An Analysis Of Friar Lawrence To Blame For The Deaths Of Romeo And Juliet

In William Shakespeare's play, Romeo & Juliet, there are many different characters that could be blamed for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Some may say Friar Laurence is responsible because he helped Juliet fake her own death thus causing Romeo to take his life. Others may say it is the Prince’s fault for banning Romeo from Verona therefore, separating the two lovers. However, ultimately, it is both Romeo and Juliet’s fault for their tragic deaths. The biggest reason they are to blame is because they were the ones who both willingly took their own lives. First off, Romeo is to blame because he willingly drinks the poison to kill himself. When Romeo is in Juliet’s tomb, seeing her lifeless body, right before drinking the poison he says, “Here’s to my love! O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die” (Act 5, Scene 3, Lines 119-120). Romeo knows that the poison will kill him, and yet he still drinks it. His choice to take his own life, although he made it out of grief for his dead love, was still his own rash and poorly made decision.

When Juliet wakes up and sees Romeo’s dead body, she kisses it and says, “Thy lips are warm!” (Act 5, Scene 3, Line 167). This conveys the fact that Romeo’s body is still warm after Juliet wakes up meaning that Romeo had just killed himself. If Romeo would have waited a little longer, he would have seen Juliet wake up and realize that he did not need to kill himself. Instead, overcome with grief, Romeo quickly drank the poison and killed himself before Juliet had a chance to wake up. If he had just taken a moment to look into what had really happened, he would have found out Juliet was not really dead and killing himself would be