Question

Read the excerpt from Act V, scene iii of Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet;
And she, there dead, that Romeo’s faithful wife:
I married them; and their stolen marriage-day

This excerpt is an example of how
contributes to the catastrophe in Romeo and Juliet.

Answer 1

This excerpt is an example of how Friar Laurence’s actions — specifically his secret marriage of Romeo and Juliet and his ill-conceived, poorly communicated plans — contribute to the catastrophe. He confesses to marrying them and setting the chain of events that, through miscommunication and bad timing, leads to the lovers’ deaths.