In Shakespeare's' Romeo and Juliet, kind-hearted Friar Laurence is as least partly responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
Along with Juliet's nurse, Friar Laurence indulges the adolescent whim of Romeo and Juliet to get married. The nurse is somewhat less culpable than the friar in that she simply encourages Juliet's romantic notions out of her indulgent love for Juliet, but Friar Laurence actually performs the marriage—hastily, in secret, in spite of their feuding parents' wishes, and despite his own better judgment.
FRIAR LAURENCE. So smile the heavens upon this holy act
That after-hours with sorrow chide us not! ...
These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume (2.6.1-2, 9-11).
Friar Laurence has an ulterior motive for agreeing to marry Romeo and Juliet. He believes that their marriage will end the bloody feud between their families.
FRIAR LAURENCE. In one respect I'll thy assistant be;
For this alliance may so...
(The entire section contains 3 answers and 1742 words.)
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