What can possibly cause a couple of young lovers to commit suicide in order to be together? Since William Shakespeare wrote tragedies in which the main characters die, the star-crossed lovers in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet had to die, but some significant events led up to their death and someone made these incidents to occur. Who is to blame for the deaths in the play? Was it the feuding families or was it the friendly, kindhearted priest Friar Lawrence? Although Friar Lawrence could be considered a minor character, he is the most responsible for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet; he married the title characters despite their feuding families, he had a risky plan to save Juliet from a second marriage and his fear of committing sins.
Initially, rather than telling the couple to either end their loving situation or to reveal the relationship to their families, Friar Lawrence secretly marries Romeo and Juliet in hope of ending the family grudge.
Mass-produced colour photolithography on paper for...
Romeo and Juliet with Friar Laurence
English: Title page of the second quarto edition (...As soon as Romeo informs the friar about his love for Juliet, the priest marries the young lovers, even though he had misgivings about how hasty love could end just as quickly as it emerged. Later on, the marriage provokes a brawl that results in the death of Tybalt and Mercutio and ends with Romeo's banishment. At the beginning, Tybalt challenges Romeo to fight, but as Romeo was now related to Tybalt through his marriage to Juliet, the Montague refused saying: " Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee / Doth much excuse the appertaining rage / To such a greeting. Villain am I none" (III.i.61-63). In order to defend his friend's honor, Mercutio decided to fight on behalf of Romeo, but unfortunately, Romeo interfere the vicious fighters, and Tybalt killed Mercutio under...