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Mirari Lora

Mrs. Woelke

ELA 9

10 December 2018

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet​ by William Shakespeare takes place in the 1300s in

Verona, Italy but was written in the 1500s. The story follows Romeo and Juliet, the son and

daughter of the leaders in an opposing family feud. Against demands from the Prince, the two

families’ feud continues and starts harming the younger family members. Soon Romeo and Juliet

meet and fall in love at first sight sending the story into a series of events that unfortunately ends

with the deaths of the young lovers. These series of events were moved along by Romeo’s father

figure Friar Lawrence. Friar Lawrence seems to be portrayed as a positive character but, his

actions of giving Juliet poison and not delivering Romeo’s letter on time presents the issue that

Friar Lawrence sabotaged Romeo and Juliet. Friar Lawrence changed and affected himself, other

characters, and future events in a negative way by subsequently driving Romeo and Juliet to

suicide.

Friar Lawrence changed and affected himself by creating guilt for himself and staining

his once sturdy relationship with Romeo and Juliet by lying and deceiving to accomplish his own

intentions. When discussing Romeo’s new infatuation with Juliet, Friar Lawrence is surprised

that Romeo moved on from Rosaline so quickly expressing that, “Young men’s love lies not

truly in their hearts but in their eyes.” referring to Romeo who falls in love too quickly and

mostly based on looks (Shakespeare 2.3.71-72). This shows that from the beginning Friar knew
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that Romeo’s love for Juliet was not responsible but an impulsive action driven by lust. Friar was

aware that Romeo’s relationship with Juliet was not beneficial for either one of them but he had

a different objective which was to use the young, lovers as pawns to end the family feud which

the innocent children could not possibly do themselves. When Romeo asks for advice on

marrying Juliet, Friar Lawrence mentions that Romeo’s and Juliet’s “alliance may so happy

prove, to turn your households’ rancour to pure love.”, revealing that Friar’s intentions aren’t to

assist the lovers on their quest to happiness but to use them for a scheme to end the family feud

(Shakespeare 2.3.98-97). Friar’s intentions are helpful but he presents them in a wrong way that

puts others and himself in harmful situations. He is slowly deteriorating his relationships with the

people he cares about the most. Friar Lawrence affects himself through his own actions and

words by putting a strain on his relationship with not only Romeo and Juliet but their families as

well.

Friar Lawrence changes the lives’ of Romeo and Juliet and affects them by giving Juliet

poison and not giving Romeo a letter in time to tell him that Juliet is not actually dead. When

Juliet threatens to kill herself, instead of soothing her and trying to calm her down, he hands her

poison saying, “Take thou vial, being then in bed, and this distilled liquor drink thou off;”

(Shakespeare 4.1.95-96). This vial of poison is supposed to make one seem dead but how was

young and naive Juliet to know that Friar could easily deceive her this way. Not only that but it

was irresponsible of Friar, an adult to give Juliet any type of illegal substance before consulting

her parents first. When Friar John comes back to Verona with Friar Lawrence’s letter to Romeo

in hand he says, “I could not send it-here it is again-”, showing how Friar Lawrence had to

depend on others to fulfill his obligation and responsibilities instead of confronting it himself
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(Shakespeare 5.3.13). Friar Lawrence sent Friar John to deliver the very important letter that

would send the plot into complete chaos. Then was surprised when Friar John could not deliver

the letter when to begin with, Friar Lawrence should have taken the responsible route and taken

the letter himself. Friar Lawrence affects other characters by causing conflict and putting strain

on relationships with others creating a problematic setting.

Friar Lawrence changed and affected future events by influencing Romeo and Juliet into

suicide and poisoning themselves multiple times and convincing Juliet that marrying Romeo was

beneficial for her at such a young age. When Friar Lawrence holds out a vial of poison saying,

“Tomorrow night look that thou lie alone; Let not the Nurse lie with thee in thy chamber.”

suggesting that Juliet risk her life and not have her companion with her for comfort (Shakespeare

4.1.93-94). Friar Lawrence seems to not take in account that Juliet is only a child and needs to be

comforted by loved ones, such as the nurse. Friar Lawrence prioritizes the feud ending before the

two children that have trusted him for as long as they could remember. Before Juliet poisons

herself she has a monologue about her fears of their plan saying, “There's a fearful point. Shall I

not then be stifled in the vault,” showing how in actuality Juliet is just scared little girl

(Shakespeare 4.3.33-34). Juliet now realizes the impulsiveness in her plan that was orchestrated

by Friar Lawrence. Since the day Juliet married Romeo she hasn't had a second to think about all

these impulsive decisions that she's making through the persuasion of Friar Lawrence. Friar

Lawrence may have had good intentions of ending the feud, but he delivered it in a way that

caused more chaos than progress.

In conclusion, Friar Lawrence changes and affects his own character by causing conflict

and tension through friendships and family relationships. He also affects other characters,
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especially Juliet, by contributing to her stress and manipulation towards her suicide. Friar

Lawrence also affected Romeo by not delivering his letter causing a flood of emotions of sorrow,

anger, and overall a sense of loss. Even though Friar Lawrence helped end the feud, he did it in

way that had more failure than accomplishments. Friar Lawrence overall was the main character

that affected the plot and future events in ​The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet ​by William

Shakespeare by persuading others into challenging and generally lousy ideas.