The Ways Friar Lawrence Persuades Romeo Not to Commit Suicideç

The Ways Friar Lawrence persuades Romeo not to Commit Suicide

In Act 3 Scene 3, Romeo has just killed Tybalt and has come to the Friar to seek guidance and comfort. Before the Friar starts his speech, Romeo is persistent on committing suicide, as he believes there is no other option for him. The nurse has come to the Friars cell and tells Romeo that Juliet knows of his crime and is deeply upset and agitated “even so lies she, blubb’ring and weeping”. Romeo thinks that since he has done something so disgraceful to Juliet’s own cousin, she will never forgive him. However, we know that Juliet’s main purpose for crying is because she has heard about Romeo’s banishment. Romeo is convinced that banishment is much worse than killing himself, the quote that shows this is: “Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say ‘death’ ”.   He constantly re visits the idea of death and the fact that he prefers to die: “ ‘banished’ is banishd from the world”. The Friar then starts his speech and approaches the situation from different perspectives in the hope that he will not kill himself. All the way through his speech, he is telling Romeo to look on the bright side and go from there.

Friar Lawrence starts off by challenging Romeo on his gender and masculinity. He tries to get him to realise what he is doing and the things he is putting at risk. He states that “thy form cries out thou art; Thy tears are womanish” this quote suggests that Romeo is in a feminine position. The Friar is challenging his masculinity by saying that it is shameful for a ‘woman’ to behave in such manor, “Unseemly woman in a seeming man, and ill-beseeming beast in seeming both” so he is calling Romeo a woman and a man. The Friar is surprised that a noble, good hearted, strong man such as Romeo can behave in this way,” I thought thy disposition better temper’d”. The Friar is telling Romeo to think like a man and be more confident in himself because it has had the best outcome given the circumstances.

He then goes...