Download Notes – Act 4 Scenes 1-2 Friar Lawrence is the wiliest (skilled at

Notes – Act 4
Scenes 1-2
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Friar Lawrence is the wiliest (skilled at using clever tricks to deceive people) and most scheming
character in Romeo and Juliet:
o He secretly marries the two lovers, secretly sends Romeo to Mantua quickly, and stages
Juliet’s death. The friar’s machinations (scheming) seem also to be tools of fate.
o Despite the role Friar Lawrence plays in bringing about the lovers’ deaths, Shakespeare
never presents him in a negative, or even ambiguous (having more than one
interpretation/meaning), light. He is always treated as a benign (kind/gentle), wise
presence.
o The tragic failure of his plans is treated as a disastrous accident for which Friar Lawrence
bears no responsibility.
Paris
o Paris’s feelings for Juliet are unclear, since the audience is never allowed access to his
thoughts.
o Later textual evidence does indicate that Paris harbors a legitimate love for Juliet, and
though he arrogantly assumes Juliet will want to marry him, Paris never treats her
unkindly.
Scenes 3-5
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Juliet demonstrates her strength in these Acts
o She comes up with reason after reason why drinking the sleeping potion might cause her
harm, physical or psychological, but chooses to drink it anyway.
o She recognizes that drinking the potion might lead her to madness or to death. Drinking
the potion therefore constitutes an action in which she takes her life into her own hands,
and determines its worth to her.
o In drinking the potion she not only demonstrates a willingness to take her life into her
own hands, she goes against what is expected of women and takes action.
Juliet’s Death
o The Capulets appear less as a hostile force arrayed against the lovers and more as
individuals.
 The audience gains an understanding of the immense hopes that the Capulets had
placed in Juliet, as well as a sense of their love for her.
 Similarly, Paris’s love for Juliet seems wholly legitimate. His wailing cannot
simply be taken as grief over the loss of a wife who might have brought him
fortune. It seems more personal than that, more like grief over the loss of a loved
one.
Peter and the musicians
o They care more about the fact that they are out of a job, and perhaps, that they will miss
out on a free lunch. In other words, this great tragedy, which is, undoubtedly, a tragedy of
epic proportions, is still not a tragedy to everyone