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Friar Lawrence's plans to aid Romeo and Juliet

Summary:

In Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence devises plans to help the titular characters. After Romeo is banished for Tybalt's murder, Friar Lawrence advises him to spend the night with Juliet and then flee to Mantua. Meanwhile, he plans to inform the families of the marriage, reconcile them, and seek the Prince's pardon. For Juliet, facing an unwanted marriage to Paris, Friar Lawrence gives her a potion to feign death, intending to inform Romeo so he can rescue her. However, miscommunication leads to tragedy.

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How does Friar Lawrence plan to inform Romeo of his scheme?

In act 4, scene 1, when Juliet approaches Friar Lawrence for assistance with her upcoming marriage to Paris, he proposes that she fake her own death so that she can escape Verona with Romeo. Then, someday, perhaps the two of them will be able to return together, and her family will be so happy to see her alive that they will not mind that she married Romeo in secret, without their blessing. While Friar Lawrence is explaining the plan to Juliet, he tells her,

In the meantime, against thou shalt awake,
Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift,
And hither shall he come, and he and I
Will watch thy waking, and that very night
Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua. (4.1.115–119)

In other words, he says that Juliet will be interred in the Capulet family crypt, and, in the meantime, the friar will write letters...

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to Romeo and explain the plan. This will bring Romeo back to Verona, out of his exile, and he can meet the friar at Juliet's tomb. Together, the two men will watch her awaken, and then Romeo can take Juliet back to Mantua with him that night. His letters, however, never make it to Romeo, so Romeo believes the news he hears of Juliet's death and subsequently takes his own life.

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In Act V, Scene 2, Friar Lawrence discusses his plan to inform Romeo that Juliet is actually in a deep sleep that mimics death. Friar Lawrence sends his letter with Friar John to deliver it to Romeo, who is living in Mantua. When Friar John returns, Friar Lawrence asks him how Romeo responded to the letter. Friar John then informs Friar Lawrence that he was unable to visit Romeo and give him the letter because he was quarantined in a home during an outbreak of the plague. Friar John then tells Friar Lawrence that he wasn't even allowed to give the letter to someone else to deliver it to Romeo because they feared the infection would spread if anything left the home. When Friar John gives the letter back to Friar Lawrence, Friar Lawrence curses fate and asks for a crowbar so he can open the Capulet tomb and save Juliet.

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How does Friar Lawrence propose to help Juliet?

I'm guessing that you're asking how the Friar proposes to help Juliet out of her quandry, but I'm going to respond to what you've actually asked here, because I think it is more interesting.

He first helps her by agreeing to give her (and Romeo) her hearts' desire by marrying them quickly, without parental consent.

The second thing he does is to devise a plan that would interfere with her marriage to Paris, although arguably, he may be proposing to "help" her when in fact what he attempts is to help himself.(If the marriage is uncovered, he may be in serious trouble).

Finally, the answer to your question, most likely, is that he plans to give her a potion that approximates death so that she can be too "dead" to be wedded to Paris, she will fall into a deep, comatose sleep, and she will wake up later, and carry on. The Friar's plan is to send word to Romeo so that he can come back in time to be there when Juliet awakens.

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In act 4, scene 1 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the title character Juliet goes to Friar Laurence for consolation because her husband Romeo has been banished from Verona and her parents have just betrothed her to Paris. She is expected to marry Paris in two days and is at a loss for what to do because she is already married. Naturally, marrying a second man would be a sin, and she threatens Friar Laurence with the second sin of suicide should he be unable to find some way to help her.
Friar Laurence proposes that she tell her parents she is willing to marry Paris and then, the night before her wedding day, drink a vial full of a liquid that will stop her pulse, her breath, and her blood flow, making her appear to be dead for 42 hours. In other words, his plan is to help her fake her own death, as we see in the passage:

Take this vial, being then in bed,
And this distilled liquor drink thou off;
When presently through all thy veins shall run
A cold and drowsy humour; for no pulse
Shall keep his native progress, but surcease;
No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou liv'st. (V.i.95-99)

The rest of Friar Laurence's plan follows: he'll inform Romeo of the faked death and have Romeo meet her in the Capulets' family tomb, where they will bury her once they believe her to be dead. Then, Romeo will carry her off back to Mantua, where they will live happily as husband and wife.

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