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Analysis of Friar Lawrence and the Nurse

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Analyze the characters of the Nurse and Friar Laurence as mentors to the young people in the play. Do these two people do the “right thing” by Romeo and Juliet? The nurse and Friar are sophisticated characters that act as parental figures within the prolix and truculent play. The timeless classic Romeo and Juliet (RJ) by William Shakespeare revolves around the notion of determinism, death, love and deception. Despite Romeo and Juliet having warring parents who pay little regard to them, the Nurse and Friar act as parental figures towards them who guide through vexed situations in their best interest, however, this only prolongs their declivity, with the Friar acting as a motif of death and the Nurse acting as a beacon of hope. By …show more content…

The Nurse concedes this proposal because of her motherly affection towards Juliet, as it is in her best interest and desires to witness Juliet wed with a genuine love rather than an arranged agreement. Although this can be seen as an congenial gesture, it completely rescinds the social discourses of the time, consequently justifying that the Nurse is not a great advisor unlike the Friar. The first exposure to the Friar shows his careful, wise manner and his obvious care for Romeo’s best interests rather than his own satisfactions. This characterization of Friar Laurence is greatly flawed due to his impetuous thinking when put under the pressure of having two teens approach him with the intention of killing themselves, as he attempts to guide Romeo and Juliet during their struggles. Shakespeare laminates the Friar with fault as he is arguably the incentive, along with the nurse for Romeo and Juliet's cessation, hence becoming the rationale of their declivity. Shakespeare adopts symbolism upon the Friar and the Nurse. The contrasting of darkness and light is seen all throughout the play, usually in reference to Juliet as light, although regarding the thesis, the Nurse and Friar are metaphorical concepts of fate and the

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