Ad-free experience
Study Guides for 1,000+ titles
Full Text content for 250+ titles
No Fear Translations of Shakespeare’s plays (along with audio!) and other classic works
Flashcards
Mastery Quizzes
Infographics
Graphic Novels
AP® Practice & Lessons
Note-taking
Bookmarking
Dashboard
What happens in Act 5, Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet?
Friar Lawrence learns from Friar John that Romeo never received his letter explaining Juliet's fake death scheme and prepares to rescue Juliet from the tomb. He sends another letter to Romeo explaining the situation, unaware that Romeo believes Juliet is dead.
Read our Summary & Analysis of Act 5, Scenes 1 & 2. (4-minute read)
Is Friar John an important character in Romeo and Juliet?
Friar John only appears briefly in this one scene. While his character isn’t important, his failure to deliver the news of Juliet’s feigned death to Romeo has a massive impact on the story. The character’s chief function is to again emphasis the inevitability of fate.
Read an in-depth Character Analysis of Friar John. (2-minute read)
Read about The Inevitability of Fate as a Theme (#4) in the play. (1-mintue read)
Is fate just an excuse for poor decision-making in Romeo and Juliet?
The series of unexpected events that kept Friar John from delivering Friar Lawrence’s note to Romeo are just the latest example of fate’s heavy hand ensuring the deaths of Romeo and Juliet’s, as was proscribed in the play’s Prologue. On the one hand, we know that fate is the ultimate reason why events happen in the play because we’ve been clearly told that from the start. But if you step away from that for a bit, could it not be argued that fate is basically just a scapegoat for the many poor choices characters have made?
While there is no right or wrong answer to this question, it can help you understand the play better to consider some scenarios in which different decisions or different behavior could have led to a different outcome.
Read a brief essay about Fate versus Characters’ Actions in the play. (4-minute read)
