Friar Lawrence

The Friar knows human character as well as plants

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence is a monk who tries to assist the young lovers. Despite being a relatively minor character, he ends up playing a key role. 

The Friar appears to be a kind, sensible man who is a good judge of human character. For instance, he explains to Romeo that his feelings for Rosaline were not real love and that she knew it: “O, she knew well / Thy love did read by rote that could not spell.” (2.3.88-89).

We first meet Friar Lawrence in Act 2, Scene 3 when he is gathering herbs. He delivers a soliloquy on the healing or fatal power of plants:

For nought so vile that on the earth doth live
But to the earth some special good doth give.
Nor aught so good but strained from that fair use,
Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse.
Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied,
And vice somet...