What If This Mixture Do Not Work at All?

English 9

Romeo and Juliet

Act IV

Scene I

Juliet meets Paris at Friar Laurence’s. Paris of their upcoming marriage. Juliet speaks to Paris in such a way that he assumes she is willing to marry him. Juliet asks the Friar to help her avoid the marriage and says she would kill herself to avoid it. He suggests a potion that will put her into a deathlike sleep for forty-two hours. The family will place her in the tomb and he will send word to Romeo to explain everything and to have him return for her to take her to Mantua. Friar Laurence tells her to make sure that she is alone the next night so that she may take the potion.

Scene II

Juliet returns home and begs her father’s forgiveness and tells him she will agree to the wedding. Capulet decides that the wedding will be the next day (Wednesday) instead of waiting for Thursday.

Scene III

Juliet convinces the Nurse and her mother to leave her. Since the wedding has been moved up, she is forced to take the potion that night. She has many doubts and fears:

·  “What if this mixture do not work at all?”

·  “What if it be a poison?”

·  “How if, when I am laid into the tomb, I wake before the time that Romeo Come to redeem me?...”

But when she considers the alternative to drinking the potion, she says, “Romeo, I come. This I do drink to thee.”

Scene IV

Wedding preparations are being carried out by the servants and supervised by Capulet. Capulet sends word by the Nurse to wake Juliet as Paris has already arrived.

Scene V

The Nurse tries to wake Juliet but finds she is dead. She informs the Capulets and Lord Capulet says they must now prepare for a funeral. The Friar says that Juliet will find eternal peace in heaven. At the end of the scene, Peter and the musicians joke about music as they are unaware of what has happened.