The Nurse and Friar Laurence Are Responsible for Romeo and Juliet's Death

In Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet the characters Nurse and Friar Laurence are to blame for Romeo and Juliet's Problems.

The way Friar Laurence encouraged Romeo and Juliet to get Married, The way the Nurse is contradictory in her views of Romeo and Paris, When Friar Laurence secretly married them, the way the Nurse is secretive about the affair and does not tell the Capulet's or the Montague's, when Laurence gave Juliet the sleeping potion, the way Laurence believed he was doing the right thing without thinking of the consequences, and the way Laurence leaves Juliet's Tomb when he hears the watch coming, all combine to result in the lovers death.

In act II scene III, Romeo goes to see Friar Laurence to tell him that he no longer loves Rosaline, but has fell in love with Juliet. This amazes Friar Laurence, but he promises to marry them,

"O, she knew well

Thy love did read by rote, that could not spell.

But come, young waverer, come, go with me.

In one respect I'll assistant be.

For this alliance may so happy prove

To turn your household's rancour to pure love."

(Friar Laurence, Act II Scene III, sentence 87-92)

By doing this, Friar Laurence has gone behind Capulet and Montague's back, and started the momentum behind the lover's tragedy.

In a few parts of the play, the Nurse speaks of Romeo and Paris with Juliet, each time she has a different view on who Juliet should be with,

LADY CAPULET

"Marry, that 'marry' is the very theme

I came to talk of. Tell me daughter Juliet,

How stands your dispositions to be married?"

JULIET

"It is an honour that I dream not of"

NURSE

"An honour! Were not I thine only nurse,

I would say thou hadst sucked wisdom from thy

Teat."

LADY CAPULET

"Well, think of marriage now. Younger than you,

Here in Verona, ladies of esteem

Are made already mothers. By my count,

I was your mother much upon these years

That you are now a maid. Thus in brief:

The Valiant Paris seeks you for his love.

NURSE

"A man, young lady! Lady, such a man

As all the world - why, he's a man of wax.

LADY CAPULET

"Verona's summer hath not such a flower."

NURSE

"Nay, he's a flower; in faith, a very flower."

(Act I Scene III, sentence 65-79)

In this excerpt, Lady Capulet brings up the subject of marriage into the conversation, but Juliet does not wish to be married. Lady Capulet then brings up Paris's name and the Nurse says he is a 'man of wax', which means a perfect man.

"Well, you have made a simple choice. You

Know not how to choose a man. Romeo? No, not he.

Though his face be better than any man's, yet his leg

Excels all men's; and for a hand and a foot, and a

Body, though they be not to be talked on, yet they

Are past compare. He is not the flower of courtesy,

But, I'll warrant him, as gentle as a lamb. Go thy

Ways, wench. Serve God. What, have you dined

At home? (Nurse, Act II Scene V, sentence 38-46)

In this quote, The Nurse tells Juliet that she believes Juliet is in love with Romeo for his looks only, and also herself believes Romeo is handsome herself, though she does not disapprove of Juliet's feelings towards him.

"There's no trust,

No faith, no honesty in men; all perjured,

All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.

Ah, where's my man? Give me some aqua vitae.

These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.

Shame come to Romeo" (Nurse, Act III Scene II, sentence 89-94)

In this example, Romeo has just slain Tybalt. The Nurse is giving her opinion on all men. In her last sentence "Shame come to Romeo", The Nurse is expressing her latest feeling she has for Romeo.

Because the Nurse has these mixed feeling about Romeo and Paris throughout the play, She is inadvertently sending mixed messages to Juliet and confusing her, further impacting on the lover's problems.

In Act II Scene VI, Friar Laurence secretly marries Romeo and Juliet without knowledge of the consequences

ROMEO

"Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy

Be heaped like mine, and that thy skill be more

To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath

This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue

Unfold the imagined happiness that both

Receive in either by this dear encounter."

JULIET

"Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,

Brags of this substance, not of ornament.

They

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