Romeo and Juliet successfully portrays the conflicting ideas and problems between the church and the state relevant to all contexts. Dramatic techniques highlight their responsibility for the tragedy. The ruler of Verona, Prince Escalus is a symbol of the state, and of municipal law and order. Through the use of dialogue he attempts to implement peace between the households. He tries to explain the seriousness of violence and hatred, by using insulting, distasteful language to describe them ‘enemies to peace’, and metaphorically likening them the inferior traits and savagery of ‘beasts’.
However, his public commands to the two families to cease their feuding are paralleled in turn by Friar Laurence, the representative of the church and a member of the Order of Saint Francis. The Friar is a man of reason, and takes the determination for appropriate moral conduct into his own hands. This at times is problematic, since his intentions do not receive the consent of the public, and are at times, dubiously beneficial and virtuous. The Friar holds to the Elizabethan commonplace that the world constitutes a divine order structured, ultimately, for good. In the Frair’s first appearance in a soliloquy, the balanced form of couplets that he employs, where one line plays against the other for rhyme, represents his personal belief that all occurrences that are doubtfully good are pardoned by another good outcome.
For instance, an image he develops is that of the ‘advancing sun’ with its unpleasant trait of ‘burning (the) eye’ is pardoned or balanced by the fact that the ‘day (it will) cheer’. With such good intentions at heart, he assists Romeo and Juliet in their marriage ‘for this alliance may… turn your households’ rancor to pure love’, and comforts Romeo after he murders Tybalt, saying ‘Tybalt would kill thee… there art thou happy /the law that threatened death becomes thy friend’.
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 ...
The Friar has a world, even political side to him, which alerts audiences of all contexts to question the moral balance with which the church functions. The Friar realises that he took his power for determining moral action too far when he enters the tomb in the midst of the catastrophe, to find Romeo and Paris dead, and Juliet waking. He loses his moderation, becoming frightened at the enormity of the tragedy and the thought of the blame that society will put on him if his involvement becomes known. Thus, his moral weakness is confirmed when he utters ‘I dare no longer stay’, and flees.
Thus he abandoned responsibility for Juliet’s life, and fails to prevent her death too. Outside each family the Prince in public and the Friar in secret try yet fail to prevent the hostility that, in the end, kills Romeo and Juliet. Their goodwill for peace has been prevented by the contrast of their strategies. The thought-provoking issue of the compatibility of state and religious institutions coexisting is very relevant today. In Iran, for instance, basic state laws like female rights are disregarded due to conflict with religious beliefs.
