The Friar To Blame For Romeo And Juliet's Death

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In “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare the main characters Romeo and Juliet were considered to be star crossed lovers but even with their love the ending was tragic. Romeo and Juliet both commit suicide at the end of the story so that they could be together in the afterlife. Many characters can be blamed for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. However the Friar is mostly to blame. The Friar is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because of his obvious knowledge of their demise through his foreshadowing throughout the story.

It is very important that a person tries to prevent a tragic event that they know will happen before it happens. Friar, says to Romeo before there wedding, “Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast” (II.iii.7).
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It can be argued that those coincidences led up to their death but the Friar made a bigger mistake which directly resulted in Romeo's death. The Friar had failed to reveal critical information regarding Juliet's health to Romeo. After Romeo is banished, Friar gives Juliet a vial to allow her to fake her death. “ Take thou this vial, being then in bed and this distilled liquor drink thou off” (IV.i.22-23). The Friar is giving her this potion to slow her heart beat so that the others will believe she is dead and then she can run off with Romeo. The Friar was supposed to send a message to Romeo telling him about what really happened but he was never able to get the message to Romeo. So when Romeo received word that Juliet had died he thought it was true. After receiving the information that his love had died he was inclined to go see her body. On the way he purchases a poison which he intends to kill himself with. When Romeo arrives he finds Juliet’s body and drinks the poison so that he could be with her in the afterlife. Shortly after Romeo died Juliet awoke from her sleep and noticed his body right beside her. She was emotionally broken and decided to grab Romeo’s dagger and impale herself so that the two of them could be together. A claim formed from this quote is that the Friar made a fatal mistake leading to the …show more content…
The Friar can be blamed for many reasons including how he knew that if Romeo and Juliet were married their deaths would shortly follow. He also valued the importance of the family feud being resolved more than the lives of Romeo and Juliet. Lastly he can be blamed for not sending his message to Romeo about the plan he had with Juliet informing him that she wasn’t really dead. A universal claim that can be gathered from these points is that if a person knows someone will be hurt they should try to prevent it at all