Essay on Characterization
Joshua Park
9F
Friar Lawrence is one of those characters who gets into trouble suddenly! He was
suddenly asked to take care of all the conflict between Romeo and Juliet. At the end, Friar
Lawrence did help Romeo with lots of things such as escaping and marriage. Without Friar
Lawrence, the story couldn’t have gone further after Romeo was excommunicated.
Before getting to know why he was the main importance, we should know him deeper.
Friar Lawrence was a kind-hearted, generous and meticulous man. When Romeo was crazy with
Juliet, he let them marry because he was nice enough to accept. Also, he kindly welcomes Juliet
when she was very gloomy because of her 2nd marriage with Paris. Friar kindly suggest her a
plan to get away with her heat-stabbing marriage and go back to Romeo. One of the nice thing
about Friar is that he always tries to help Romeo although it’s very lazy. For example, when
Romeo was excommunicated, Friar always alerted him with fresh news letters from Verona “I
shall signify you from time to time”(3.4.181) This quote tells us how Friar cares about Romeo
and he’ll always send him news when he can possibly can.
If Friar Lawrence wasn’t in the story, then the story wouldn’t have been able to go on.
This is because he was the ‘plan maker’ of this story. Without his plan with Juliet, this play
would’ve ended. According to Prince’s personality in the story, if Romeo doesn’t leave Verona
until the next day, he would’ve been killed. Without Friar, Romeo and Juliet had to end in 2
ways. First, Romeo would stay with Juliet risking death, and being killed by the law. Second,
Romeo being excommunicated, not being noticed for any news and therefor, story ended. If you
fit Friar’s plan in there, then the story would continue for a longer period of time.
If it wasn’t Friar, then none of the plans would’ve worked. Since Friar is a very holy
character, he is trusted by everybody. Also, although he is the one that made all the weird plans
and caused the 2 deaths of lovers, he is not blamed in anyway by anyone. That is because he is
the only character in this play, and the only one who’s trying to solve this chaotic fight between
two families. I think, that Shakespeare made this play, so until Friar solves the conflict, the story
will never end. In these times, it is the priests that marries people and that is Friar Lawrence. If
Friar Lawrence wasn’t in the story, then the story could’ve ended just after Romeo’s fatigued
love for Juliet. These two couldn’t do anything without Friar Lawrence. If Friar didn’t notify
Romeo with news form Verona, “I’ll find out your man, and shall signify you form time to time
Every good hap to you that chances you here” (3.4.180), Romeo wouldn’t have noticed Juliet’s
death.
One of the big themes in this book is Fate. It was Friar Lawrence, that made fate come
into our minds. During Juliet and Romeo’s death, it seemed that Fate was a big deal. This fate
was brought by our holy character Friar. It made sense that Friar brought fate, because fat is the
will of God. Also, Friar never had any bad intentions for his actions. When he married Romeo
and Juliet, it was probably for the good of the two households who kept on fighting. He wanted
all the conflicts to be solved, and when the conflicts end, the books end. Friar represents the story
line of Romeo and Juliet because he moves on the plot, and ends the story with a resolution to his
failed plan.