Friar Lawrence

• Catholic priest
• Catholic - A3,S5 - Juliet says she will like 'to make confession to absolved'
• England had separated from Catholic Church in 1534 - Henry VIII - Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in 1597 - tension between Protestants and Catholics - however, Shakespeare uses Friar Lawrence to show his view on Catholics
• 1st seen in A2,S3 - speech about power of plants when Romeo arrives - could establish the Friar as Romeo's confidant - Friar see's Romeo was out all night and asks ' Wast thou with Rosaline?' - he knew more about Romeo's life then Lord and Lady Montague - shows he is like a surrogate father to Romeo (like the nurse to Juliet) - He says Romeo didn't love Rosaline he was just 'doting' on her
• Good or Bad?

  • spoken highly of by other characters - Juliet (A4S3) + Prince (A5S3) - call him a 'holy man'
  • He agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet because 'this audience may so happy prove to turn your households rancour to pure love' - he did it to stop the feud
  • A4S1 - Juliet doesn't want to marry Paris, he says ' I do spy a kind of hope which craves desperation an execution' - this is telling Juliet the plan : drink the potion, fake the death, hide in the tomb, run away with Romeo to Mantua - weird plan=one of Shakespeare's vehicles to develop the plot
• How is the audience supposed to view him?


  Plant speech: 'Within the infant rind of this small flower Poison hath residence and medicine power' ->some plants can be good and bad depending on how the are used - foreshadows the apothecary's use of poison later

  The Friar uses human beings like herbs - He attempts to use Romeo and Juliet to amend the peace between the Montagues and the Capulets
• Friar ends the play by taking the chorus role (like Benvolio) - A5S3 - long summary of what happens