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Keira Godfrey

Ms. Woelke

Pre AP 9

10 December 2018

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet​ Character Influence Essay

Something that not everyone seems to internalize is that people’s relationships with

others, even their closest friends, are always changing which can affect their dynamics with other

people and even themselves. In William Shakespeare’s 1595 play ​The Tragedy of Romeo and

Juliet​, this concept is more than just taken into consideration; these relationships are embodied

through dynamic character development, one of the most interesting and important being that of

Romeo and Friar Lawrence. ​The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet​ takes place in Verona, Italy during

the 1300’s over a period of four days. The story centers around Romeo Montague and Juliet

Capulet's secret romance, and how it affects their families, and their years old grudge against

each other; this grudge is reignited when servicemen from the Capulet house try to stir up trouble

with the Montagues. It is told to the reader at the beginning of the play through the chorus that

Romeo and Juliet will both kill themselves due to their forbidden love, ending the generations

old feud between their families. In ​The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet​ by William Shakespeare,

the father-son relationship between Romeo and Friar Lawrence change their characters, affect

other characters, and shape future events through the course of the play.

Romeo’s relationship with the Friar changes their own characters over the course of the

play. In the beginning of the play, Friar Lawrence promises Romeo, “In one respect I’ll thy

assistant be; / this alliance may so happy prove / To turn your households’ rancor to pure love”
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showing Friar Lawrence’s kind nature (Shakespeare 2.3.90-92). Romeo reaching out to the Friar

for help with his and Juliet’s marriage, and Friar Lawrence promising to help Romeo shows how

they both are trusting of one another and in a calm state of mind. This mutual trust between the

two characters shows how they both are content for the time being, and specifically how Friar

Lawrence is indifferent on the feud between the families, as he seems to be with most things.

This also begins to show Romeo’s emotional reliance on the Friar when he asks the latter to be

his assistant and confidant in his secret romance with Juliet. The dynamic between these

characters dramatically shifts when Romeo says, “There is no world without Verona walls, /

Hence ‘banished’ is banish’d from the world, / And world’s exile is death; then ‘banished’ / Is

death misterm’d. Calling death ‘banished,’” and the Friar responds with, “O rude

unthankfulness! ... / And turn’d that black word ’death’ to ‘banishment.’ / This is dear mercy,

and thou seest it not.” (Shakespeare 3.3.17-21, 24, 27-28). The attitude that the Friar scolds

Romeo with during this interaction doesn’t change for the rest of the play, showing how his

relationship with Romeo has changed his character. Additionally, Romeo has changed from

being a lovestruck peaceful person, to being serious and extremely over dramatic compared to

the beginning of the play; this extreme morph in character is in part a result of his close

relationship with the Friar, and his reliance on him emotionally by almost constantly needing to

share his thoughts with him. This close relationship between Romeo and Friar Lawrence has

altered their characters to change dramatically over the course of the drama.

The dependence between Friar Lawrence and Romeo affects other characters throughout

the course of the four days. Friar Lawrence agreeing to marry Romeo and Juliet quickly when he

says, “Come, come with me, and we will make short work, / For by your leaves, you shall not
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stay alone / Till Holy Church incorporate two in one” is only because of the Friar’s strong bond

with Romeo (Shakespeare 2.6.35-37). When Friar Lawrence marries Romeo and Juliet, he

helped to establish an extremely important relationship that changed the course of the play and

the people in it; this is caused by making it so that Romeo and Juliet can’t speak of their

relationships, and need to rangle in the Nurse and a few other characters to help keep the secret

safe. This extra responsibility on some of the characters changes their personalities to

accommodate this massive secret. Likewise, since Friar Lawrence wanted to help keep Romeo

happy by preserving his relationship with Juliet, he rejects multiple opportunities to save the two

of them from their fates; Friar Lawrence expresses his guilt about this by telling the other

characters witnessing the couple’s bodies, “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 condemned and myself excus’d,” and he also admits

that this whole situation was “Miscarried by my [his] fault” (Shakespeare 5.3.222-226, 266). The

Friar’s bond with Romeo kept him from telling everyone the truth about their relationship, and

possibly saving the lover’s lives. This neglect of sense affects others by taking away their loved

ones, which obviously would have a profound amount of emotion on everyone involved. This

strong connection between Romeo and Friar Lawrence has a strong effect on the characters in

their lives.

Finally, it can be said that the bond between Friar Lawrence and Romeo has strong

consequences on the events that will transpire after the conclusion of the play. At the very end of

the drama, Prince Escalus tells the families “Go hence to have more talk of these sad things; /

Some shall be pardon’d, and some punished,” which could possibly disrupt important
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interactions throughout the community for the people punished (Shakespeare 5.3.306-308). Since

there will be people punished, this could possibly affect the community that the characters live

in; if more important characters like the Nurse or Capulet were punished, then that could disrupt

entire families, and possibly the whole city of Verona. This would all be caused by the Friar’s

trust and relationship with Romeo. Ultimately however, Capulet and Montague make peace

when they say “O brother Montague, give me thy hand... / For I will raise [Juliet’s] statue in pure

gold, / That whiles Verona by that name is known, / There shall no figure at such rate be set / As

that of true and faithful Juliet.​ / ​As rich shall Romeo’s by his lady’s lie, / Poor sacrifices of our

enmity!” thus ending the feud between the families (Shakespeare 5.3.295, 298-303). The ending

of the feud between the families is an enormous step forward in their relationship. This changes

future events dramatically from what they would have been if this whole incident hadn’t

happened. The only reason Romeo and Juliet’s deaths even occurred in the first place was

because Friar Lawrence kept the couple’s secret since he had a good relationship with Romeo,

and wanted him to be happy. Since Friar Lawrence and Romeo’s relationship was so strong, the

former withheld information that could have possibly prevented Romeo and Juliet’s deaths,

affecting future events dramatically.

Romeo and Friar Lawrence’s relationship in ​The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet​ by

William Shakespeare has a tremendous effect on their own characters, others, and future events.

The relationship between these two characters ended up becoming a catalyst for change in

personality; Romeo, who once was peaceful and carefree, became extremely serious and

overdramatic, and the Friar changed from a wise and level headed man to a rash and stern one.

Since the Friar trusts Romeo through their close relationship, he doesn’t tell anyone else about
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Romeo and Juliet’s suicidal tendencies, which leads to their eventual deaths, deeply affecting

their families. He also marries Romeo and Juliet after their very spontaneous request, due in part

to the fact that he wants Romeo to be happy; this means that now the three of them need to find

other characters to help keep the secret safe, partially affecting their lives. Lastly, since Friar

Lawrence didn’t tell anyone about the young lover’s marriage and they end up dying, there were

obviously going to be consequences. If these consequences affect important characters, then that

could possibly change future family or community dynamics. However, since Capulet and

Montague agree to end the feud after the children’s deaths, this eliminates the possibility of a

future of fighting and hatred between the families. What can be taken from Shakespeare’s words

is that since relationships can change, it is a good idea to think carefully about how one can keep

them in check, otherwise literature may repeat itself in the most unexpected of times.