Friar Lawrence: Not a Killer but a Good Man

Friar Lawrence, the honest and good-willed man in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, certainly can not be blamed for the tragedy that befalls the young lovers. Upon countless occasions throughout the play, Friar goes out of his way to ensure the well-being of his blind lovebirds Romeo and Juliet. A man with such concern and selflessness should not be construed as an unintentional murderer. Friar Lawrence simply should not be blamed for the tragedy in Romeo and Juliet because he acted with the intentions of making everyone happy, married Romeo and Juliet in an attempt to end the feud between the Montagues and Capulets, and only gave Juliet the potion because Juliet had no other resolve and had even threatened to kill herself.
Friar Lawrence is an innocent old man who only wanted to help the young lovers Romeo and Juliet. All of his actions during the play were done with the best of intentions;at no point did Friar Lawrence have any intentions of causing any harm. As a dedicated man of the church, Friar Lawrence is a holy figure that is always depicted in good ways during the play:
I’ll give thee armor to keep off that word,
Adversity’s sweet milk, philosophy,
To comfort thee, though thou art banishèd. (III.iii. 57-59)
When Juliet is forced by her parents to marry Paris, Friar is the only person in Verona that she could turn to for help. Juliet knows that Friar will do what is in his power to help her because Friar is a good-hearted man. Furthermore, Friar shows that he cares for the well-being of the young lovers when he warns Romeo:
Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast. (II.iii.101)
With all of his good intentions, Friar tries to do as much good as he possibly can.
Secondly, in Friar Lawrence’s defense when he married both Romeo and Juliet together he did have good intentions of doing so in hope