5 KEY QUOTES

• baleful weeds - good vs evil


  uses soliloquy describing plants as 'baleful weeds' - evokes theme of death which is ever-present and foreshadowing poison Romeo drinks at the plays denouement - shows awareness of capacity that nature has for good and also evil
• the earth, that's natures mother, is her tomb/what is her burying grave that is her womb - good vs evil


  use of rhyming couplets 'tomb' 'womb' juxtapose life and death - iambic pentameter makes line seem almost like a proverb, makes it memorable - techniques make friar Lawrence appear to have higher knowledge of workings of life and nature
• wisely and slow, they stumble that run fast - religious mediator


  mediator of romeos expectations, encouraging his to be less hasty - friars tasked with providing advice not solely on faith - Romeo confides in friar rather than his own father - friar is a paternal figure for Romeo characterising him as wise and unbiased
• the world is broad and wide - religious mediator


  trying to manage romeos frustration - he is paternal in mediation, attempts to reconcile conflict but doesn't succeed - perhaps this is Shakespeare communicating overwhelming power of fate and that mediation and logic can't surmount it despite the friars best efforts
• entreated her to come forth/and bear this work of heaven with patience - folly of friar lawrence


  uses religious imagery to justify he only meant good but somehow falls flat in face of tragedy - as aforementioned, elizabethans devoutly religious thus friar Lawrence would have been granted with inherent trust from audience - his ability to do wrong shows him to be inherently human, exemplifies even men guided by religion can commit wrong no matter intentions