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What are three reasons why Friar Laurence is to blame for the deaths of the lovers in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet?

Friar Laurence is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet for three reasons. First, he never should have agreed to marry them in the first place. He did so because of his idea that their marriage might mark the end of the bitter feud between the Montagues and Capulets. The part of his plan which was missing, however, was how the couple would ultimately announce that marriage. Although his heart was certainly in the right place, his decision ignored the possibility that several things could go wrong.


Second, the Friar should not have given Juliet the sleeping potion which would allow her to fake her death. While his plan sounded good in theory, it also had too many variables. When Juliet came to him at the beginning of Act IV, he should have advised her to confess to her father of her relationship with Romeo. It's quite possible, judging from Capulet's expressed opinion of Romeo and his love for his daughter, that he might have understood. He probably realized that Tybalt was out of control and his death inevitable, so he might not have blamed Romeo. 


Third, the Friar fails in the most important aspect of his plan. He was not able to get his message to Romeo in time to alert him to Juliet's situation. Instead of sending Friar John, he should have sent the message with Balthasar who, according to Act V, Scene 3, was someone that the Friar knew well. He must have known that the impetuous Romeo was capable of anything and how important reaching him in time was to the entire plan. As with his earlier decisions, the Friar again totally misjudges the situation. When he is confronted by the Prince in the end, he even admits his guilt:



I am the greatest, able to do least,
Yet most suspected, as the time and place
Doth make against me, of this direful murder.
And here I stand, both to impeach and purge
Myself condemnèd and myself excused.


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