Reading Romeo and Juliet there are multiple complex and mysterious characters who I can't quite figure out. It is sometimes difficult to see what their motive in the story is and which side they are on"Montague or Capulet." Friar Laurence is one of those characters. He is a confidant of Romeo and Romeo often goes to him for advice.
The day after Romeo meets Juliet he goes to Friar Laurence and tells him that he loves Juliet and wishes to be married to her. Friar Laurence is slightly taken aback because just a few days ago, Romeo declared that he was madly in love with Rosaline and will never find someone more fair than her. "Young men's love then lies, Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes," says Friar Laurence in Act 2 Scene 2 in lines 71 and 72. I think Friar Laurence is explaining how Romeo may think he is in love with Juliet but really he only thinks that she is beautiful and is not looking beyond that. This implies that Friar Laurence is bewildered by Romeo's extremely sudden interest in a girl he met yesterday. Then Friar Laurence says in lines 97-100, " In one respect I'll thy assistant be, for this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households' rancor to pure love." It's almost like his opinion completely changed. I think that this means that their love will bring together their families to rejoice and make amends. I think this is important to him and many other citizens of Verona because the ever-lasting feud between the two rival families is causing disruption in the beautiful city of Verona. If the two families make amends with each other, Verona will be restored to it's original state of tranquility.
The question of whether or not Friar Laurence cares about Romeo was brought up and I think that he does care about Romeo. Even though he wants the two families to end their strife, he knows that there are treacherous risks of the young couple getting married. They could most likely be executed due to betrayal to their families. It is also a slim chance that the families will be so forgiving of each other in such a short period of time. Friar Laurence hopes that the feud will conclude but he is also taking the risks into consideration.
Great Post!! I also wrote about Friar Lawrence and I think your perspective on his thoughts on love and if he really cares about Romeo are really good. Also, great job using textual evident to support your ideas.
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ReplyDeleteloved your post! I agree with Sydney; your use of textual evidence to support your ideas about Friar Lawrence and his importance in the play was astounding, and really made me see how important Friar Lawrence is to the plot line. Friar Lawrence is interesting because although he warns Romeo of the consequences of acting so reckless and rash, he agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet having them only known each other for but a day. Great character choice, and amazing post!
ReplyDeletePia, this was so good. I also wrote about Friar Lawrence, and I said the same kind of thing that Friar is this inspirational character that is very influential, but contradicts himself a lot. He has this underlying opinion about what Romeo should really do, but it changes back and forth. He is very indicisive. Great post!
ReplyDelete<3 Sarah
This is a great post, Pia! While I understand why some people may think that Friar Lawrence does not actually care about Romeo, I agree with you, and I think he does. He is only trying to be sure that Romeo is making a wise decision. And if those decisions also benefit the town, it is merely a coincidence.
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