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Who Is Most Responsible For Juliet’s Faked Death?

The most commonly seen reason for Romeo's and Juliet's downfall would be the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues. However, the overlooked, minor characters play an important role in the tragedy of these young lovers. They were constantly being pushed into secrecy and forced to construct a large and complex plan that resulted in both their deaths. In my opinion, Friar Lawrence should be held responsible for Juliet’s faked death in Act 4, Scene 5.Though the holy friar’s plans all seem well conceived and well intentioned, they serve as the main mechanisms through which the fated tragedy of the play occurs. Readers should recognize that the Friar is not only subject to the fate that dominates the play—in many ways he brings that fate about.
Friar Lawrence occupies a strange position in Romeo and Juliet. He is a kindhearted man who helps Romeo and Juliet throughout the play. He performs their marriage and gives generally good advice, especially in regard to the need for moderation. He is the sole figure of religion in the play. But Friar Lawrence is also the most scheming and political of characters in the play: he marries Romeo and Juliet as part of a plan to end the civil strife in Verona; he spirits Romeo into Juliet’s room and then out of Verona; he devises the plan to reunite Romeo and Juliet through the deceptive ruse of a sleeping potion that seems to arise from almost mystic knowledge. This mystical knowledge seems out of place for a Catholic friar; why does he have such knowledge and what could such knowledge mean? The answers are not clear, but his role in their untimely deaths is.
After Romeo and Juliet meet, they exchange vows of love, aware of each others identity. Romeo hurries to see his confessor Friar Lawrence, who, though shocked at the sudden turn of Romeo’s heart, agrees to marry the young lovers in secret since he sees in their love the possibility of ending...