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Paris is at the Capulet tomb with a servant, his page. The servant, a torch bearer, is told by Paris to go off to the distance. The servant is to look out for any approaching people. Paris wants to privately mourn the loss of his love. Soon enough, the servant gives Paris a warning and Paris goes off to hide in the dark. Somebody is approaching.
It is Romeo who is approaching with his servant, Balthasar. He instructs Balthasar to deliver a letter to his dad in the morning. He instructs Balthasar to leave unless he wants to be torn apart joint by joint by Romeo. After being threatened by Romeo, Balthasar agrees to leave. Romeo calls him a good friend. Balthasar, however, keeps his distance and stays nearby.
Paris sees Romeo trying to enter the “womb of death,” the tomb. He tells the banished Romeo that he must stop and come with him. He was banished, but he is dead now that he has returned to Verona. Romeo retorts that he indeed is as good as dead. Romeo also says that he has come to the tomb armed against himself, hinting at the fact that he is prepared to kill himself with the poison. Paris doesn’t care what Romeo has to say. The two begin to sword fight and Paris is killed by Romeo. His last, dying wish is to be laid to rest next to Juliet.
Up until now, Romeo was unable to tell who he was speaking to and fighting with. It was too dark. Romeo finally is able to see who it is that he killed, Mercutio’s kinsman, Count Paris. Romeo recalls how his servant told him that Juliet was to wed Paris. He tells the dead Paris that he will help him be buried in a triumphant grave. He carries Paris into the tomb.
In the tomb, Romeo makes his way to Juliet. He says that death took away her breath, but death can’t take away her beauty. He takes a moment to address Tybalt’s corpse. In his address to the dead Tybalt, Romeo says how fitting it is that the same hand that killed Tybalt will now be used to kill himself.
Romeo returns his attention to Juliet. He can’t believe how beautiful she looks. He fears that Death is keeping her to himself to remain Death’s lover. The jealous Romeo wants Juliet to only be his lover, so he will join her in death. He kisses Juliet, sips the poison, and then passes away.
Friar Lawrence approaches the tomb and finds Romeo’s servant, Balthasar. Balthasar informs him that Romeo is inside. Friar Lawrence approaches the tomb and finds blood at the entrance. He makes his way inside and finds the dead bodies of Paris and Romeo.
Juliet begins to awaken and the friar tries to convince her to leave with him. Juliet sees the dead Romeo and she tries to sip from his bottle of poison. When that doesn’t work, she tries to kiss his lips to drink some of the poison that still dwells there. Seeing that too doesn’t work, she takes Romeo’s “happy dagger” and stabs herself.
Paris’ servant had fled to get help when Paris dueled with Romeo. He now returns with some watchmen. They come upon the death scene and some of them leave to go get the prince. Another watchman finds the friar in a state of shell-shock. Soon, Prince Escalus, Capulet, and Lady Capulet enter. The prince wants answers to figure out what happened. The Capulets are left in despair at the scene. They see their daughter whom they thought was dead with a dagger inside of herself.
Next, Montague enters. He informs the prince that his wife died last night because she couldn’t bear her son’s exile. The prince asks him to seal his woes for a while as they get answers behind the ambiguously odd scene.
Finally, the friar opens up. He confesses that Romeo and Juliet were married. They were married on the very day of Tybalt’s death. Juliet then learned of her arranged marriage to Paris. Seeking help, she came to the friar and he gave her the vial of sleeping potion. The friar wrote to Romeo letting him know that Juliet was faking her death, but that letter
never got to him. Friar Lawrence says that he rushed to the tomb when he learned that Romeo was ignorant of the plan. He was too late, though, because Romeo’s dead body was already there with Paris’ dead body. He confesses that the Nurse also knew of the privy, the secret knowledge of the Romeo and Juliet wedding.
Next, the prince has Romeo’s and Paris’ servants come forward. Balthasar, Romeo’s servant, says that he had informed Romeo of Juliet’s death. He also has a letter for Montague that Romeo left him. Paris’ servant, the page, says that Paris came to leave flowers for Juliet. When Paris and Romeo began to duel, he ran off to get the watchmen.
The prince reads through Romeo’s letter. It confirms everything that the friar had stated. He turns to Montague and Capulet. He states that the hate between the two families caused love to kill their two joys (Romeo and Juliet). The prince also blames himself for not being more aggressive in ceasing their feud. In doing so he lost his own kinsmen of Paris and Mercutio.
Montague and Capulet finally make amends. They shake hands and they agree to have statues built of each other’s children. The statues of Romeo and Juliet will be stood side by side.
The prince tells everybody to go for now. Later, they’ll talk about punishments and pardons. He concludes by saying that there has never been a sadder story than the one of Juliet and her Romeo.
ROMEO AND JULIET -- ACT V, 3
BROWSE CONTENTS
by William Shakespeare
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