Introduction to Shakespeare's Friar Laurence from Romeo and Juliet
Friar Laurence is presented as a holy man who is trusted and respected by the In their isolation, Romeo and Juliet turn to the Friar who can offer neutral advice. old age also manifests itself in the Friar's relationship with Romeo and Juliet. Relationships Friar Laurence is a friend and mentor to Romeo and Juliet and is like a second father to Romeo. He is always there to give them neutral advice. As a result of this he is always trying to help him out. Friar Laurence was the one that Romeo and Juliet could trust upon there marriage.
The audience might think that Shakespeare is trying to imply that Juliet gets rid of the darkness in Romeo, meaning she makes him happy again.
Alternately others may think that Shakespeare is trying to suggest that Juliet lights up a room when she walks in.
Relationship between Friar Lawrence and romeo and julet?
Friar Lawrence knows that the wedding will be in secret, so for him to believe it will end the family feud, disputes with the priest character we think of as wise. Some believe the point Shakespeare is enforcing is that Romeo and Friar Lawrence are quite close. Others believe Shakespeare has portrayed Friar Lawrence like this to show the difference between him and the stereotypical priest.
In the times when this play was written, priests were seen as the heart of the community and highly trusted. This shows that Friar Lawrence influences Romeo and has a certain amount of control over him. Inequality is also shown is some scenes where Juliet is present, as she is treated as a victim throughout the play. Later on in this scene, Friar Lawrence starts to advise Romeo what to do next. Shakespeare could have shown Friar Lawrence like this, as he sees Romeo like a son and the way he is treating him is like a son.
However you could argue that Friar Lawrence is trying to control Romeo, which could affect his decisions and lead to some of his impulsive actions.
He figures that for her to fake her own death would cause fewer problems than if she was actually dead. Others may argue that he should have taken precautions to make sure Romeo received the message.
Towards the end of the play the character of Friar Lawrence is portrayed differently, as he selfishly puts himself first, leaving Juliet to kill herself. You could argue that Shakespeare shows him like this to show the cowardliness in him. Others may say that calling Friar Lawrence a coward is too strong, as he has helped Romeo and Juliet throughout the play.
Tybalt is the main encourager of the on going family feud between the Montagues and the Capulets. He narrows the intensity and desire of hatred of all Montagues to just Romeo. Fate is another aspect that contributes to the death of Romeo and Juliet at the end of the play. When the play was written, fate was thought to be determined by the stars.
In act 2 scene 2 Romeo refers to him falling in love with Juliet as fate. But when he has himself to act, his stored up wisdom only leads him wrong. He errs in being a party to the marriage, and his ingenuity and resource suggesting an escape from the inconvenient consequences of this step, he thinks to remedy his first error by a stratagem in which the child-like Juliet is to be involved.
No doubt the courage to confess to the parents how matters stand would bring down upon himself much unpleasantness.
It would bring down something worse upon Romeo and Juliet, and this consideration we may well believe weighs more heavily upon him than any personal penalties. Still, his duty is or should be clear before him. Even at the last when the tragic ending has come, and he is forced to unburden himself of his secret, though he palliates nothing, his confession of error is only conditional; "if aught in this," he says, "Miscarried by my fault, let my old life Be sacrificed some hour before his time Unto the rigour of severest law.
Hudson has "always felt a special comfort in the part of Friar Laurence.
- Romeo and Juliet
How finely his tranquillity contrasts with the surrounding agitation! And how natural it seems that from that very agitation he should draw lessons of tranquillity! According to Gervinus, the Friar "represents, as it were, the part of the chorus in this tragedy, and expresses the leading idea of the piece in all its fullness, namely, that excess in any enjoyment, however pure in itself, transforms its sweet into bitterness; that devotion to any single feeling, however noble, bespeaks its ascendancy; that this ascendancy moves the man and woman out of their natural spheres; that love can only be an accompaniment to life, and that it cannot completely fill out the life and business of the man especially; that in the full power of its first feeling it is a paroxysm of happiness, the very nature of which forbids its continuance in equal strength; that, as the poet says in an image, it is a flower that 'Being smelt, with that part cheers each part; Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart.
Surely he does not seek to "moralize this spectacle" through the agency of one who despite his long years, his acquisition of knowledge, his experience of life, his trusted philosophy, errs so grievously, errs in broad daylight, and without the excuse of passion to disturb his calm and tranquil mind. Shakespeare, it seems to me, dramatizes Brooke's narrative in his own incomparable fashion, and he does nothing more.
BBC Bitesize - KS3 English Literature - Characters - Revision 4
From The Works of William Shakespeare. Friar Laurence is full of goodness and natural piety, a monk such as Spinoza or Goethe would have loved, an undogmatic sage, with the astuteness and benevolent Jesuitism of an old confessor — brought up on the milk and bread of philosophy, not on the fiery liquors of religious fanaticism.
It is very characteristic of the freedom of spirit which Shakespeare early acquired, in the sphere in which freedom was then hardest of attainment, that this monk is drawn with so delicate a touch, without the smallest ill-will towards conquered Catholicism, yet without the smallest leaning towards Catholic doctrine — the emancipated creation of an emancipated poet.
The Poet here rises immeasurably above his original, Arthur Brooke, who, in his naively moralising "Address to the Reader," makes the Catholic religion mainly responsible for the impatient passion of Romeo and Juliet and the disasters which result from it.