g to get word to Romeo of his plan to join the two lovers. So, he sends a messenger to Mantua to deliver a letter with the details to Romeo (IV, i). On the morning of the wedding, Juliet is found “dead” by her Nurse, and the wedding turns into a funeral (IV, v). Unfortunately for Romeo, word of the Friar’s plan was delayed by a plague (death). Ironically, Balthasar does not have a problem delivering the news of Juliet’s death to Romeo. The scene opens with Romeo’s prophetic dream, “I dreamt that my lady came and found me dead….” (ll.6). Moments later, Balthasar delivers his somewhat inaccurate news to Romeo, “Her body sleeps in Capel’s monument, and her immortal part with angels lives” (ll.18-19). After Balthasar departs, Romeo decides that he is going to an apothecary, so that he can poison himself and lie with Juliet (ll.36-54). The apothecarist is hesitant to sell the poison to Romeo, but finally gives him a powerful poison (ll.60-89). In the final scene, Paris is mourning over Juliet’s death, and as he spies a torch, he hides. Romeo arrives on the scene with Balthasar, and Romeo asks Balthasar to do two things, deliver a letter to his family in the morning, and not to come to the grave no matter what he hears (ll.23-27). Romeo goes on to threaten Balthasar with death if he comes to investigate what Romeo is doing (ll.33-36). Before he opens the grave, Romeo addresses the grave, “Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death, gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth, thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open, and in despite I’ll cram thee with more food” (ll45-48). Here we see Romeo personify the grave, and shows anger towards it for eating Juliet. He finally offers himself to the grave as well (V, iii). Paris emerges, as he thinks that Romeo is desecrating the grave, and the two men duel. Romeo cannot see the other man, and s...
