Essay/Term paper: Romeo & juliet.

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is

one of Shakespeare's plays about tragedy. It is about two lovers who commit

suicide when their feuding famillies prevent them from being together. The

play has many characters, each with its own role in keeping the plot line.

Some characters have very little to do with the plot but some have the plot

revolving around them. Friar Lawrence does not have very much time on stage

but the time he does have is crucial to the plot line. Through his words Friar

Lawrence demonstrates the he is a good intentioned, yet sometimes short-sighted,

man who is not afraid to take risks to help others



One of Friar Lawrences

most favourable traits is how good intentioned he is. He may do something

out of the ordinary if he thinks the outcome will help someone he cares for.

For example, when he says "In one respect I'll thy assistant be; for this

alliance may so happy prove, to turn your households rancour to pure love."(Act

2, Scene 3), he is saying that the only reason he will marry Romeo and Juliet

is because he hopes that the marriage will end the hostilities between the

two houses. When he says "Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift, and hither

shall he come; and he and I shall watch thy waking, and that very night shall

Romeo bear thee to Mantua." (Act 4, Scene 1), he tells Juliet how everything

will be all right. Unfortunately, for all his good intentions the play still

ends in tragedy.



Friar Lawrence is a man who is not afraid to take risks

when he feels it is neccesary to help someone. For example in Act 2, Scene

6, when he marries Romeo and Juliet, he is risking his reputation as a Friar

so he can help the two lovers. Also, when he says "Take thou this vial, being

then in bed, and this distilled liquor drink though off;" (Act 4, Scene 1),

he is suggesting that Juliet drink a potion so that she might feighn her own

death and avoid marrying Paris. This is an extremely risky thing to do because

anything might happen to Juliet while she unconscious.



Even after all Friar

did to help Romeo and Juliet the play still ended in tragedy because of Friar

Lawrences' short sightedness.

When the Friar married Romeo Juliet in secrecy,

he did not think of all the complications that would arise but instead went

on with the marriage because at that time he thought it was the right thing

to do. In Act 4, Scene 1, he gave Juliet a sleeping potion without thinking

of the possible outcomes of such an outrages plan. He admits that much of

the fault of the tragedy lies in his hands when he says "And her I stand both

to impeach and purge myself condemned and myself excused", and when he say

"Her nurse is privy; and, if aught in this miscarried by myself..." (Act 5,

Scene 3).



Although Friar Lawrence does not have an especially large role,

his role is none the less important. It is because of his good intentions

that he was willing to help his friends that Romeo and Juliet were married

- a key event in the play. It is because of his willingness to take risks

for his friends that Juliet aqquired the sleeping potion - another key event

in the play. Finally, it was the shortsightedness of his actions that in part

led to the deaths of the two lead characters. This demonstartes that Friar

Lawrence was a man who was a man with good intentions who was willing to take

risks to help his frieneds. If he had been any other way, the play might not

have turned out the way it did.