Rom. The Friar
1) At the end of the play, when Prince Escalus begins to investigate the deaths of the lovers, Friar Lawrence appears to both condemn and excuse himself for his role in the events that led to the tragic ending:
PRINCE
Seal up the mouth of outrage for awhile,
Till we can clear these ambiguities
And know their spring, their head, their true
descent,
And then will I be general of your woes
And lead you even to death. Meantime forbear,
And let mischance be slave to patience.—
Bring forth the parties of suspicion.
FRIAR LAWRENCE
I am the greatest, able to do least,
Yet most suspected, as the time and place
Doth make against me, of this direful murder.
And here I stand, both to impeach and purge
Myself condemnèd and myself excused.
Do you condemn or excuse Friar Lawrence for his role in the tragedy? If he erred, how did he do so? If he is blameless, why do you think so?
2) The Friar is associated with transformation: in his first appearance onstage he enters delivering a soliloquy about the transformative and potentially deadly power of plants and poison. What moral message does he draw from his observations about nature?
FRIAR LAWRENCE
The gray-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night,
Check’ring the eastern clouds with streaks of light,
And fleckled darkness like a drunkard reels
From forth day’s path and Titan’s fiery wheels.
Now, ere the sun advance his burning eye,
The day to cheer and night’s dank dew to dry,
I must upfill this osier cage of ours
With baleful weeds and precious-juicèd flowers.
The Earth that’s nature’s mother is her tomb;
What is her burying grave, that is her womb;
And from her womb children of divers kind
We sucking on her natural bosom find,
Many for many virtues excellent,
None but for some, and yet all different.
O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies
In plants, herbs, stones, and their true qualities.
For naught so vile that on the Earth doth live
But to the Earth some special good doth give;
Nor aught so good but, strained from that fair use,
Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse.
Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied,
And vice sometime by action dignified.
(2.3.1-22)
3) Read 4.1.95 and following. The Friar deploys the power of "plants, herbs, [and] stones" in order to create a potion or draft that will give the appearance of death when Juliet swallows it. According to the Friar's plan, she will then be conveyed to the Capulet tomb, where Romeo and the Friar will meet her and convey her to Mantua. Is the Friar in the right to falsify Juliet’s death? Is this an example of virtue turning to vice, being misapplied? Or is it a case of vice being dignified by action?
4) Friar Lawrence agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet in the hopes their union will turn the Capulet and Montague’s rancor to pure love in a sort of alchemy. The Friar’s ability to create these kinds of potions link him to the Apothecary sells Romeo his fatal poison in Mantua. Read 5.1.38-91.
How are the apothecary and the Friar similar? How are they different? They both agree to "help" Romeo. What are their respective motivations? Are any of the characters taking advantage of each other in these scenarios?
5) Identify all the references to "stumbling" in the play. Who stumbles in Romeo and Juliet? Why?
6) Re-read question 1 and your answer: Do you condemn or excuse Friar Lawrence for his role in the tragedy? If he erred, how did he do so? If he is blameless, why do you think so?
Is your answer the same? Why or why not?
