In this essay I will be discussing how Friar Lawrence is presented by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet. The sections of the play that I will look at are his conversations with Romeo in Act Three Scene Three and Act Two Scene Three and his conversation with Juliet in Act Four Scene One. I have chosen these scenes because there is a contrast between Friar Lawrence’s motives and attitude. In Act Three Scene Three, Romeo and Friar Lawrence are seen to be in conflict for the first time but in Act Two Scene Three he is shown as a fatherly figure towards Romeo as Romeo is asking him for advice. I have also chosen Act Four Scene One because Friar Lawrence is shown to have a different and less holy attitude.
In Act Three Scene Three, Friar Lawrence is trying to make Romeo see the bright side of being banished but Romeo refuses as he believes that ‘there is no world without Verona walls’ (line 17) This shows that for Romeo, Verona is his world and in heaven so in his eyes, if he is not in Verona then he is in dead and in hell. However, Friar Lawrence tries to convince him that Verona is just a place in the world and that there is life beyond the walls of Verona. Romeo disagrees and refuses to accept this, which shows that Romeo is very dramatic and Friar Lawrence is more realistic and optimistic about the situation. Friar Lawrence therefore is presented as a calm and positive person in this scene, however it is the first time that we have seen him argue with Romeo, which suggests that his attitude changes depending on the situation that he is put in.
The Term Paper on Comparison And Contrast Between The Nurse And Friar Lawrence In Shakespeares Romeo And Juliet part 1
... the mother and father figures for Juliet and for Romeo. Friar Lawrence was Romeos father and Romeo had a great deal of respect to him. ... they kiss, consume (Act 2, scene 6, 9-11). (Herford) The Friars intentions are well, however he himself even warns Romeo that rushing into ... time Romeo comes to pay his respects she will be up and alive again. (Bullough) The Friar, a Franciscan monk in Verona, is ...
Friar Lawrence thinks that Romeo is being very ungrateful considering the Prince ‘turned that black word ‘death’ to banishment’’ (line 27) and calls him ‘rude’ (line 24).
Friar Lawrence expresses just how rude he thinks Romeo is being and explains that ‘this is dear mercy’ (line 28) and that Romeo should be thankful towards the Prince as he ‘rush’d aside the law.’ (line 26) This shows that Friar Lawrence is becoming angry with Romeo and disagrees with his views on banishment. Friar Lawrence is trying to help Romeo by keeping him hidden in his cell but Romeo is ungrateful for everything that has been done for him just so he can see Juliet for a bit longer. Therefore, Friar Lawrence is implying that Romeo’s love is getting in the way of reality and he should realise everything that has been done for him instead of being selfish.
In contrast to the scene mentioned above, in Act Two Scene Three, Romeo goes to Friar Lawrence for advice about love. Romeo asks Friar Lawrence to ‘marry us today’ (line 64) meaning he wants to marry Juliet but this takes Friar Lawrence by surprise as it was ‘Rosaline that thou didst love so dear’ (line 66) for a long period of time but suddenly Romeo wants to marry another woman. This shows Friar Lawrence’s concern for Romeo that he might be moving too fast with a new relationship so soon. After thinking everything through, Friar Lawrence agrees to marry the couple as ‘this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households rancour to pure love’ (line 91-92) This shows that Friar Lawrence wants to make peace between the families and believes that if two people from different households marry, this will happen. Friar Lawrence is trying to help and do the right thing for Romeo as well as Verona, which demonstrate how caring he is.
In Act Four Scene One however, we see Friar Lawrence presented in a very different way. Juliet goes to him for help, as she does not want to marry Paris because she is already married to Romeo. The Friar gives her a potion, which will make her seem dead for ‘two and forty hours’ (line 105) until Romeo can return from Mantua. The potion will make Juliet have ‘no warmth, no breath’ (line 98) so everyone will believe that she is dead. Previously in the play, Friar Lawrence has been presented as a good and holy man who would never cause any harm but here our views are changed. Friar Lawrence is now shown to be cunning and wreck less as he is allowing a young girl to be put to sleep without knowing for definite if she will wake up or if the plan will work at all.
The Essay on Romeo Juliet Friar Play Lawrence
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 issues 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 ...
To conclude, at the start of Romeo and Juliet, Act Two Scene Three, Friar Lawrence is presented as a fatherly figure to Romeo. Further on in the play, Act Three Scene Three, he is shown to be in conflict with someone whom he would normally not argue with and is very close to and finally in Act Four Scene One he becomes less like the holy man we first though he was and becomes quite irresponsible. In the final scene of Romeo and Juliet we discover that his plan to fix everything went horribly wrong and even though he had the right intentions, the tragedy could have been avoided if he did not get involved to start with. There is a big difference between our initial thoughts on his personality and our final thoughts and this could either be due to the situations he faced or Shakespeare only showed us parts of his personality at a time.
