Analytical Response: Evaluating an interpretation of literature The text ‘A Most Lamentable Man’ written by Christine Marlowe is an interpretation of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet which portrays arguments about Friar Laurence, indicating that he was to blame for the tragic ending to the play. Marlowe Claims "Throughout the plot, it is the actions of Friar Laurence, and he alone that are most significant in ensuring the final tragedy of the play."
The statement proves that she believes the Friar to be the influence or the main reason the star crossed lovers die whereas in Shakespeare's original version he made the Friar a caring man that just wants to help the young couple and marry them in the unlikely event that the two feuding families make amends. "But come, young waverer, come, go with me, in one respect I’ll thy assistant be, for this alliance may so happy prove, to turn your households' rancor to pure love. " (2. 3. 90)
Laurence’s poorly executed plan to fake Juliet’s death was one of his main faults Marlowe indicates “Out of all Laurence’s blunders, however, his calculated plan for Juliet to take on the appearance of, ‘A thing like death …’ (4. 1. 76) is surely his greatest error. ” although Marlowe doesn’t end there, she includes his failure to get the all-important letter delivered to Romeo and his slackness in helping prevent Romeo’s death, “Laurence did not emphasise the importance of the letter he had instructed Friar John to deliver to Romeo.”
In the text, Marlowe perceives Friar Laurence’s character to be an ignorant old man who sealed Romeo & Juliet’s doom. In Marlowe’s evaluation of the play, she misguidedly represents him as an untrustworthy and a foolish figure. Marlowe mentions “As a character he is essentially weak and foolish. He is unable to provide the wisdom and support the young protagonists need. ” Marlowe adds a bit of evil into her character description of Friar Laurence, positioning the reader to believe her argument about the causes of Romeo & Juliet’s death.
Christine Marlowe makes good use of language and literary devices to persuade the audience into believing a false portrayal of Friar Laurence and his actions. She decides to use words and phrases like ‘malicious’, ‘dangerous’, ‘reckless’, ‘not dependable’, ‘unreliable’and ‘weak’ to falsely describe him and his actions. Marlowe cleverly included these words to create a stronger impact on the audience to influence their final thoughts about Friar Laurence after reading her version and Shakespeare’s original portrayal.
By doing this she is stripping him of his title and therefore all of his wisdom and power. She mentions in her text “Shakespeare’s subtle use of language and literary devices provides early indication of a fatal flaw in Friar Laurence, which guides Romeo and Juliet toward tragedy. ” Marlowe shows a successful use of literary devices for example, Foreshadowing, paradox, soliloquy and so on, unfortunately lacking truth and accuracy, to persuade readers that Friar Laurence played the key role in Romeo & Juliet’s end.
Marlowe claims “Interestingly Shakespeare provides early warning about the internal flaws of Laurence in his use of language earlier in the play. ” There is another side to this story, Shakespeare’s original version, which is the more accurate version in my eyes. Christine Marlowe may have fooled some people with her interpretation about the Friar, but not in this case.
She demonstrated an interpretation in the plot, being that she misguidedly portrayed the Friar and his actions, she perceives Friar Laurence’s character to be an ignorant old man who sealed Romeo & Juliet’s doom and she uses language and literary devices to persuade the audience into believing a false portrayal of Friar Laurence. In the end it should be proven that Christine Marlowe perceives Friar Laurence’s character to be malicious, dangerous, reckless, not dependable and weak to falsely describe him to the audience.
