What is the purpose of friar laurence’s soliloquy at the beginning of the selection?
to show the audience that he knows about many uses for herbs
to reveal to the audience how he feels about young love
to give advice to romeo about how to marry juliet
to explain how he uses herbs in his cooking

The purpose of Friar Laurence’s soliloquy is definitely to show the audience that he knows about many uses for herbs. In his speech we can reveal main trait of his character and get to know his ideals and philosophy concerning virtue and vice. He helped Juliet with organization of her fake death and this speech brings a lot of allusions about this actions and further problems of a play.