In Act 5, scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet, the bodies of Romeo and Juliet are found and great mourning begins by his mother. The prince demands everyone to be quiet so that he can look into what happened and interrogate, and even torture and kill the suspect, Friar Lawrence. When he's brought to the Prince, afraid, he says that while he is the most suspicious man in the room, he was the least involved in the tragedy in front of them. From this we can infer that his conflicting motivations were the fear of heavy punishment which made him want to remain silent, and the desire of receiving mercy upon his confession which made him want to spill all the beans to prove his innocence.