The Ways Friar Lawrence persuades Romeo not to Commit Suicide
In Act 3 Scene 3, Romeo has just killed Tybalt and has come to the Friar to seek guidance and comfort. Before the Friar starts his speech, Romeo is persistent on committing suicide, as he believes there is no other option for him. The nurse has come to the Friars cell and tells Romeo that Juliet knows of his crime and is deeply upset and agitated “even so lies she, blubb’ring and weeping”. Romeo thinks that since he has done something so disgraceful to Juliet’s own cousin, she will never forgive him. However, we know that Juliet’s main purpose for crying is because she has heard about Romeo’s banishment. Romeo is convinced that banishment is much worse than killing himself, the quote that shows this is: “Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say ‘death’ ”. He constantly re visits the idea of death and the fact that he prefers to die: “ ‘banished’ is banishd from the world”. The Friar then starts his speech and approaches the situation from different perspectives in the hope that he will not kill himself. All the way through his speech, he is telling Romeo to look on the bright side and go from there.
Friar Lawrence starts off by challenging Romeo on his gender and masculinity. He tries to get him to realise what he is doing and the things he is putting at risk. He states that “thy form cries out thou art; Thy tears are womanish” this quote suggests that Romeo is in a feminine position. The Friar is challenging his masculinity by saying that it is shameful for a ‘woman’ to behave in such manor, “Unseemly woman in a seeming man, and ill-beseeming beast in seeming both” so he is calling Romeo a woman and a man. The Friar is surprised that a noble, good hearted, strong man such as Romeo can behave in this way,” I thought thy disposition better temper’d”. The Friar is telling Romeo to think like a man and be more confident in himself because it has had the best outcome given the circumstances.
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H2>AUTHOR William Shakespeare was born on April 23,1564 in Warwickshire, England. He was the third child and first son of John and Mary Shakespeare. John Shakespeare was a maker, worker, and seller of leather. William went to school at the Stratford grammar school. He married Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582. William and Anne had three children together. A daughter name Susanna in 1583 and ...
He then goes on to questioning Romeo and assuring him that what he did is better than the outcome of what would happen if he did not slay Tybalt. “Hast thou slain Tybalt? Wilt thou slay thyself?” Friar Lawrence is saying that there is no justification for killing himself just because he has killed Tybalt. “And slay thy lady that in thy life lives, by doing dammed hate upon thyself?” in this quote, he says that if he commits suicide, he will be doing no good as Juliet only lives for him now and by killing himself, he will only be putting a curse on Romeo and Juliet. He then goes on to question why Romeo curses his birth, heaven and earth. The Friar mentions that if Romeo takes his life then he would lose everything, and he wouldn’t go to heaven necessarily: “ In thee at once, which thou at once wouldst lose”.
Another way he has used to persuade Romeo is encouraging and motivating him. Now that he has scolded Romeo for his behaviour and pragmatism, he can start to change his perspective on the situation and get him to think about the positive outcomes. “Juliet is alive! For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead”, this puts the idea in his mind that he is being very spontaneous and hasn’t thought this through, because as the Friar said, Romeo has no reason to kill himself since Juliet, his true love, is still alive, surely he should be happy and should not make such a rash decision. That is the point the Friar is trying to get across. “Tybalt would kill thee but thou slewest Tybalt”, here the Friar conveys that if Romeo had not killed Tybalt then he would have killed Romeo. So in that perspective, what Romeo did was a good thing because now that he remains alive, he can rejoice with Juliet. Friar Lawrence states that Romeo is already assuming the outcome is going to be bad when he doesn’t even know the outcome of banishment yet, so he tells him to not rush into anything. “The law that threaten’d death becomes thy friend and turns it into exile”, here the Friar is trying to prove to Romeo that he is lucky if anything, because whoever sheds another blood shall give its life. However Romeo has only been banished, which is nothing compared to what he would have normally been punished by; death.
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... all those twenty could but kill one life./ I beg for justice, which thou, Prince, must give./ Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live.” (3.1 ... other one was dead. When talking to Friar Laurence after word of Romeo’s banishment, Juliet quickly agrees to take an unknown substance ...
