Friar Laurence is the Franciscan friar of Verona, confessor to Romeo and Juliet, who marries the two in secret, arranges the potion plan, and arrives too late at the tomb.
In Act II, scene 3, he gathers herbs at dawn and meditates on the poison and the remedy that each plant holds. When Romeo appears, having not slept, and asks him to marry him to Juliet that same day, the friar is surprised at the change after Rosaline, but agrees, hoping the union will reconcile the two houses, and tells him to go slowly: "those who run fast stumble." In scene 6, before the ceremony, he warns that "these violent delights have violent ends."
In Act III, scene 3, he tells Romeo that the Prince spared his life and banished him, and calls this mercy. Romeo calls it torture and draws his sword against himself, and the friar reproaches him and orders him to spend the night with Juliet and set out for Mantua. In Act IV, scene 1, Juliet shows him a knife, and he proposes a potion that will make her appear dead for forty-two hours, with a letter to warn Romeo. In scene 5, he consoles the parents with words about heaven, knowing she lives.
In Act V, scene 2, Friar John returns the letter to him, because he was locked in a house suspected of plague, and Laurence goes alone to the tomb. In scene 3 he arrives too late; Juliet wakes, and he, hearing the watch, urges her to leave and flees without her. Captured, he tells everything to the Prince and offers himself to the law, and the Prince replies that he has always held him to be a holy man.