Who Is To Blame For Friar Lawrence's Death

La Mesa, CA 91941

February 24, 2023

Prince Escalus
Sovereign of Verona
1616 Castle Drive
Verona, Italy 37100

Prince Escalus:

A tough few weeks have been brought upon the town in wake of Romeo’s and Juilet’s death. A forbidden love between the Capulets and Montagues that had turned sour resulted in the suicide of the lovestruck teens. It is evident that someone must be blamed for this tragedy and know one is more to blame than Friar Lawrence. His impulsive decisions and selfishness played an immense role in this catastrophe. Justice must be served in order to bring peace back among the people of Friar Verona.

The main reason that Friar Lawrence is to blame for the tragic death of both Romeo and Juliet is because of his rash and ill-guided

Friar Lawrence explains the devastation of this poison while handing it to Juliet, “Take thou this vial, being then in bed, / And this distilling liquor drink thou off; / When presently through all thy veins shall run / A cold and drowsy humor; for no pulse” (4.1.95-98). Not only was Friar Lawrence the one to give Juliet the poison, but he was also the one to create the entire plan. The plan he had fabricated had many flaws and was incredibly underthought. Giving someone poison that is capable of stopping their heart and not making sure all your bases are covered is widely negligent. Not only that but handing a poison to a teenager without explicit instructions of what to do and how the entire plan should work is just plain foolishness. Another example of his poor decision making is marrying Romeo and Juliet. He agrees to officiate in act 2 scene 3 by stating,

He had delusionally thought that he could single handedly solve the forbidden love between Romeo and Juliet. An example of this is when he doesn’t tell anyone about Romeo and Juliet. This is shown when Friar Lawrence is explaining what Romeo should do to escape from the city after the banishment, he says “Go, get thee to thy love, as was decreed. / Ascend her chamber. Hence and comfort her. / But look thou stay not till the watch be set, / For then thou canst not pass to Mantua / Where thou shalt live till we can find a time / To blaze your marriage, recoline your friends, / Beg pardon of the Prince, and call thee back / With twenty hundred thousand times more joy / Than thou went’st forth lamenttion.” (3.3.156-164) He never once tells anyone about the dangerous love between Romeo and Juliet. His actual plan is to just keep a secret until some time has passed and people's tempers have died down. Yet this only further encourages the youths to chase after each which puts not only their lives in jeopardy but others around them. He believes that he can be the one to solve the problem without the help of anyone else. His arrogance and selfishness is what leads to him making this decision. Another example of this delusion is seen when he leaves Juliet alone after Romeo has just died, illustrated by “Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay” (Friar Lawrence.) “Go, get thee hence, for will not away.”