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Blame In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

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Romeo and Juliet Essay Emily Ma
In the wake of a tragedy, people place blame on others from their perspectives. Blame can be placed onto whoever is responsible for the disaster in a situation. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Friar Laurence is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. By making many poor decisions, he ends the lives of two young lovers who believed that their love was stronger than anything else on earth. Friar Laurence’s dedication to his job and optimism for love lead him to make premature, negligent decisions about Romeo and Juliet’s relationship while disregarding the consequences of the family feud.
Priest’s aren’t allowed to have love so when Friar Laurence sees Romeo and Juliet’s passion for each other, he puts his hopes about love into their relationship and ignores the inevitable repercussions. Friar Laurence has just married Romeo and Juliet in secret and says, “So smile the heavens upon this holy act/ That after-hours with sorrow chide us not” (II, vi, 1-2) when he has gotten a feeling that this marriage is doomed and something …show more content…
Friar Laurence has just learned that his letter warning Romeo that Juliet wasn’t really dead didn’t reach Romeo, he realizes how his plan is going horribly and all the mistakes of his plan. When Friar John comes back to Verona with a letter Friar Laurence asks him, “Who bare my letter, then, to Romeo?/ I could not send it—here it is again—/Nor get a messenger to bring it thee,/ So fearful were they of infection./ Unhappy fortune!” (V.ii.13-17). Friar Laurence only now realizes the negatives of his plan and how trusting someone else to do it was a bad idea. He then blames this on fate and doesn’t blame it on himself even though this is his fault. He was the one who created this faulty plan which didn’t work and now is the fault of Romeo coming back to Verona and possibly being

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