Summary and Analysis of Act 5
Act Five, Scene OneRomeo has had a dream in which Juliet finds him dead which has disturbed him. His servant Balthasar arrives in Mantua from Verona with news that Juliet is dead. Romeo immediately orders him to bring a post horse so that he can return to Verona and see her for himself. Romeo then finds a poverty stricken apothecary and pays him for some poison. Act Five, Scene TwoFriar John arrives to tell Friar Laurence that he was unable to deliver the letter to Romeo. His excuse is that some people were afraid he carried the pestilence (the plague) and refused to let him out of a house. Friar Laurence realizes that this destroys his plans, and orders a crowbar so that he can go rescue Juliet from the grave. Act Five, Scene ThreeRomeo and Balthasar arrive at Juliet's tomb, where Paris is standing watch to ensure no one tries to rob the vault. Paris sees Romeo and fights him, but is killed in the process. His page then runs off to fetch the city watchmen. Romeo opens up the tomb and sees Juliet. He sits down next to her, takes a cup and fills it with the poison, then drinks it and dies kissing Juliet. Friar Laurence arrives only seconds later and discovers that Paris has been killed by Romeo. Juliet awakes and finds Romeo dead beside her, with the cup of poison still next to him. She kisses him, hoping some of the poison will kill her as well. Friar Laurence pleads with her to come out of the vault, but instead Juliet chooses to kill herself with Romeo's dagger. At this point the watchmen arrive, along with the Prince, Montague and Capulet. Friar Laurence tells them the story as he knows it, and Balthasar gives the Prince a letter written by Romeo which verifies the story. Montague, in order to make amends for Juliet's death, tells them he will erect a golden statue of her in Verona for all to see. Not to be outdone, Capulet promises the same of Romeo. The Prince ends the play with the words, "For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo." (5.3.308-9) AnalysisMuch in the way that the characaters in Richard III dream about their fates in the final act of that play, Romeo too has a dream which tells of his fate. "I dreamt my lady came and found me dead" (5.1.6). The use of dreams is meant to foreshadow, but also heightens the dramatic elements of the tragedy by irrevocably sealing the character's fate. When Romeo goes to the Apothecary to buy his poison, it is as if he were buying the poison from Death himself. Note the description of the Apothecary, "Meagre were his looks. / Sharp misery had worn him to the bones" (5.1.40-1). He is clearly an image of Death. Romeo pays him in gold, saying, "There is thy gold - worse poison to men's souls" (5.1.79). This description of gold ties into the conflict between gold and silver. It is gold that underlies the family feuding, even after the death of both Romeo and Juliet when Capulet and Montegue try to outbid each other in the size of their golden statues. Thus for Romeo gold really is a form of poison, since it has helped to kill him. The analysis of the first act pointed out some of the numberous sexual references throughout the play. In the final death scene there is even the full force of the erotic element. Romeo drinks from a chalise, a cup with a shape that is often compared to the torso of a woman. Meanwhile Juliet says, "O happy dagger, / This is thy sheath! There rust, and let me die" (5.3.169). The dagger is of course Romeo's, and the sexual overtones are starkly clear. In addition to this, there is ambiguity about the use of the word "die." To die actually had two meanings when Shakespeare was writing, meaning either real death or sexual intercourse. Thus, even at the very end of the play, we cannot be sure from the words alone whether Juliet is committing suicide or engaging in sexual relations with Romeo. A final comment concerns Friar Laurence. His actions at the end of the play are remarkable for a holy man because he attempts to play God. Friar Laurence gets Juliet to drink a potion which puts her to sleep, faking death, and then he tries to resurrect her. In his attempt to play God, Friar Laurence is condemned to fail by the simple arrogance of his act. This tie-in with the death of Christ would not have escaped the Christian audiences watching the play.
ClassicNote on Romeo and Juliet
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