had given them. Subsequently the public hear of the events, and the blame is put upon Friar Lawrence. He takes responsibility and admits his “wrongdoing” Although finally, through their children’s deaths, the families do stop feuding.
In conclusion I can say I agree that Friar Lawrence is the cause of the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Even in his earlier advice it seemed as though he was giving them support, but in reality, if it weren’t for their marriage, this tragedy could never have happened. The reason for his agreement to their marriage was that he thought it would reconcile their families. Ironically, this did happen but only after the married couple were dead. His decisions seemed only to focus on the two lovers and himself. In being so narrow minded, he couldn’t see how his actions could affect a wider group of people, nor did he ever consider the pitfalls of what he was planning.
Although Friar Lawrence doesn’t seem to play a major role, when examined, Shakespeare had created a strong character who in fact was in control of the two main characters, and influenced everything they did. Ultimately however, although I believe that the Friar was responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, he cannot be solely responsible, because if the families had not been enemies, the two lovers could have lived happily and the tragedy could have been avoided.
