Friar Lawrence Friar Lawrence: Mission Accomplished In William Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence plays an important role. The holy man makes what he believes to be the right decision in every action he takes. Romeo and Juliet often come to the Friar for advice on what to do with their life. Although Friar Lawrence may bend the law in some ways, he is striving to unite two young lovers, and therefore ending their families’ menacing feud. The Prince hopes for this long before the play starts. Friar Lawrence brings the two families closer and ends the feud in a matter of days.
The Prince should pardon Friar Lawrence because he ends the feud and Romeo and Juliet can live happily together in the kingdom of Heaven. Friar Lawrence is the most holy man in Verona. He makes his own decisions and people respect him. Some come to him for advice or counseling. When Romeo and Juliet come, he consents to marry them, in thought of ending the feud between the families. He tells Romeo, “In one respect I’ll thy assistant be/ For this alliance may so happy prove/To turn your households’ rancor to pure love”(Shakespeare 2. 3, 90-92).
Friar Lawrence knows the consequences from the beginning of the dramatic tragedy, and decides that if anything happens to these adolescents, he is to blame. Also, the Friar wanted the lovers to be happy. They confide in him when they have nobody to trust. Friar Lawrence believes in Romeo and Juliet when no one else in Verona does. He never turns his back on anyone who deserves help. He helps Romeo when he is banished. Friar says: Go hence; good night; and here stands all your state: Either be gone before the watch be set, Or by the break of day disguised from hence. Sojourn to Mantua.
I’ll find out your man, And he shall signify from time to time Every good hap to you that chances here. Give me thy hand. ‘Tis late. Farewell; good night. (Shakespeare 3. 4,166-72) Although Friar Lawrence breaks a couple of laws, he does so out of the kindness of his heart. Friar Lawrence helps the young lovers, not because he wants them to die, but because he feels their passion and sincerity. Friar has no inkling that Romeo and Juliet will kill themselves. The star-crossed lovers exhibit impulsiveness many times in the story. “Romeo is introduced as being love-bewildered. (Dowden 51) As soon as Romeo lays eyes on Juliet, he is madly in love. However Bert Cardullo wrote, “There remains… perfect simplicity and directness… in Romeo’s real love for Juliet” (52) The Friar wants to unite the two once and for all. Although he shelters a banished Romeo, it is only to keep Romeo and Juliet together. Whether or not Friar Lawrence is guilty or innocent is up to Prince Escalus. When Prince Escalus looks at all of the evidence and circumstances that the Friar was in, the Prince will see Friar Lawrence was in way over his head and there was no way out.
He could not turn his back on the young teenagers when they needed him most. He did not want to watch them die for each other. Friar Lawrence is a holy man and deserves to be free. Prince Escalus should pardon Friar Lawrence. To conclude, critic Edward Dowden wrote, “Shakespeare did not intend that the feeling evoked by the last scene of this tragedy of Romeo and Juliet should be one of hopeless sorrow or despair in presence of failure, ruin, and miserable collapse. Juliet and Romeo, to whom Verona has been a harsh step-mother, have accomplished their lives. They loved perfectly. ”(59)
