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friar Shakespeare The friar was a meddling fool and if he had not interfered then Romeo & Juliet would have lived. Discuss Friar Lawrence although by no means the main character, played never the less a key role in the tragedy of Romeo & Juliet. In this essay I? m going to write about whom the Friar is, what his role is in the play. The issue? s of how his character influences the play, if he was responsible for Romeo & Juliet deaths, and whether he could have prevented the tragedy will also be discussed.
Among other points will be how fate played a part in the play, what the other characters thought of him, and what were Friar Lawrence? s intentions. In the play Friar Lawrence has many occupations. He is a priest to the people of Verona as is shown through the Friars public duties, including leading Juliet? s funeral. To many he is a teacher and advice giver (agony Uncle) most notably to Romeo who the Friar refers to him as a pupil, Romeo: ?
Thou chid? st me oft for loving Rosaline. ? Friar: ? For doting, not for loving, pupil mine. ? (2. 3. 81 - 82), but also Juliet and Paris as well as both families.
It is perhaps interesting to note that although many people turned to him throughout the duration of the play both Capulets and Montague's, he had the greatest affinity with the younger generation. For example he seems to have a greater affinity with Romeo and Juliet than Paris or Old Montague, all who turn to Friar Lawrence at one point or another. ? ? My impressions of Friar Lawrence are that he is full of self-responsibility, as he automatically takes on the burden of getting peace between the Montague's and Capulets. I think this of him because he constantly refers to himself and what he can do for the situation. This happens as soon as he finds out Romeo & Juliet are in love, even though he does not fully agree with the haste of their union.
Romeo: ? O let us hence! I stand on sudden haste. ? Friar: ? Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast. ? ? ?
This quote sums up why everything went wrong, perhaps if the Friar had taken his own advice and not allowed Romeo & Juliet to rush into there marriage they might have lived. He is perhaps a little single minded in his judgement of the situation; he is not looking at Romeo & Juliet as people, but as tools to help him unite their families. All the way through the play we see Friar Lawrence conducting experiments on plants. Perhaps all this was another calculated experiment for him. But you can? t calculate human emotion and unfortunately this was one of the things the Friar failed to realise. ?
Within the infant rind of this weak flower Poison hath residence, and medicine power: ? ? And where the worser is predominant, Full soon the canker death eats up the plant. ? (2. 3. 23 30)? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? The quote above shows another side of the Friar as a Chemist. He always states the destructive and healing power of medicines. Which could be interpreted to his relationship with Romeo & Juliet, ? because he is in a position of power his actions relating to Romeo & Juliet could not only improve there happiness but destroy them, if this power is used incorrectly.
This also could be caused by fate, because the side of the Friar that brings Romeo & Juliet happiness is not seen in the play, the only side that is seen is the one that destroys them. There are those who are under the opinion that the Friar was not at all to blame, but a tool of fate. At the time the play was written fate and the stars played a large part in peoples every day lives and this is reflected in the play. Throughout the text there are references to people seeing their fate in the stars the most famous of which is: Romeo: ?
for my mind misgives Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars, ? But He that hath the steerage of my course Direct my sail! ? This is typical of the view at the time. Many people thought that life had a set pattern and you could do nothing to change it.
It would be people who had this opinion that could believe that Romeo & Juliet were destined to die. This in turn would mean that the Friar was not to blame because every single character in the text was like a counter in fate? s game. The concept of fate also allowed the characters to have premonitions about what was going to happen which would have been impossible if fate had not played a part in Romeo & Juliet? ? ? ? ?
Although he was single-minded, he did have good intentions, but maybe not the right ones; this could also be a cause of Romeo & Juliet? s death. To Romeo, Friar Lawrence was someone he could go to, but not only in a spiritual sense e. g. Juliet goes to the Nurse. Because Romeo?
s parents were not very close to him, the Friar became more of a Father to Romeo. Towards the end of the play Juliet turns to the Friar when she hears what she doesn? t want to hear from the Nurse. I?
m now going to discuss the Friars influence in the play, which in my opinion was an essential part of the plot. In the play Friar Lawrence influenced practically everything in one way or another. In the play the Friar marries Romeo & Juliet with the intent to bring peace between each other? s families. As a result of this Romeo & Juliet die, and the Montague's and the Capulets stop fighting.
But what would have happened if he didn? t marry Romeo & Juliet, they might get over each other, and the Montague's and Capulets would not make peace, then Romeo & Juliet might get killed in the fighting anyway. After Romeo & Juliet get married they are separated because Romeo killed Tybalt. ? As a solution the Friar uses one of his medicines to fake Juliet? s death, again as a result of this Romeo & Juliet die, and bring the two families together.
If the Friar sent the message of this situation earlier, Romeo would have been aware that she was under the influence of medicine. And would not commit suicide because he thought she was dead. But what if the Friar had not given Juliet the vile of medicine, Juliet would have married Paris and lived, and Romeo might have married Rosaline or someone else and lived. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? It is quite obvious that Friar Lawrence was in the end, a meddling fool, even though his intentions were good, he was a main cause of Romeo and Juliet? s death. If in the first place when Romeo asked the Friar to marry him to Juliet, he said that they were rushing into things and it was just a crush, Romeo would have probably got on with life without Juliet and lived.
At the end of the play (5. 3. 231 - 269) the Friar explains his part in the events in line 5. 3. 227 - 228, he says the words Friar: ? And here I stand both to impeach and purge Myself condemned and myself excused. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? These words tell us that he feels he is responsible but at the same time he appears to be excusing himself from any blame. This confirms my initial opinion of him because believes that he is above blame. So in my opinion Friar Lawrence was a meddling fool but if I believed in fate I? m sure my opinion would be very different.
By Sam Roberts? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 31 d
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