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Essay: Explore Nurse and Friar Laurence’s Impact on Romeo and Juliet’s Tragedy in William Shakespeare’s Play

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  • Published: 23 March 2023*
  • Last Modified: 22 July 2024
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  • Words: 1,410 (approx)
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  • Tags: Romeo and Juliet essays

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Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare is a very popular play about a pair of young star-crossed lovers from two very different very powerful families who are in a long-lasting feud that goes back generations and generations. Two very important characters in the play are Nurse and Friar Laurence. Both characters had a personal connection with one of the protagonists for instance Nurse a mother like figure to Juliet and Friar Laurence like an uncle to Romeo. They were the two people Romeo and Juliet confided in, trusted and had the closest relationship to. Each did questionable actions that had a big effect on what happened at the end and in my opinion, they didn’t do the right thing in their individual relationships with Romeo and Juliet.

Nurse was a very prominent figure in Juliet’s life. Nurse was a maid in the Capulet house that personally tended to Juliet since birth. She became more like a mother to Juliet as she practically raised her and brought her up through her younger years and early adolescent. Even taking on tasks such a breastfeeding her as a baby. Nurse was very trusted by Juliet because of this she was one that Juliet confided in and served as the go between that enabled Romeo and Juliet’s great love to remain secret. Nurse was also one of the only characters that truly understood what Juliet wanted and wished for only happiness and a great life for her. Nurse was very supportive of Romeo and Juliet’s haste relationship and supported the fact they were taking things very quickly. Her opinion on Romeo was that he was a very handsome young man who was polite and gentleman like, so she approved. I think a big reason she would have approved of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship, even when Romeo is 19 and Juliet 13 is that Nurse herself lost her virginity at a similar age to what Juliet is now so this age would also be a sensible one for Juliet to get married. Towards the end of the story when Juliet went to Friar Laurence about what to do in her situation Nurse was unaware and was also unaware of the plot Juliet and Friar came up with to temporarily make Juliet “die”. So, when she found Juliet “dead” in the morning she was devasted much like the rest of the Capulet’s. Juliet and Nurse were very close, and I think the Nurse’s high amount of support for their relationship did have an impact on the story. Maybe if she was a little more questionable towards Juliet and make her think about whether things were moving too quickly there would have been a different outcome.

Friar Laurence very much was an uncle like figure to Romeo. He was the Friar at the local church and was the person Romeo went to when he was in need of help and advice. Due to Romeo falling in love with the enemy he went to Friar to seek help as he couldn’t go to his Father. Friar had a very big impact on the final out come of the play also on Romeo and Juliet’s relationship, he also played many different roles in the story. He was the soul figure of religion in the play, but he was also the scheming and political character, two very contrasting roles. Throughout the story Friar was somewhat supportive of the relationship but he had his doubts. Many times Friar foreshadowed the ending of the play saying things like “don’t get married to quickly or take things slowly”. He said this as if something bad was going to happen, but Romeo decided to not act on any of the warnings Friar issued more than once throughout the storyline. Friar Laurence married Romeo and Juliet not just to help Romeo but as part of a plan to end the strife between the families in Verona, he devised the plan involving Juliet drinking the sleeping potion to temporarily put her to sleep to make everyone think she is dead for her to then go and live with Romeo who has been banished out of Verona. It was also his job to pass this message onto Romeo and alert him of her actions, but the message failed to be passed. This is the most contradicting action of the play ad it is essentially Friar’s fault that they both died in the end. This goes to show how much scheming he did as a character and how many consequences came from is actions.
Nurse and Friar Laurence both played interesting parts into the lead up of the tragedy that happened at the end. Because of Nurses unawareness of Juliet drinking the poison to temporarily fall asleep to come alive later on you can’t exactly blame her for what happened in the end however her ongoing support for their relationship and how fast it was going would have made an impact on Juliet’s judgement when it came to the time she decided to go through with Friar’s plan. Nurse having been a motherly figure to Juliet would of meant Juliet in some way would of looked up to her and if she was ok with how fast it was going and her and Romeo and them getting married and so on it would of made it an easier choice for Juliet to make knowing her most trusted figure in her life agrees with her actions. Had Nurse of questioned it more, properly sat down with Juliet to make sure it was the right choice and not just supported it because Romeo seemed genuine things could have worked out differently. Even though it was ultimately Romeo and Juliet’s choice as a couple what they do if the Nurse provided some question maybe Juliet would have taken on board her advice reconsidered getting married 48 hours after meeting Romeo and decided to take things slow therefore meaning the final outcome could have ended differently. This shows that Nurses actions did have an effect on what happened in the play. The same with Friar Laurence. In my opinion he was the character that had the most effect on what happened in the play. Even though there were a lot of contributing factors that all summed up to the final outcome Friar and his actions was the main factor. Had he delivered the message more efficiently or warned Romeo about what was going to take place before Juliet drank the poison things could have been different. Throughout the whole play Friar was constantly scheming undercover. The marriage to stop the feud, helping Romeo from sneaking in and out of the palace and the final scheme. This is a very prominent trait in his character and one that is very important in the storyline of the play. Also, if Friar had backed up his word more and convinced Romeo that he was taking it to fast it would have been better. He told Romeo a few times that he shouldn’t take it this fast and things should go slower yet he did another about it. In fact, he went against his word and married them. Had he taken action following what he said and not married them for instance it wouldn’t have had a bad effect later on. Friars impact came more with physical actions compared to Nurses which was more mental and emotional and more in the mindset rather than performing specific actions. This is the difference in the impact each character had but they both definitely did have a bad impact in my opinion.

Overall, both Nurse and Friar Laurence had a big impact on the play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare. However, in my opinion the impact was not good. They both played parts that pieced together to form the tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet’s great love story. Whether it was not helping them realise they were moving too fast or delivering a crucial message fast enough they both we equally as responsible. Even though Romeo and Juliet are also responsible Friar and the Nurse were the go between and they didn’t carry out their roles as efficiently and required resulting in death. Romeo and Juliet is a very romantic tragedy full of miscommunication involving Romeo, Juliet, Friar Laurence and Nurse that leads to the worse possible outcome for everyone.

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