Act 5 — Teaching Companion

This chapter's big question

Act V keeps the truth within reach, in Balthasar's word that Juliet "is well", in the crimson Romeo sees in her lips, in the warmth Juliet feels on his, and reads it rightly only at the inquest: does the act present its catastrophe as the work of fortune, or of human wills that would not wait, look, or speak?

The tension The act keeps naming fortune, in Romeo's defiance of the stars, the Friar's "Unhappy fortune!", a letter "stay’d by accident", and a "greater power than we can contradict", while it shows choices at every turn: Romeo resolving to die before he has seen anything, buying poison with the words "I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.", reasoning past the colour in Juliet's lips, and the Friar leaving her alone in the tomb.

Today's focus

Follow who says what to whom in Act V, and what each listener can check at that moment.

The shape at a glance

Romeo begins cheerful in Mantua after a dream, hears from Balthasar that Juliet is in the monument, and buys poison from a starving apothecary. Friar John tells Friar Lawrence the letter never reached Mantua, and Lawrence sets out for the tomb alone. At the tomb Paris keeps watch with his Page, Romeo arrives, fights and kills Paris, looks at Juliet and drinks the poison. The Friar arrives as Juliet wakes, leaves at a noise, and she stabs herself. The Watch, the Prince and both families gather; the Friar tells his story, Romeo's letter supports it, and the fathers pledge statues in gold.

A way in

Start with “No matter.” Ask what Romeo asks Balthasar for, what he is told, and what he does next.

Lesson plan

Retell The student retells the act in order, saying at each step who is speaking, who is listening and what the listener is told.

Imitate the author After copying Romeo's lines, the student writes six lines that describe something they can see and end with a guess about what it means.

Debate One reader takes the apothecary's side of the sale and one takes Romeo's. Each uses one line spoken in the shop.

Purpose Close by asking who in the act explains what has happened, and what each speaker wants the listener to believe.

Three levels

Easier Read Romeo's scene with Balthasar and the apothecary scene aloud together and talk through discussion questions 2 and 3 only.

On level Talk through all six discussion questions, then have the student write one critical-thinking thesis with two quotes, an objection and a revision.

Harder Ask the student to compare the Friar's account at the inquest with Friar John's own report and say what each leaves out.

Discussion

1. Romeo opens the last act cheerful, sure his dreams “presage some joyful news.” Why might Shakespeare start the act with a happy Romeo?Author's choice

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.

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.

2. Romeo asks Balthasar for the Friar's letter before he hears the news and again after, then says “No matter.” What do you make of that “No matter”?Character

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.

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.

3. The apothecary says “My poverty, but not my will consents.” Romeo answers, “I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.” Who is more responsible for this sale, the seller or the buyer?Moral reasoning

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.

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.

4. Friar John's report comes between Romeo buying the poison and Romeo reaching the tomb. Why might Shakespeare put it there?Plot structure

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

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.

5. Romeo sees “crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,” then asks whether “unsubstantial death is amorous.” Why does he reach for that explanation?Inference

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

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.

6. The Prince says “All are punish’d.” Is “punish’d” the right word for what has happened to the families, and to Romeo and Juliet?Theme

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.

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.

Critical thinking

1. Romeo warns Paris, “tempt not a desperate man”; Paris answers, “I do defy thy conjuration.” Write a thesis on what each thinks he is doing. Use a line from each, answer one objection, and revise.

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.

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.

2. At the inquest the Friar says his messenger “Was stay’d by accident” and that Juliet, “too desperate, would not go with me.” Write a thesis on how he tells his own part. Use two of his lines, answer one objection, and revise.

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.

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.

3. Juliet finds a cup in Romeo's hand, kisses him, says “Thy lips are warm!”, hears the Watch and stabs herself. Write a thesis on what Shakespeare does with the pace of these few lines. Use two lines, answer one objection, and revise.

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.

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.

Vocabulary definitions