Act IV

*The reporter knows about Romeo and Juliet, but not that the death was faked*

Reporter: Friar, how do you know Romeo Montague?

Friar: When Romeo was little, his mother would leave him in my care. Now that he is                 grown up, he still thinks of me as his father and comes to me with all his problems.

Reporter: How do you feel about the town’s conflict between the Capulets and the Montagues?

Friar: It is childish behaviour such as this that resulted in the death of Mercutio. No one even remembers why we are fighting, and everyone is involved to some extent. I myself, try to stay out of it as much as I can but on occasion I have had to step in to stop Romeo from getting hurt.

Reporter: Have you at any point encouraged Romeo’s relationship with Juliet?

Friar: I believe that no one has the right to stand between two people that are truly in love. Nowadays it seems as if our priorities have been warped and people are getting married for money and power. It is they who are wrong. Romeo and Juliet are truly in love, and despite the hatred between their families and the social boundaries preventing me from doing so; I have encouraged them and even helped them along at times.

Reporter: Juliet’s death seems a bit suspicious at a time like this. She didn’t want to marry Paris, then she was okay with it, and then she killed herself. Do you know anything about that that you could tell us?

Friar: Maybe she was never okay with it, but she had to pretend to be so that she could kill herself without anyone stopping her. If she kept protesting, her parents probably wouldn’t have let her go to her room alone for fear of her sneaking out. Since you know about her and Romeo; you probably already understand her motives. She was so in love with him that she absolutely could not marry Paris; yet she couldn’t handle a life on the run with Romeo with any friends, parents or anyone to help her. In addition to this, she was in a state of mental trauma. She wasn’t thinking straight.

Reporter: How do you think Romeo is going to handle this?

Friar:  I can’t see the future; but knowing Romeo and his moods lately. He’ll be absolutely depressed and probably try to kill himself again. I’m going to try to find him in Mantua before he hears about it so that I can help him get through this. I figure if I can get him over it; he’ll be onto a new girl by next week. So much for solving the town conflict. I can’t see all this turning out well.