Analyze the characters of the Nurse and Friar Laurence as mentors to the young people in Romeo and Juliet. Do these two people do the right thing...

The Nurse and Friar Laurence play similar key roles in Romeo and Juliet considering they both act as advisory parties and surrogate parents. Since the Capulets and Montagues are so hopelessly hateful towards each other, Romeo and Juliet have no other choice than to confide their love for each other with the Nurse and Friar Laurence. 

Friar Laurence gives both Romeo and Juliet advice throughout the play. He urges them to exercise more caution with...

The Nurse and Friar Laurence play similar key roles in Romeo and Juliet considering they both act as advisory parties and surrogate parents. Since the Capulets and Montagues are so hopelessly hateful towards each other, Romeo and Juliet have no other choice than to confide their love for each other with the Nurse and Friar Laurence. 

Friar Laurence gives both Romeo and Juliet advice throughout the play. He urges them to exercise more caution with their reckless love, especially when he reminds Romeo of how quickly he forgot about being in love with Rosaline. However, his advice falls on deaf ears and he eventually agrees to marry the two of them. His intentions, while they appear rooted in love, are not as clear as they seem, since we learn he is attempting to mend the rift between the two families with the marriage. One could argue that he goes against his own advice of caution by underestimating the damage Romeo and Juliet's marriage could cause. And speaking of damage, he plays a part in the ultimate demise of both characters, begging the question: couldn't he have helped avoid all this instead of helping cause it? 

The Nurse is more closely tied to Juliet, as she serves as a maid in the Capulet household and a second mother to Juliet. She mostly serves as a messenger between the two lovers. However, when Romeo is banished she is quick to urge Juliet to forget him and marry Paris. This shows that she has Juliet's interests at heart, even if Juliet only wants Romeo. The Nurse is also bound by societal expectations considering her position in the Capulet household, and isn't likely to tell Juliet to run away with Romeo. 

Both the Nurse and Friar Laurence mean well and want to see Romeo and Juliet happy, whether that means being together or not. Both do what they can to bring the two together in marriage, but when things start to fall apart, pressure gets the best of them and they both retreat. Unlike Juliet and Romeo, they aren't willing to sacrifice everything for love. Whether all the decisions they made were "right" is debatable, but they always had good intentions and cared for Romeo and Juliet, which is what matters the most.