Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet has been a popular play for hundreds of years, so it is no wonder that many people have ongoing arguments about whether certain acts committed by certain characters in this play meet moral and ethical standards. One example of such an act is that of Friar Lawrence marrying Romeo and Juliet, despite that fact that he could've believed that they weren't sincerely in love. However if you analyze the situation it becomes obvious that Friar Lawrence didn't believe that Romeo was sincerely in love. However, it can't be said that Friar Lawrence's actions were unethical.
One reason why it can be said that Friar Lawrence doubted the verity of Romeo's love for Juliet is because of the fact that he implied that Romeo was only infatuated with Juliet's looks. For he says, "Young men's hearts lie, not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes."Implying that Romeo was largely attracted to Juliet for her looks. He also is shocked at the fact that Romeo gets over his deep love for Rosaline so quickly. So shocked, that he invokes a saint in his suprise at this saying, "Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear, so soon forsaken." The Friar's tone regarding Romeo and Juliet's union is skeptical. Despite this, Friar Lawrence does agree to marry Juliet and Romeo. And many question whether this act was ethical.
The act to marry Romeo and Juliet was ethical, simply because Friar Lawrence didn't have much of a decision regarding whether or not to marry them. Friar Lawrence did act as a mentor to Romeo, even calling him his, "Pupil", and is obviously privy to the more private happenings in Romeo's life. However his duties as a priest overruled his duties as a mentor. If Romeo desired to be married no matter how questionable the union was he still had to marry them as long as they were good Catholics. In this case the Friar was a completely objective character and it would have been more unethical for him to not marry Romeo and Juliet than to marry them because he doubted the verity of their love. Also, if he didn't marry them another could have just have easily done so.
In conclusion, I believe that people read too much into Shakespeare. Although it is interesting to speculate the characters and their motivations, so much speculation gives these plays the status of holy books. This I find annoying. So many of the savants who put so much energy into trying to decipher the morality of a fictional character in a 400 plus year old play, could put that into speculating real world problems. And although analyzing character's actions does help us to create personal ethical codes by which to live by, you can do the same by analyzing current or past real world issues.
