Romeo and Juliet Friar Laurence Quotes

Friar Laurence > Romeo

Quote 13

FRIAR LAURENCE
These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume. The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite.
Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so.
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.
(2.6.9-15)

The Friar tries (and fails) to convince Romeo to love more calmly. The Friar would sound like the play's voice of reason, except that he behaves more foolishly than anyone. And the most foolish guy, Mercutio? He's the only one who really seems to get it: the feud is dumb, and Romeo is an idiot. No wonder Shakespeare kills him off.

Friar Laurence > Romeo

Quote 14

FRIAR LAURENCE
Hold thy desperate hand!
Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art. 
Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote
The unreasonable fury of a beast.
Unseemly woman in a seeming man,
Or ill-beseeming beast in seeming both!
Thou hast amazed me. By my holy order,
I thought thy disposition better tempered.
Hast thou slain Tybalt? wilt thou slay thyself,
And slay thy lady that in thy life lives,
By doing damnèd hate upon thyself? (3.3.118-128)

Here, Friar Laurence and Juliet's Nurse prevent Romeo from committing suicide (because he's afraid Juliet hates him for killing her cousin, Tybalt). The Friar's critique of Romeo's rash and foolish behavior is successful (here anyway), but we're not sure which is more foolish—Romeo's desire to stab himself with his sword or Friar Laurence's insinuation that Romeo's emotions are "womanish" and unmanly.

Friar Laurence

Quote 15

FRIAR LAURENCE
On Thursday, sir? The time is very short.

PARIS
My father Capulet will have it so,
And I am nothing slow to slack his haste.
(4.1.1-3)

Supposedly wiser and calmer than Romeo and Juliet, Lord Capulet and Paris also make a hasty decision that results in tragedy. Guess the adults don't have an advantage here.