Q: Is any character or characters more responsible than others for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet? How so? What makes them responsible? Explain.
Disclaimer: My views on this topic are probably already clear from my various rants and objections during class. Prepare for more of that, only now it's written down and shoved into five paragraphs.
Friar Lawrence is a meddler. He has gotten himself so tangled up in the mess that is Romeo and Juliet that he finds himself drowning at the end. Friar Lawrence is responsible for the two even marrying in their first place. Without him, their love affair would have been a short one. Romeo would have moved on and Juliet would have married Paris despite daydreams of what if we. Things wouldn’t have even gotten off the ground if Friar Lawrence hadn’t gotten involved. But his big ideas of controlling one’s destiny tarnished Romeo and Juliet’s potential as separate individuals. Romeo is fickle and Juliet is wistful. Their naivety could have, should have, been addressed and discouraged, and instead, Friar Lawrence encouraged it, nursed it into fruition. The pair were not couple of orchids. They were innocent, naive people who were led on a path to destruction by a friar who knew of their circumstances, but was more inclined to follow his own judgement instead of evaluating the potential peril of the two teenagers that had entrusted themselves in his judgment.
When Romeo approached Friar Lawrence and asked him to marry him and Juliet, the Friar objected. He was astonished at how fast Romeo’s mind had changed. Romeo had been complaining of his rejection by Rosaline to the Friar, and now, just a day later, he was claiming to be so in love with a new woman that he wanted to marry her. Friar Lawrence says, “ Young men’s love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.” He believes that Romeo has just fallen prey to the wandering eyes of an adolescent boy, but then less than a page later, he agrees to marry him! He doesn’t even ask how the two met. He’s using the two young teenagers to reach an end goal. He agrees to marry him because he believes that “this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households’ rancor to pure love.” His motives for marrying them are selfish. He is a man of science despite his vestments. Je believes that flowers can hold the power over life and death. He believes in the power of man. He believes in his own power to manipulate the outcome of these circumstances, when in reality, he has only sealed their fate.
After Juliet hears news of Romeo’s banishment, she flips out. Both kids have threatened suicide multiple times and Friar Lawrence has talked them down, which is one thing he’s not completely useless at, but this time she’s a whole new level of desperate. She hadn’t thought of marriage until the day she met Romeo, but now she was being forced into one with a man she didn’t love. She had tasted freedom during her time with Juliet and she was not willing to let that feeling go. She threatens to kill herself and instead of trying to get her to see that there was little else he could, should, do, he ensnares himself deeper into their twisted storyline. He offers her a potion that will make it appear as if she is dead. He says if she’s desperate enough, he will “give thee remedy.” This remedy is an elaborate plan that involves faking Juliet’s death. This was done only because he didn’t, couldn’t, marry a woman he knew was already married. At this point, he was as desperate as Juliet. He was grasping for straws and this elaborate, complicated plan that could go so very wrong, was what he saw was his only way out. He was thinking of saving his own skin instead of comforting a suicidal teenage girl. She was in an impossible situation. She was just a kid who wouldn’t face up to reality, but he was an adult who should have.
Friar Lawrence lies to the faces of Juliet’s grieving parents. He gives them the whole “she’s in a better place” talk, while knowing that she was alive and well. This was not the act of a man searching for peace, but a man searching for relief. Admittedly, it was not his fault that Romeo did not get his message, but it is his fault that those parents were grieving. It was his fault that they believed that their daughter died. Even if guilt motivated their grief, they were still feeling a loss. After the two teenagers had killed themselves, Friar Lawrence revealed his role in the tragedy. I think he was overwhelmed with the weight of his involvement that he needed to share the story to finally feel relief. He could have lied to protect himself, but I believe that at the end, he felt guilty.
That emission of guilt solidifies my conclusion. He must have realized what he had done. I blame him for starting this mess and for its gruesome ending. Romeo and Juliet's naive stubbornness and the selfish motivations of their families contributed, but Friar Lawrence holds most of the blame. He wasn't motivated by the teenagers' feelings, though I do think he cared for them, just not enough to prevent his meddling. Friars are generally thought of as spiritual advisors, but the Friar acted defensively and for himself. Even Juliet had her doubts about his attentions. Friar is one of the only three-dimensional people in the play, but I didn't really like what I found when I looked deeper than his vestments.
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