Romeo and Juliet ORQ In the play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, newlyweds Romeo and Juliet are deeply in love with each other. However, after a fight with Juliet’s cousin Tybalt that resulted in Romeo killing Tybalt, Romeo was banished to Mantua. Juliet’s parents force her to marry County Paris, a much older man, not knowing that she is already married to Romeo. Juliet does not know what to do, until she speaks with Friar Lawrence, a priest and herbalist, who gives Juliet a potion that will help her to fake her death. Juliet knows that if she takes it, she’ll be able to be with Romeo, but she is uncertain about the possible side-effects. She is scared that the potion will poison her, that she will wake up too soon and suffocate, …show more content…
She questions Friar Lawrence’s motives to bring her and Romeo together, “What if it be a poison which the Friar/Subtly hath ministered to have me dead/Lest in this marriage he should be dishonored Because he married me before to Romeo?” (IV.iii.25-28). Juliet fears that the Friar would kill her so he would not have to marry Paris to Juliet, and in the process dishonor himself, since he knew Juliet was already married. Juliet also knows that Friar is an herbalist, and that he could easily kill her with a potion. Juliet also knows that she’ll be kept in a tomb, and worries that she’ll suffocate if she wakes up before Romeo arrives. She wonders, “How if, when I am laid into the tomb,/I wake before the time that Romeo/Come to redeem me...Shall I not then be stifled in the vault...And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?” (IV.iii.31-32,33,34,36). The tomb will not have fresh air, and Juliet is scared that the potion will not last until Romeo arrives. She fears that if that happens, she will suffocate on stale air, and never be able to see Romeo. Finally, Juliet fears that she’ll put Romeo in danger by being near the ghosts of her ancestors. She worries mainly about the ghost of Tybalt attacking, “O look, methinks I see my cousin’s ghost/Seeking out Romeo that did spit his body...Stay, Tybalt, stay!” (IV.iii.56-57,58). Juliet will be in the tomb, surrounded by the dead bodies of her ancestors, including Tybalt. She