Act 5 — Teaching Companion

What it asks What Romeo's cheer does for the audience in the next few lines, and what it shows about how much Romeo has riding on one answer.

One reading

The cheer sets up a fall: a hopeful dream makes the news that follows hit harder.

• My dreams presage some joyful news at hand.
• Is it even so? Then I defy you, stars!

Another reading

The cheer shows what Juliet is to him: all his hope rests on one answer about her.

• How fares my Juliet? That I ask again;
• For nothing can be ill if she be well.
• And breath’d such life with kisses in my lips,

Listen for

• Says what Romeo hopes for and what he asks first.
• Notices that Balthasar answers in Romeo's own words.
• Gives a reason for the placement, not only a description of the mood.

If stuck

• What does Romeo say his dream means, and what does he ask Balthasar first?
• How does Balthasar begin his answer?
• Why might a playwright let a character be happiest just before the news?

A strong answer Romeo begins high: a dream in which Juliet revives him with kisses, and a spirit that lifts him "above the ground." His questions are all about Juliet, and he says "nothing can be ill if she be well." Balthasar answers in those same words, "Then she is well, and nothing can be ill," and goes on to say she is in the monument. The cheer makes the fall steeper, and it shows how much rests on one answer. A strong answer says what each of those does for the audience, using Romeo's words.

What it asks What "No matter" shows about how Romeo hears the news: a letter that no longer seems to count, or a letter set aside in haste.

One reading

It is grief: once he believes Juliet is dead, no letter seems able to change anything.

• Is it even so? Then I defy you, stars!
• No matter. Get thee gone,
• Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight.

Another reading

It is haste: a letter is on his mind, yet he answers Balthasar's plea for patience with orders to hurry.

• Hast thou no letters to me from the Friar?
• I do beseech you sir, have patience.
• Tush, thou art deceiv’d.

Listen for

• Says when Romeo asks for a letter and what he is told.
• Tells a letter that no longer matters from a letter set aside.
• Uses Balthasar's plea for patience.

If stuck

• What does Balthasar answer when Romeo asks about letters?
• What does Romeo order right after "No matter"?
• What does Balthasar say about Romeo's looks, and how does Romeo take it?

A strong answer Romeo asks for the Friar's letter before he knows the news, and asks again after it. Balthasar says no letter has come, and Romeo says "No matter" and orders horses. One reading hears grief: once he believes Juliet is dead, no letter seems able to change anything. Another hears haste: he has a letter on his mind and still waves away Balthasar's plea for patience. A strong answer chooses what "No matter" is doing and backs it with his orders, without claiming to know what a letter would have changed.

What it asks Who owns a choice made under pressure: a starving man who sells against the law, or a buyer who comes to the shop already resolved.

One reading

The seller: he names the penalty and sells anyway, so the choice is his, whatever his hunger.

• Such mortal drugs I have, but Mantua’s law Is death to any he that utters them.
• Put this in any liquid thing you will And drink it off; and, if you had the strength Of twenty men, it would despatch you straight.

Another reading

The buyer: Romeo presses a starving man with gold and the world's neglect, and calls the drug a cordial.

• Then be not poor, but break it and take this.
• I sell thee poison, thou hast sold me none.
• Come, cordial and not poison, go with me

Listen for

• Says what each man claims consents: poverty or will.
• Notices that the apothecary names the law before he sells.
• Weighs hunger as a pressure against will as a choice.

If stuck

• What does the apothecary say is the penalty for selling?
• What does Romeo say the world offers a poor man?
• Which line would each man point to in his own defence?

A strong answer The apothecary says selling is death by Mantua's law and that his poverty, not his will, agrees to it. Romeo says he pays the poverty, not the will, and calls his gold the worse poison. A student can put the weight on the seller, who names the penalty and sells anyway, or on the buyer, who presses a starving man and calls the drug "cordial and not poison." A strong answer weighs hunger against choice in both men and says what each line Romeo speaks adds to the weighing.

What it asks What the placement does to the way the audience watches Romeo walk toward the tomb.

One reading

It tightens the clock: the audience learns the letter failed while Romeo is already on his way, and Juliet will wake within three hours.

• I could not send it,—here it is again,
• Within this three hours will fair Juliet wake.
• Come, cordial and not poison, go with me

Another reading

It keeps a slim hope alive: the Friar has a plan to reach her first, so the audience can still hope as the pace picks up.

• Now must I to the monument alone.
• But I will write again to Mantua,
• And keep her at my cell till Romeo come.

Listen for

• Says what the audience learns here that Romeo does not know.
• Notices that the Friar still has a plan and a time to work to.
• Gives a reason for the placement, not only a summary of the scene.

If stuck

• What does Friar John say happened to the letter?
• What does Friar Lawrence say he will do next?
• What does the audience know in this scene that Romeo does not?

A strong answer Friar John says the searchers sealed the doors and the letter never left. Friar Lawrence says it was "full of charge, Of dear import," and that he must go to the monument alone, since Juliet will wake within three hours. The scene sits between Romeo's purchase and his arrival, so the audience knows what Romeo does not. One way to read the placement is as a tightening clock; another is as a last, slim hope that the Friar can still get there first. A strong answer says what the placement does to how the audience watches Romeo go.

What it asks What Romeo does with what he sees: where looking turns into explaining, and what the explanation does for him.

One reading

It fits a mind already made up: he came to die, and the explanation gives him a reason to stay.

• Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight.
• For fear of that I still will stay with thee
• Here, here will I remain

Another reading

It comes from what he was told: she is dead, so a flush of life needs another cause, and he tries one saying after another.

• I saw her laid low in her kindred’s vault,
• A lightning before death. O, how may I
• Shall I believe That unsubstantial death is amorous;

Listen for

• Finds the line where Romeo stops describing and starts explaining.
• Notices that he tries "lightning before death" first and drops it.
• Weighs a decision already made against news already given, with lines for each.

If stuck

• What colours does Romeo name in Juliet's face?
• What had he decided before he entered the tomb?
• What does he say he will do after he asks if death is her lover?

A strong answer Romeo first reaches for the saying about a lightning before death, then asks how he may call this one, since death has not conquered her beauty: crimson is still in her lips and cheeks, and death's pale flag is not advanced there. Later, after he speaks to Tybalt, he asks why she is still so fair and whether death is her lover, a thought that gives him a reason to stay and die beside her. One reading is that he came to die, so the explanation fits what he has already decided. Another is that he has been told she is dead and looks for a reason for the colour in her face. A strong answer names the line where seeing becomes explaining and says which reading it supports.

What it asks What the Prince means by "punish'd", who he counts in "all", and whether the word fits the young lovers as it fits the fathers.

One reading

It fits: the Prince ties the deaths to the families' hate and to his own winking at it, so the loss is a consequence.

• See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
• And I, for winking at your discords too,
• Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punish’d.

Another reading

It does not fit everyone: Lady Montague and the young lovers are not the people the Prince addresses, and Capulet calls the dead sacrifices, not offenders.

• Alas, my liege, my wife is dead tonight.
• Poor sacrifices of our enmity.

Listen for

• Names who the Prince includes in "all".
• Tells punishment for a wrong from loss suffered by others.
• Uses Capulet's word "sacrifices".

If stuck

• What does the Prince say he has lost, and why?
• Who has died in this act, and who is left to be punished?
• What does Capulet call the dead?

A strong answer The Prince ties the deaths to the feud: he tells Capulet and Montague to see the scourge laid on their hate, and he counts his own loss as a price for winking at their discords. On that reading, "punish'd" fits. But Lady Montague, who dies of grief for her son, and the young lovers are not the people he addresses, and Capulet's word for the dead is "sacrifices." A strong answer says who the word fits and who it does not, and what the Prince may mean by using it of everyone.

What it asks What Romeo and Paris each believe they are doing before the fight, read from their own words: Romeo a warning and a mercy, Paris an arrest.

One reading

Each acts from a clear sense of duty: Paris thinks he is arresting a man come to shame the dead, and Romeo thinks he is sparing a boy.

• And here is come to do some villainous shame To the dead bodies. I will apprehend him.
• By heaven I love thee better than myself;
• A madman’s mercy bid thee run away.

Another reading

Neither hears the other: Paris calls him a felon and Romeo warns of fury, and the warning and the arrest pass each other.

• Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee.
• Put not another sin upon my head By urging me to fury.
• I do defy thy conjuration,

Listen for

• One line from each man.
• What Paris believes Romeo has come to do.
• Romeo's "arm'd against myself" as a statement of his own purpose.
• An objection from the other man's lines.

If stuck

• What does Paris say Romeo has come to do?
• What does Romeo ask Paris to do, and what reason does he give?
• Against whom does Romeo say he has come armed?

A strong answer Paris takes Romeo for the banished Montague who murdered his love's cousin, come to shame the dead, and he moves to arrest him. Romeo says he came to die, asks Paris to go, and calls going away "A madman’s mercy." One thesis holds that each acts from a clear sense of duty and that warning and arrest simply miss each other. An objection is that Paris hears the warning as a challenge, though Romeo asks him not to urge him to fury. A revision says what each man can see of the other, using only what they say before the fight. Romeo does not know who Paris is until after it.

What it asks How the Friar shapes his account: what he names as his own doing, what he puts down to accident, and what he says of Juliet.

One reading

He tells it honestly and against himself: he names the marriage, the potion and the plan, and offers his life if the fault is his.

• I married them;
• A sleeping potion, which so took effect
• let my old life Be sacrific’d, some hour before his time,

Another reading

He puts the failure elsewhere: the messenger was stayed by accident, a noise scared him, and Juliet was too desperate to come.

• Was stay’d by accident; and yesternight
• But then a noise did scare me from the tomb;
• And she, too desperate, would not go with me,

Listen for

• Two of the Friar's own lines.
• What he names as his doing and what he names as chance.
• What he says about why Juliet stayed and why he left.
• An objection from the other half of the speech.

If stuck

• What does the Friar say he gave Juliet, and why?
• What word does he use for what happened to his messenger?
• What does he say scared him from the tomb?

A strong answer The Friar opens by calling himself "most suspected," then tells of the marriage, the potion and the letter. One thesis takes him at his word: he names his own doing and offers his life if the fault is his. Another notices where he puts things down to other causes: his messenger was "stay'd by accident," a noise scared him, and Juliet was "too desperate." An objection to either is the other half of the speech. A revision says how he divides his own part from chance and from Juliet, using only his lines.

What it asks How the short, quick run of lines shapes what the audience feels at the end of Juliet's part: hope, waste, or both.

One reading

The pace is cruelly quick: the warm lips and the noise arrive together, and Juliet decides before she can look further.

• Thy lips are warm!
• Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger.

Another reading

The pace is her choice: she has already refused to leave, and each line shows her deciding.

• Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.
• O churl. Drink all, and left no friendly drop To help me after?
• Then I’ll be brief.

Listen for

• Two of Juliet's lines, from before and after the warm lips.
• What she hopes for when she kisses him.
• What the noise cuts off.
• Keeps to her words and does not judge her.

If stuck

• What does Juliet hope she will find on Romeo's lips?
• What does she say when she touches them?
• What does she say when she hears the noise?

A strong answer Juliet finds the cup, blames Romeo for leaving no drop, and kisses him in the hope that poison still clings to his lips. She says "Thy lips are warm!" and, hearing the Watch, says she will be brief and stabs herself. One thesis hears cruel speed: the warmth and the noise arrive together, and she has no time to look further. Another hears a choice: she had already refused to leave, and each line is her deciding. An objection to either uses the other's lines. A revision says what the pace does to the audience's feeling, and stays with her words.