Friar Lawrences Decision: Ethical vs Unethical :)

On average, one person usually makes about 35,000 decisions per day. Whether its on what to eat for lunch or what movie to watch, every decision affects you as a person. Sometimes we make bad decisions, whether they're unethical or just ignorant. Nonetheless, sometimes we make good decisions that help us achieve our goals and help others around us as well. In addition, we sometimes make decisions that are ethical and helpful in one way, but unethical and harmful in another. A perfect example of this is Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet. Friar Lawrence decides to agree to marry Romeo and Juliet after Romeo asks him, however he did not marry them for their claimed "love" for each other, but rather to make peace between the two rival families; the Montagues and the Capulets. As you can see, his intentions were to make peace, but he used Romeo and Juliet to achieve that goal. Therefore, Friar Lawrence's decision to marry Romeo and Juliet was ethical in someways, but unethical in others.

At first, when Romeo asks Friar Lawrence to marry him and Juliet, the Friar is doubtful of Romeo's intention and his love for Juliet. When Romeo asks, Friar Lawrence replies, "Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear so soon forgotten?" As you can see, the Friar is questioning whether or not Romeo is actually in love with Juliet, or if he just longs to be in love with someone after loosing Rosaline. Because Romeo is young, loving someone to him may just mean having someone to be with, not fully loving them. In addition, Friar Lawrence says, "Young mens love then not truly in their hearts but in their eyes." He is saying that most times, young men "fall in love" with a persons image, even without getting to know the person first. He says this line to Romeo, intending to question whether Romeos love for Juliet is actually true love, or just based on what she looks like. Overall, Friar Lawrence doesn't truly believe that Romeo is in love with Juliet. He questions Romeos definition of love and seems doubtful that Romeo could move from one true love to another so quickly! 

However, despite the Friars nonbelief in Romeo and Juliets "true love", he decides to marry them anyway! He says, "In one respect I'll your assistant be, for this alliance may no happy prove to turn your household's rancor to pure love." Rancor means bitterness and resentfulness, so therefore he hopes to end the families resentfulness towards each other by marrying Romeo and Juliet. Marriage is something that is supposed to be done by people who love each other, and in this case, the Friar's decision to marry two people he doesn't truly believe love each other was unethical. However, he did say that it could possibly "turn your household's rancor into pure love." This shows that he had good, ethical intentions. Overall, Friar Lawrences decision to marry Romeo and Juliet can be looked at as ethical and unethical. His goal was peace, however the way he tried to achieve his goal took advantage of Romeo and Juliet.

To conclude, decision making cannot be put into the two categories of 'the right decision and the wrong decision' because sometimes one decision is both! In Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence did not decide to marry Romeo and Juliet because of their love, but  he married them to try and make peace and stop the fighting between their families! As you can see, he had good intentions, but he acted in an unethical way. He had to decide between the decision he made to marry them and just saying no and letting the family feud continue! Clearly though, he didn't fully think through all of the possible out comes of his decisions, and he ended up basically killing the both of them. This goes to show that when making decisions, it is most important to keep your mind open to all possible outcomes, and to search for the most ethical decision before you cause harm to yourself and others.