Romeo and Juliet Act 5 – “For never was a story of more woe/ Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

Romeo and Juliet Act 5 – “For never was a story of more woe/ Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

The space in which a play is originally written for or staged can often have subtle influences on the way a play is written. The Rose and The Curtain theatres, which ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was probably first performed at, had similar stages. Neither had a thrust stage but had open rectangular stages that opened up further at the back. Act 5 of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ starts with the emotionally charged but intimate scene where Romeo finds out about Juliet’s alleged death and ends with a more open scene outside the tomb in Verona and a funeral procession. This creation of dramatic depth through opening up scenic or staging depth is wonderfully powerful staging convention that probably was influenced by these spaces.

In a street in Mantua, Romeo tells of a dream he had (which he doesn't quite realise foreshadows his death) which ends with Juliet waking him up with a kiss. If only Romeo had some dream analysis insight he might have prevented forthcoming events. Balthasar arrives and brings the news of Juliet’s death (once again the dramatic device of audience objectivity means that we know more than the characters do). Romeo is devastated at the news and in the style of an Ancient Greek tragedy tempts and defies Fate or Fortune itself when he decries, “Then, I defy you, stars.” But like many tragic heroes before him, it is Romeo’s attempt to defy his destiny that actually brings him closer to it.

Balthasar enters, and Romeo greets him happily, saying that Balthasar must have come from Verona with news of Juliet and his father. Bathasar reveals that Juliet is dead. Romeo, a man initially of inaction, becomes decisive. He tells Balthasar to get pen, paper and horses and prepare for them to return to Verona. He dismisses Balthasar and makes one more decisive but fateful decision to visit an Apothecary, a seller of drugs.

In the poverty of the Apothecary, Romeo finds tragic opportunity to buy the drug he needs to kill himself. The Apothecary does not want to sell Romeo the fatal drug initially but Romeo’s money and the Apothecary’s poverty make him concede. Romeo uses wonderfully poetic irony when he refers to the money he gives the Apothecary as the true poison in the transaction. Poverty drives the Apothecary to sell his poison while Fate drives Romeo to make his fateful purchase.

We switch, to Friar Lawrence’s cell as he speaks with Friar John who was supposed to deliver a message to Romeo about Friar Laurence’s plan but who has been held up in a house suspected of being plague-ridden. Friar Lawrence starts to realize the consequences of Romeo not knowing the entire plan and he knows that he must travel quickly to the tomb to retrieve Juliet.

“Now must I to the monument alone.

Within these three hours will fair Juliet wake

She will beshrew me much that Romeo

Hath had no notice of these accidents;

…Poor living corse, closed in a dead man’s tomb!”

Friar Laurence also sends another letter to Romeo.

The stage opens up and we see Paris with a servant enter to scatter flowers on Juliet’s grave. They see a light approaching and they hide. Romeo enters with a crowbar and Balthasar. Balthasar is ordered to leave and he will fall asleep as tragic events unfold.

 

Paris sees Romeo and knowing that Romeo killed Tybalt and thinking that grief for Tybalt killed Juliet, he reveals himself. He fights with Romeo and as he is killed by Romeo, requests that he be laid near Juliet’s tomb. Romeo grants this request. With Paris’ body in his arms, Romeo enters the Capulat family tomb, places down Paris’ body and goes to Juliet’s side. He ironically comments on the fact that she looks as if she were not dead and that her beauty still lives even in death. And then he decides he must depart:

“…the yoke of inauspicious stars

From this world-wearied flesh…”

Romeo then kisses Juliet. He then takes the poison, drinks it, kisses Juliet once more and then he dies.

 

Often cinematic versions have Juliet wake up at this moment just missing Romeo by seconds. On stage however, an audience needs more emotional time to process what has just happened: the death of the male protagonist of the piece. So on stage, we have a longer lead up to Juliet’s discovery of Romeo’s dead body.

 

Friar Laurence enters the Churchyard, our focus is shifted away from the tomb to downstage. He finds Bathasar, and Friar Laurence finds out that Romeo has arrived and perhaps there was a fight but perhaps Balthasar dreamed all this. Friar Laurence’s fears are growing. Friar Laurence enters the tomb to find the bloody scene and Romeo’s body. He does not reveal any of this to Juliet as she awakes.

 

Juliet asks for Romeo. The Friar wants Juliet to flee the tomb with him and he reveals that Paris and Romeo are both dead. When Juliet refuses to leave the fatal scene with him, he flies hearing the noises of others approaching. Juliet takes in the dead body of Romeo next to her and hopes that there is enough poison left:

“To help me after? I will kiss thy lips

Haply some poison yet doth hang on them

To make me die with a restorative.

Thy lips are warm!”

But she finds only dramatic irony and the footprints of Fate. Her kiss fails to revive Romeo (although in one Victorian production of the play, this kiss actually does revive the dead Romeo). Noises are heard off and Juliet unsheathes Romeo’s dagger. Her final words are short, dramatically ironic since her body will become the new sheath for Romeo’s knife:

“… O happy dagger,

This is thy sheath.”

From such intimate tragic events where Juliet enacts her “dismal scene” alone, the stage becomes chaotically filled with events and people. Paris’ servant has brought guards and the whole town seems to arrive as Friar Laurence and Balthasar are captured and all is revealed before The Prince. Capulet enters and Montague arrives, declaring that Lady Montague has died of grief or Romeo’s exile (obviously this adds to the tragedy but it also frees up another young actor to add to the finale’s size and impact on stage). Friar Laurence tells the story of the events and the secret marriage. The Nurse can confirm these details. The Friar’s cowardly escape earlier seals our sense that he is more to blame than anyone else. Balthasar shows the letter that Romeo wrote to his father before his death. The Capulets and Montagues, are primarily blamed by the Prince for all this tragedy. Montague declares says he will build a golden statue to the Capulet Juliet, while Capulet will build Montague Romeo’s gold statue beside her. Hence, we feel that Romeo and Juliet’s tragic love is made into a monument to look up to, forged in gold. Romeo and Juliet died to preserve the notion that love is tragic and immortal and resonates in the final words of The Prince who declares:

“For never was a story of more woe

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”