Friar Laurence marries Romeo and Juliet secretly despite the fact that he knows about the feud between the Montague and Capulet households. He justifies his actions by saying that the marriage between Romeo and Juliet will end the feud. Friar Laurence is responsible for the lovers’ deaths as he marries them without their parents’ permission which went against the societal normalities, where the parents had full control over their children’s actions and decisions.
Friar Laurence becomes increasingly involved in Romeo and Juliet’s marriage as he helps them to overcome many of their challenges which were often results of their secret marriage and family feud. Friar Laurence hides Romeo after he kills Tybalt and talks with Juliet to work out plans to prevent her from marrying Paris and staying with Romeo. Friar Laurence is guilty as he should have realised that Romeo and Juliet were still very young and rushing them into a secret marriage would only complicate things further and lead them to suicide.
Friar Laurence gives Juliet a potion which is supposed to make her look like she is dead to prevent her from marrying Paris the following morning. In order to keep Romeo aware of this plan, Friar Laurence gives a letter explaining the effects and purpose of the sleeping potion to Friar John which he is to deliver to Romeo. Friar Laurence is to blame for the deaths of the young lovers as he neglects the importance of the delivery of the letter to Romeo as Friar John is held up in quarantine and unable to deliver the letter on time. When Romeo sees Juliet, he thinks she is dead as he never receives the letter and is unaware of the sleeping potion, therefore, he kills himself. When Juliet awakes she sees Romeo lying next to her, dead. She is overwhelmed and kills herself.
As a result of his poor decisions and lack of responsibility, Friar Laurence is guilty for the deaths of both Romeo and Juliet.
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