Romeo and Juliet

            
             Friar Lawrence plays a key role in this play. He gives a great deal of input to the main characters. I have produced a list of quotes some of which we have already recited. These quotes give you an insight to the role Shakespeare wished him to play. On studying his speeches I noticed he gave a lot of good and bad advice to the characters. This advice is mainly about love. I do not however feel that he is qualified to give this advice for one reason. He is a friar. At the time the play was written friars were not allowed to marry. This means that he took a vow of celibacy, so how can he give advise on this subject when in truth he knows nothing about it. .
             At one part in the story he quotes to Romeo 'is loathsome in his own deliciousness and in the taste confounds the appetite' even though he has never been in love. He states that the sort of love Romeo feels for Juliet can become sickly as it is so sweet and it destroys your desire to fall in love again. How can he make this assumption, as he has no knowledge to what it is like? .
             The friar plays a linkage role in the play. He marries Romeo and Juliet even though he knew that it would probably end in disaster. He believes this as he says 'these violent delights have violent ends, and in their triumphs die, like fire and powder, which as they kiss consume'. When he says this he means that such extreme emotions like the love Romeo feels for Juliet often end violently as does gunpowder when it is touched by fire. So ultimately does this not mean that the whole scenario is his fault, as it was his duty as a responsible adult and a member of the church to make Romeo and Juliet see sense? .
             In the play he is juxtaposed with the nurse. The reason for this is that they are both involved with the marriage of Romeo and Juliet. As the nurse has her concerns for Juliet as he has his for Romeo. .