The Nurse and Friar Laurence Are Responsible for Romeo and Juliets Death
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In Shakespeares play Romeo and Juliet the characters Nurse and Friar Laurence are to blame for Romeo and Juliets 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 Capulets or the Montagues, 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 Juliets 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 Ill assistant be.
For this alliance may so happy prove
To turn your households rancour to pure love.”
(Friar Laurence, Act II Scene III, sentence 87-92)
By doing this, Friar Laurence has gone behind Capulet and Montagues back, and started the momentum behind the lovers 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, hes a man of wax.
LADY CAPULET
“Veronas summer hath not such a flower.”
NURSE
“Nay, hes 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 Pariss 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 mans, yet his leg
Excels all mens; 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, Ill 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 Juliets feelings towards him.
“Theres no trust,
No faith, no honesty in men; all perjured,
All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.
Ah, wheres 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 lovers 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 musics 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