Romeo and Juliet Final Assignment

In Romeo and Juliet, the character, Friar Lawrence, is an archetype. He fits in the category of two archetypes: the sage and the flawed hero.  For instance, Friar Lawrence is a wise old man who gives Romeo and Juliet good advice throughout the story. On the other hand, Friar Lawrence didn’t think about the consequences of his actions, which makes him a flawed hero. 

Friar Lawrence is a wise man who acts as Romeo’s mentor. For instance, when Romeo goes to the friar for advice about love, the friar tells him he needs to be careful and slow. He also said, “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast,” (II.iiii.91). The friar also gives Romeo advice after the fight with Tybalt. The friar tells Romeo to be a man and not let Juliet down by killing himself. The friar also gave Romeo three reasons to be happy: Juliet loves him, he is still alive, and the prince could have had him put to death, but exiled him instead. These examples show how the friar is a sage because they show that he is a wise man who helps Romeo when he doesn’t know what to do.

Friar Lawrence is a flawed hero because he didn’t think about the consequences of his actions. The friar made a plan with Romeo and Juliet that sounded good because he thinks it will end the feud between their families. The friar said, “In one respect I’ll thy assistant be, for this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households’ rancor to pure love,” (II.iii.89). What the friar didn’t think about was what would happen if something with his plan went wrong. For instance, how Romeo never got the letter from the friar saying that Juliet wasn’t dead, but sleeping. This one thing turned the friar’s whole plan from good to bad because Romeo killed himself thinking Juliet was dead and then Juliet killed herself since Romeo was dead. Overall, Friar Lawrence is a flawed hero because he didn’t think about the negative effects of his plan if things went wrong.

Friar Lawrence fits both archetypes because he was thinking of doing good but ended up doing something bad.  The friar believed in the power of love to solve problems and thinks Romeo and Juliet’s marriage will turn their “households’ rancor to pure love,” (II.iii.89).  When the friar’s plan was failing and Juliet was killing herself, the friar ran instead of helping Juliet like he helped Romeo. In all, Friar Lawrence fits both archetypes because his plan to help Romeo and Juliet went wrong and he was too scared to stay and fix what he had done.

         In Romeo and Juliet, the character, Friar Lawrence, is an archetype. He fits in the category of two archetypes: the sage and the flawed hero.  The friar is a sage because he is a wise man who acts as Romeo’s mentor by giving him advice about his problems. The friar is also a flawed hero because he runs away when his plan fails and he is most needed. Overall, Friar Lawrence is both a sage and a flawed hero archetype because he is wise, but doesn’t consider the outcome of his actions.  

Romeo and Juliet Final Assignment Outline

I.          Introduction

            A.        Thesis:  In Romeo and Juliet, the character, Friar Lawrence, is an archetype. He fits in the category of two archetypes: the sage and the flawed hero.

                        1.         Friar Lawrence is a wise man who gives good advice to Romeo.

                        2.         Friar Lawrence is a flawed hero because he didn’t think about the consequences of his actions.

                        3.         Friar Lawrence fits both archetypes because he was thinking of doing good but ended up doing something bad.

II.        Friar Lawrence is a wise man who gives good advice to Romeo.

            A.        Romeo goes to the friar for advice about love, and the friar tells him he needs to be careful and slow.

                        1.         “Women may fall when there’s no strength in men,” (II.iii.85).       

B.        The friar also gives Romeo advice after the fight with Tybalt. The friar tells Romeo to be a man and not let Juliet down by killing himself.

            2.         Friar tells Romeo he has three reasons to be happy.

a.       Juliet loves him

b.      Tybalt could have killed him

c.       The prince could have had him put to death, but he exiled him instead.

C.        Analysis of friar as sage.   

III.       Friar Lawrence is a flawed hero because he didn’t think about the consequences of his actions.

            A.        The friar made a plan with Romeo and Juliet that sounded good because he thinks it will end the feud between their families.

                        1.         “In one respect I’ll thy assistant be, for this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households’ rancor to pure love,” (II.iii.89).

            B.        The friar didn’t realize that a small thing like the message not being delivered could cause desperate actions by Romeo and Juliet.

                        2. Romeo and Juliet kill themselves because Romeo didn’t get the letter.

            C.        Analysis of friar being a flawed hero.

IV.       Friar Lawrence fits both archetypes because he was thinking of doing good but ended up doing something bad.

            A.        The friar believed in the power of love to solve problems.

                                    1.         The friar thinks Romeo and Juliet’s marriage will turn their “households’ rancor to pure love,” (II.iii.89).

            B.        The friar runs away when he is most needed.

                                    2.         The friar runs away when he hears a noise instead of staying to see if Juliet is all right, but he doesn’t and Juliet kills herself.

            C.        Analysis of how the friar fits both archetypes.

V.        Conclusion

A.        So in all in Romeo and Juliet, the character, Friar Lawrence, is an archetype. He fits in the category of two archetypes: the sage and the flawed hero.

            1.         The friar is a wise man who acts as Romeo’s mentor by giving him advice about his problems.

            2.         The friar is also a bit of a cowered because he runs away when his plan fails and he is most needed.

            3.         Overall Friar Lawrence is both a sage and a flawed hero archetype because he is wise, but doesn’t know when to be brave.  

Blog post due 4/18/13

In the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, Brian, a 13 year old boy, crashes in a plane in the Canadian wilderness.  The author tells this story of a boy who must survive with only the clothes he had on and a hatchet. Brian was on his way to spend the summer with his father in Canada when the plane he was in went down. During Brian’s time alone in the woods he discovers he had a lot more strength to survive then he originally thought. For instance, when he goes looking for food and he finds berries, they make him really sick. He also shows a lot of strength when he survives several porcupine needles to his leg. After time, Brian learns how to survive in the wilderness by himself.  

A day after the crash Brian is starving and doesn’t know what to do. He decides to go for a walk to see if there is anything to eat around the lake. He walks around the lake and is going to give up when he finds a bush of berries. He is so hungry that he just started eating the berries right off the bush until he was full. That night he wakes up with a horrible pain in his stomach and throws up all the berries. This makes Brian a stronger person because it teaches him to be more careful of what you do and eat in the wild. After this Brian uses what he learned to wait until he found something, such as raspberries, that he knew he could eat.

One night Brian wakes up in the middle of the night because there is something coming closer and closer to him. Then something touches his leg so he decides to try and kick it. The creature was a porcupine and ends up sticking Brian with 8 quills in his leg. Brian is so scared and hurt that he is afraid to touch the wound or move in fear that the animal could still be there. In the morning Brian ends up going out of his little shelter to see the quills in his leg. He quickly decides to pull them out before the wound gets infected. This shows how strong Brian is because most people wouldn’t pull the quills out themselves.  Since Brian was all alone he had to face the challenges all by himself.

            In all brain shows a lot of strength after the plane crash. He was stranded in the middle of nowhere with just a hatchet and he survived. This story kind of reminds me of military training because that is exactly what some military branches do as basic training. Except the training doesn’t go on for 54 days like Brian had to.