Friar Lawrence, Holy Or Not?

          In "Romeo & Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet get married very quickly. This, and a few other things leads to their horrific ending. Romeo and Juliet get married after a few days of knowing each other, and Friar Lawrence marries them. Friar Lawrence is a very interesting character, because although he is a "friar", and he often guides many people religiously, and in general, he makes some very unethical decisions.
          When Romeo comes to Friar Lawrence and tells him that he wants to get married to Juliet, Friar Lawrence is surprised that Romeo had gotten over Rosaline so fast, and tells Romeo to slow it down. He says, "Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear, so soon forgotten?" by which he means, 'Jeez! You got over her quickly!' Romeo informs him that he does not care for Rosaline anymore, but is the "fair daughter of rich Capulet" that now intoxicates him. To that, Friar Lawrence responds, "Young men's love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes." By that, the Friar means that Romeo is only basing his love on Juliet's looks, not her actual personality. Which, in my opinion, (sorry to you romantics out there) is definitely true. Friar Lawrence clearly thinks so, and so he is disapproving of Romeo and Juliet's relationship. He also advises Romeo, "Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast." He is telling Romeo to slow it down, and get to know Juliet a little better before marrying her. This shows that Friar Lawrence is a good, wise mentor and guide. However, during this encounter, he then agrees to marry them because he thinks it could resolve the feud between the two families. This is where ethics come into play.
          Some people might say that Friar Lawrence did the right thing by agreeing to marry them, because as we talked about in class, he did it for the greater good. Some people, like myself however, think he was partially in the wrong. I'll admit, he definitely gave Romeo a lot of advice, but it was clear that Romeo wasn't fully processing the advice, or really considering what he and Juliet were doing. Friar Lawrence told Romeo to "slow it down", but he is the one who's helping him get married. Although he does post-pone the marriage a few weeks, a few weeks probably isn't going to do much for their relationship. Since he has the power to marry, we can assume that Friar Lawrence has a fair amount of power involving the church, and that people often come to him for advice and consolation. He may have told Romeo the right things, but he didn't deliver them with much conviction, and he didn't make sure they had an impact because deep down, he wants Romeo and Juliet to get married as soon as possible. This was very unethical of him. Some people might argue that he was justified, and he did make his case, but he really didn't do all that he could. If a teacher just recited information to a class, but not a single one of them understood, that teacher would not be considered doing their job.
          Friar Lawrence is such an interesting character because although he has huge responsibilities as a "mentor", he still chooses to literally risk these two teenagers' lives to try and stop the feud. Romeo and Juliet make a lot of rash decisions, and as you go on throughout the play, they kind of snowball on top of each other. There are also a lot of people along the way who could've prevented many of the tragedies that occur during this story, and Friar Lawrence is one of them. When Romeo came to him for advice, Friar Lawrence saw an opportunity and took it. Ironically, he makes a rash decision to sacrifice Romeo and Juliet for the "greater good", and the repercussions were truly gruesome.
          Decisions are almost never just the "good" decision and the "bad" decision. Even when you try to balance things out, or make somewhat of an effort to do one thing, even when you are choosing the other, it is often the minor details that have the greatest impact, and every little decision counts. I think that was one thing that Shakespeare was trying to get us to realize: just how much every decision we make affects other people. I think it's an extremely important lesson for everyone to realize, and although this story is quite dramatic, Shakespeare eloquently displays just how one little thing can lead to another, and another, and so on and so on until you have a complete and utter tragedy.



P.S. Good luck to everyone tomorrow!!!!! 

Romeo & Juliet: Going Too Fast? Or Getting Pushed To Do So?

          In ELA, we are currently reading "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet is about a young boy and girl from two enemy households (Romeo: Montague, Juliet: Capulet), who fall madly in love, and in a horrible mix up, both end up killing themselves. While reading this  script, I noticed a certain theme. Throughout the text, there is a lot of reference to people "coming of age", and reminiscing over children growing up too fast.
          Shortly after the initial fight scene, Paris talks to Capulet about his wishes to marry Juliet. To Capulet, he says, "Younger than she are happy mothers made." By this, Paris is saying that girls younger than her are happily married and have children, so Juliet should be perfectly fine with it. In response, Capulet says, "And too soon marred are those so early made." By "made", Capulet means "married", and he is saying that by getting married so soon, Juliet will lose the freedom of life too soon, and it should be lost later in life (in adulthood). They clearly disagree.
           When Lady Capulet is first talking to Juliet about marriage, Lady Capulet and Nurse are talking about Juliet's age. Lady Capulet says, "She's not fourteen". "I'll lay fourteen of my teeth (and yet, to my teen be it spoken, I have but four) she's not fourteen," agrees Nurse. At the same time however, they are reminiscing. Nurse goes on a long, ranting story of when Juliet was just a child; "'Tis since the earthquake now eleven years, / And she was weaned (I never shall forget it)/ Of all the days of the year, upon that day...." In this manner, it appears as if Juliet is growing up very fast, and that they are saying that she is young. Soon after, however, Lady Capulet proposes the idea of marriage to Juliet, and tells her of Paris's wish to marry her. When Juliet says that she respects the idea of marriage, but does not wish it for herself just yet, her mother replies, "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." By this, Lady Capulet is saying that at age 13, Juliet should be glad to be a mother; respectable women were mothers at ages younger than 13, and Lady Capulet herself was a mother at around Juliet's age. By these words, it seems as if Lady Capulet is pushing Juliet to become more mature then (in my opinion) she ought to be at such a young age. All of these conflicting messages both support the concept of my theme.
           In Act 1, Scene 5, at the party, Capulet is talking to his Cousin about how long it's been since they last attended a masquerade party. Capulet's Cousin says it's been thirty years, but Capulet is saying it hasn't been that long: "Some five and twenty years, and then we masked." His cousin then replies, "'Tis more, 'tis more. His son is elder, sir. His son is thirty." To which Capulet replies, "Will you tell me that?/ His son was but a ward (one under the care of a guardian) two years ago." Capulet is saying that time has gone by very quickly, and he cannot believe how fast "his" son has grown. Although this is a minor detail within the story (barely), it still stood out to me, because there's quite a lot of talk of children/teenagers becoming, or not yet becoming adults.
           In class, we're often told to consider why Romeo and Juliet fell so madly in love, and if we think it was smart for their relationship to escalate so quickly as it did. While thinking about the theme that I noticed, I came to a realization. Many people say that Romeo and Juliet's love for each other was just lust, and that it happened way too quickly, and at too young an age. But really, how can we blame them? Throughout the story, there are so many conflicting pieces of advice, or orders about how to act, and what actions should be done in affiliation with their ages. It is true, they do agree to be married very shortly after they meet each other, but what about Paris and Juliet? Do they know each other any better than Romeo and Juliet know each other? Put yourself in Juliet's shoes. Here she is, constantly being told that she is an adult, but also often being defended as a child/teenager. Then, she learns she is soon to be forced to get married to an adult man. Then comes along Romeo, someone actually her age, and they fall in love. Was it really that unwise, or that ridiculous? They're constantly handed responsibilities as adults, and relationship-wise treated like adults, so it was quite understandable that they fell in love as adults, or that they felt they did. Maybe it wasn't just Romeo and Juliet being careless and impulsive, maybe it was how they were treated that made them act the way they did.