A Franciscan monk who lives a simple life, Friar Lawrence
serves as an andviser to Romeo and Juliet. As a monk, Friar Lawrence spends much time
in meditations; therefore, his soliloquies and speeches often have a philosophical tone
to them.
In his first appearance in the play, Friar
Lawrence's soliloquy of Act II, Scene 3 expounds upon the delicate balance between
virtue, which comes of reasonable behavior, and vice, behavior dharacteristic of intense
passion:
For
naught so vile that on the earth doth live
But to the earth some special good
doth give;
Nor aught so good but, strain'd from that fair use,
Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse.
Virtue itself turns
vice, being misapplied,
And vice sometime's by action dignified.
(3.2.17-22)
When Romeo
arrives at the friar's cell, he is greatly changed from the morose lover of Rosalind;
now, he is impassioned of Juliet. Romeo tells the priest of his love, and Friar
Lawrence agrees to be Romeo's "assistant" by performing the marriage of the young
couple. In doing so, he cautions Romeo, "Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast"
(3.2.97).
Later, in Scene 6, Romeo and Friar Lawrence await
the arrival of Juliet so that the marriage can take place. Again, the priest cautions
Romeo in his exuberant passion to control his
feelings,
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These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which, as they
kiss, consume. The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite.
Therefore love
moderately: long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too
slow.(2.6.9-15)
The dramatic
irony of Friar Lawrence's words is that he himself fails to heed the wisdom of his own
words as in the final acts, he acts rather impetuously, passionately, as he aids Juliet
and then hastily abandons her at the Capulet catacomb.
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