Romeo and Juliet Essay Essay Example for Free

Romeo and Juliet Essay Essay Two ancient enemies now united through a sole cause   Foes for an age, maybe longer. Antediluvian hatred stemming from an unknown, long-forgotten beginning. All this envy, all this revulsion, building and boiling, amassing and gathering for a thousand eras ended in the setting of four suns.  So, are these not happy times in which we now reside? Are the peoples of fair Verona joyous and liberal under the united houses of Montague and Capulet? I say not. Instead of a peace filled with elation and euphoria, there is a darker, solemn peace which hangs over the city like a cloud of smoke, encapsulating every citizen, engulfing them with sorrow and mourning; for the dusty veils of the local tombs are freshly lifted, and inside lay the youthful bodies of five untimely slain teens.   But now as the people of Verona weep for their lost citizens, so do the Heavens, as if in mourning for those who have since left us. But falling upon the citys clay roofs are not just tears of sorrow, but tears of rejuvenation. Tears that are set to wash away the troubled times that have stained the air of the streets for generations too long, leaving the clean, freshness of a city being reborn under united powers. I, Friar Lawrence, was sworn into the Franciscan Order nearly a generation before that fateful day. On that day I pledged to aid and protect those who are haunted by the ghosts of their sins, and the phantoms of their indecisions. For many annums I have done that very things which I swore to, from the rising till the setting of Gods sun on every date, did I serve Him, and abet His loyal followers in any way I could.  So whatever did I do to anger Him? Why did He, on this day of any, choose to make my decisions so ill, and let me bring an end to the days of so many, who have had so few? Why did He, after all my fidelity and allegiance, not intervene, and stop Fate laying his demoralizing hand on the shoulders of my Romeo, his only love, and those so close to them both?  O Lord, please forgive my folly thoughts. Never for any moment of any eternity would I question your ways, perplexing as they may be. Maybe those chosen few were too good for this place, and as shall those star-crossed lovers be in the city centre of Fair Verona, sculpted in Gold, for all to witness and perceive, you too have immortalised them with you, their Heavenly Father. Even if that is not so, you, ruler of all the worlds, should not have to intercede with your creation of man every time he leaves his clumsy, feeble arms open to the embrace of Fate, and Death. It is for us, as people, to shelter ourselves against the chill of ill-being and the frosts of inanity. And it is my post, as priest, to spread this knowledge to the innocence and naivety of the Veronian people. So it is I who has failed. Failed myself, failed you, my Lord, and failed those who are now at your side. And for it I should pay. Never once would I complain if when I am to pass away, instead of allowing me to meet and ask forgiveness from fair Romeo explain my rash, careless, unplanned decisions, you damn me to the fiery, harsh unforgiving home of all that is corrupt, and make me confess my stupidities to Beelzebub himself.  I fear too early; for my mind misgives some consequence, yet hanging in the stars, shall bitterly begin his fearful date with nights revel and expire the term of despised life, closed in my breath. Those were the words Romeo told me he spoke. Outside the Capulets party I think he said. He told me he was suddenly overcome by anguish and sorrow, that he may be victim to the cruel, icy emptiness of an premature departure. I wonder if he realised how early it was to dawn? Poor Romeo trusted me and I betrayed him. When he was forsaken by his true love Rosaline, was it not me who he sought? And then when that frail juvenile adore was shattered by the newfound mature love for Juliet, once again did he seek me for help.  And yes, I did agree to join them in matrimony. Yes, I broke my oath, and destroyed everything the priesthood stands for by carrying out those nuptials, but was I really wrong? Is it really flawed to do what you can to help a young boy, so sick with love he cannot think clear over the thunder of his heart? Maybe I should have turned him away, told him to get a hold of himself. These violent delights have violent ends and in their triumph die, like fire and powder, which as they kiss, consume. Were the words I spoke, but should I have said them with more meaning? With more belief? After all, he had only just met this fair queen of whom he wished to marry. But his eyes told a different tale. In a single gaze I could see that young boys heart, and that young boys soul. This was not just another reckless engagement. He loved this lady more than the earth, and he would as long as the stars shone in the sky, and the rivers flowed in the valleys.  So maybe what I did wasnt advised by my Order and my Book, but it was advised by my heart. And all I ever hoped to attain was peace for the two houses For this alliance may so prove to turn your households rancor to pure love were the world I spoke to the houses; too long tormented by the rage they felt for one another to ever seek a rational concession. And now that is what I have. But they are not aligned behind the joyous, merriment of a wedlock, but the bleak emptiness of an early funeral.  And was that not the only fallacious choice I made during those last frightful days? I can now only wish. For not only did I bring those children their most happy hour, for I also gave them their most dreadful; their last.