Consider the Parts Played by the Friar and the Nurse Particularly in the Light of This Statement

The play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ could not have functioned without two important characters – Friar Lawrence and the Nurse. In the end, after having heard the story as a whole the Prince said ‘Some shall be pardoned, some punished’. There is no doubt about the importance of their roles in the story as well as their intentions, but considering the clearly tragical end, were their characters actually positive?
I would say that the Friar and the Nurse although working together in the story in order to sort out the lives of their beloved, are quite opposite characters. All Friar’s actions were caused by good intentions, all his crimes – justified. He married the couple secretly in order to unite the families and therefore to prevent even more evil being caused by the hatred, he helped Romeo after Tybalt’s death to prevent a suicide and even his risky death plan of Juliet could have been justified, as marrying her to someone else would be a great sin for both of them. …