Friar Lawrence, The Renaissance Man

          For all the reason we claim that Shakespeare is important-and to refute those who say that he is not-the best reason to keep the bard in the canon may be his relevance for all time, as Johnson says. But even though he is for all time, this quality does not exclude Shakespeare from also being a poet of an age, and RJ's Friar does this as well as any of his characters in any play. Please excuse my public command of the obvious in saying that Shakespeare's work and Elizabethan England are part of the European Renaissance and, therefore, are the successors and antithesis of the Medieval Middle Ages. We move from a period of low literacy and church control to the rebirth of discovery and literacy and to the birth of capitalism. Not only are we taking control of our own lives as enlightened self-interest sets in, but we are also becoming great at many different things, defeating specialization and creating the ideal "Renaissance man."
          Enter the Friar, who when we first meet him, is working an herb garden that we soon find grows ingredients for potions like the one he gives Juliet. Until one of you can write to me and list any household uses for a potion that makes someone appear dead for a few days, I am inclined to consider this witchcraft, even if mild or light witchcraft. Along with the dishonesty and the marrying of the children without families' consents, the Friar seems large, containing many multitudes. How can Friar Lawrence be this dishonest, so much so that Juliet wonders if the "fake" poison might not be real so Lawrence can cover his...tracks, and still earn the Prince's statement that he still recognizes Lawrence as a holy man in the final scene?
          The last two lines of the Friar's first speech explain this character, as well as the play's theme. Lawrence says, "Virtue itself turns vice when misapplied/And vice by action dignified" (III.ii.21-22). The first of these two lines explains that good intentions pave that road to Hell as Friar Lawrence's good intentions to bring peace to the two families backfires when the note that is sent with Friar John is misapplied and never gets to Mantua where Romeo waits. Capulet has good intentions when he wants Juliet to marry Paris, helping

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