In the thirteenth century, there were certainly two feuding Italian families namely the Montecchi of Verona and the Capelletti of Cremona who were locked in political struggle. These two families were referred to as Dante’s Purgatorio. It is known that they had children named, Romeo and Juliet. Romeo was the only son of Lord and Lady Montague, Romeo was a lover of women and a lover of poetry he also had friends namely,Benvolio and Mercutio . Juliet was the only daughter of Lord and Lady Capulet. Unlike Romeo, Juliet had no friends of her own age. She was isolated and entrapped in the world of the Capulets. She was nearly fourteen when she was told by her mother that girls of her age must marry, as Lady Capulet did. Capulet had agreed that Paris should woo Juliet, and Juliet told her mother that she will try to love Paris. This essay gives evidence and discusses who was the cause of Rome and Julet's death.
Friar Lawrence was the main religious figure in the play and a friend and mentor to Romeo. He showed compassionin and willingness to assist the young lovers, in marrying them and assisting with their escape. This act seemed careless but it is the most political maneuver in the play and was born from seemingly honourable intentions
Friar Laurence was responsible for Rome and Julite's death, he made not only one, but three big mistakes that caused the tragic end of Romeo and Juliet.
Fristly, Friar Laurence should have thought before acting, If he hadn't made his decision so quickly and really thought about it then he would have found out that Juliet’s parents had arranged for her to marry Paris who was the prince right hand man or a kings man as they called him, in short he should have asked Juliet weather or not her parents have arranged any marriage and whether or not she was truly in love with Romeo, because she was too young to really understand love.
Secondly, maybe she was mixing up things or she had mixed feelings about everything and not only that both of them had only meat less than 48 hours, so it was impossible for them to fall in love, even if it was love at frist sight and he should have convinced her to think it through and also that her parents will not be happy if they had to find out and that it will only bring more confusions amongst the two families for they are enemies.
He also should have not married them in the first place, knowing that Romeo was recently weeping over Rosaline, who he had not yet gotten over with,and that Rome was love sick and he also knew that Romeo was not yet mature. Friar Laurence should have sat down with, Romeo talked to him and convinced him not to rush into another relationship for he wasn’t really sure if it was love or infatuation. And they were both teens, and were both in love for the first time and were both desperate, he should have convinced both of them to spend more time together and get to know each other very well before taking any drastic step first.
Althrough, Friar Laurence throught that if he married both of them, maybe their families would set aside their differences and reconcile, for he said, this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households' rancor to pure love. But he did not think through of the consequences and that, this marriage will not only be accepted by the two families but it will be the cause of a lot of other problems to arises as well, then things wouldn’t have ended so fetally.
Then secondly Friar Laurenc, come up with anthother plan and he also so didn't think it through as well, the plan was to give Juliet a sleeping posion which will make her appear dead for only 48 hours only. Since Juliet was so desparet and she would do anything just to be together with Rome she agreed to the plan. And part of the plan was to send Rome a letter telling him that Juliet will drink a posion which will make her to appear dead for 48 hours, and when he comes he will just come get her and the two of them will get out of town and run away so that they can live happily together.But unfortunatly the plan did not go as planed Rome did not get the letter which was sent to him, and thats when everthing went wrong.
Friar Laurenc sent a Friar to delivr a letter to Rome which explained everthing to him, but the Friar did not deliever it to him, but when Friar Laurenc saw that Rome has not recived the letter he did not even think that there was need to send another Friar again to deliever the letter to him.
And when he saw that Romeo had come back to Verona to get Juliet, and run away with her, he would have told him the truth that Juliet was not accutly dead and she will woke up in a few minets time because she has been given only a sleeping poison and so he must wait for her to woke up. Rome would have waited for her and would not have killed himeself but the Friar didnt do that and didnt say anything to him when he fully new that Rome can not live without Juliet, this also led to the death of the two lovers.
Evenso by the time Romeo was arriving, Juliet would have woken up andRomeo would not have believed that Juliet was dead, the plan would have been successful and the two lovers would not have tragically died.Because when Romeo came to Verona to see Juliet, he was overcome with grief, and that what lead him to commit suicide. And he didnt want to live withot Juliet so he had to die so that he can follow her on the otherside. (Act 5 scene 1)
Even when the plan had failed and Juliet awoke to see that Romeo has died, Friar Lawrence still did not learn his lesson, he tried again to make up yet another plan. This plan was developed on the spot to get Juliet out of there meatomb. Friar does not think through of his so called plan, but instead he was so selfish that he really wanted what he wanted to happen that is by bring the two families together, without thinking through of the consequences which may come out of it.And as a result the story of Romeo and Juliet ended up in tragedyning the . (Act 5 scene 2)
Friar Lawrence becomes more and more selfish. When he saw Romeo drink poison and that Juliet had woken up, he would have told her what happened and also not left her alone, then Juliet would not have stabbed herself with Romeo’s dagger. Because when Juliet woke up and saw that Rome had died, she said i will not live without my Rome, my love, i will stabbe myself and follow him so that i be with him.( Act 5 Scene 3).
Juliet thought of klling her self with Rome's dagger so that she can be with her love, Friar knew of Juliet’s state of mind from earlier when she said to him “I long to die.” (Act 5 scene 3), but he leaves her alone in the tomb despite this,and for fear of being punshed and also the deaths of Romeo and Paris motivated him in leaving that tomb, which led to the death of Juliet.
Because Friar Lawrence has a need to only look out for himself he excaped and run away if only he had stayed with her until everyone had come and explianed to them what had happened, Juliet would have not died, the prince would have punished him but he would have saved Juliet's life, for once he would have thought about Juliet's life and not his things would have tuned out differently and this tragedy wouldn't have happend. But a selfish man will always think of him self frist before anything and before other people, Friar Lawrence frist thought of saving his own skin and thats excartly what he did. (Act 5 scene 3).
In conclusion, if Friar Lawrence did not run away, even if he was afried of being punished by the prince Juliet would have still been alive and not dead. If he had noThe Friar failed to get the message to Romeo about Juliet having taken a sleeping potion, Friar Laurence had a very nice planed out plane, which he thought that it will work out perfectly, but unfortunately it did not go well cause, he was not wise enough and he did not think it through. Immediately he learnt or saw that the first Friar had not delivered the letter or the message to Romeo, explaining to him about the plan.
References
- William Shakespeare, (1562). The Tragedy of Rome and Juliet
