Alan Silvidi Dr. Nunn Shakespearean Drama 15 July 2018 Romeo and the Apothecary: Class Dynamics in Romeo and Juliet In Act 5, scene 1, of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo learns of Juliet’s supposed death, secretly planned by her and Friar Laurence, unbeknownst to Romeo, and he calmly makes plans for his own death. He does so by deciding to buy poison from an Apothecary he remembers having seen; his remembrance of the man’s poverty, the details of which Romeo recalls quite specifically, assures Romeo that he can convince the man to sell him poison, which normally carries a sentence of death in Mantua. After having paid for his purchase, however, Romeo takes the opportunity to lecture the Apothecary about the evils of money: There is thy gold – worse poison to men’s souls, Doing more murder in this …show more content…
Romeo knows how his world views this man – Romeo himself views him in the same way and he bullies and uses him, at the same time excusing his own civic and personal responsibility, preferring to see himself simply as “fortune’s fool” (3.1.135). Dorothea Kehler argues that historical knowledge of early modern England provides vital insight into Romeo and Juliet. She claims while the play ends in tragedy for both Romeo and Juliet and their parents, it displays “no less a social tragedy” (78). In her discussion of the Apothecary, she points out that this scene provides a “representation of social injustice” (82) and that Romeo, “a mere adolescent leading a privileged life” (82) knows he can “persuade a poor man to crime” (82). She notes that an Apothecary at this time ranked “at the low end of the medical profession, itself inferior to the military, the church, and the law” (82). Thus, Romeo has an easy time demanding what he wants from a poor man at the Apothecary’s