Friar Laurence's cell — the letter undelivered
Friar John returns from Mantua. The letter is still in his hand.
Summary
Friar Laurence's cell, late Thursday afternoon. The Friar has had no word from his messenger and is preparing to ride to Mantua himself. Friar John, the brother he sent with the letter to Romeo, enters at the door. The Friar greets him with hope — "what says Romeo? Or, if his mind be writ, give me his letter." Friar John has neither news nor a reply. He has not delivered the letter at all.
He explains. On his way he had stopped to find a barefoot brother of his order to accompany him, as Franciscan custom required. The brother had been visiting a house in Mantua where plague was suspected. The searchers of the town sealed both friars inside and forbade any letter or person to leave. Friar John has been under quarantine until this hour. He hands the letter back, still sealed.
Friar Laurence's response is the play's plainest panic. "Unhappy fortune! By my brotherhood, / the letter was not nice but full of charge, / of dear import; and the neglecting it / may do much danger." He sends Friar John to fetch an iron crow. Then he calculates: Juliet will wake within three hours. He must be at the vault before she does. He cannot wait for Romeo, and he cannot trust another messenger. He will go alone; Juliet will be furious that Romeo has had no word; he will keep her in the cell until he can write to Mantua again. "Poor living corse, closed in a dead man's tomb!" The audience now knows two facts the Friar does not: Romeo is already on the road from Mantua with poison; he will reach the vault first.
- Scene 1The Chorus opens the play with a single sonnet — fourteen lines — that lays out the entire story in advance. Two households alike...
- Scene 2A public place in Verona, Sunday morning. Two Capulet servants pick a fight with two Montagues to be picking a fight. Benvolio...
- Scene 3A young nobleman named Count Paris asks Capulet for Juliet's hand. Capulet says she is too young at thirteen — let two more...
- Scene 4A room in Capulet's house. Lady Capulet calls her thirteen-year-old daughter in and asks how she feels about marriage. The Nurse...
- Scene 5Romeo, Mercutio, and Benvolio walk in masks through the Verona night toward the Capulet feast. Romeo, reluctant, confesses a...
- Scene 6The Capulet ball, the dance floor full. Romeo sees Juliet across the room and forgets Rosaline within a single line: "for I ne'er...
- Scene 7Outside the Capulet wall, late after the feast. Mercutio and Benvolio have lost Romeo on the way home and call for him through the...
- Scene 8The Capulet orchard. Romeo, hidden, sees Juliet on her balcony speaking aloud of his name and what it costs them. He answers; she...
- Scene 9Dawn at Friar Laurence's cell. The Friar enters with a basket of herbs and reads moral lessons in their double properties — within...
- Scene 10Late morning, a street in Verona. Mercutio and Benvolio discuss Tybalt's challenge and worry that Romeo, in his current state...
- Scene 11Noon at Capulet's garden. Juliet, alone, paces and counts the minutes — the Nurse left at nine; it is past twelve; love's heralds...
- Scene 12Romeo at the Friar's cell, waiting. The Friar warns him again: "these violent delights have violent ends, and in their triumph...
- Scene 13The pivot of the play. A hot afternoon in the public square. Tybalt arrives looking for Romeo and forces a duel; Romeo, freshly...
- Scene 14Juliet's chamber, the same afternoon. Alone, she calls on the night to come quickly: "gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds." It...
- Scene 15Romeo, on the floor of the Friar's cell, hears his sentence. Banishment is worse than death, he insists — and at the Nurse's news...
- Scene 16Late Monday night, a room in Capulet's house. Paris is at the door, paying his respects after Tybalt's death and on the point of...
- Scene 17The longest scene of Act 3. Romeo and Juliet stand at the window at dawn — "it was the nightingale, and not the lark" — and part....
- Scene 18Juliet at Friar Laurence's cell. Paris is there finalizing the wedding order; she answers his courtship with the precise minimum...
- Scene 19Tuesday afternoon, the Capulet house. The household is in motion preparing for Thursday's wedding. Juliet returns from the Friar...
- Scene 20Late Tuesday night, Juliet's chamber. The wedding is at dawn. Alone, with Romeo's dagger laid on the table in case the vial fails...
- Scene 21A short, brisk scene of preparation, set just before dawn on Wednesday. The household has been up all night finishing the wedding...
- Scene 22The Nurse climbs the stairs, pulls back the bed-curtain, and finds Juliet cold. The wedding music outside is still playing. Lady...
- Scene 23Mantua, Thursday morning. Romeo, who has had no word from the Friar yet, is unusually cheerful — he has dreamed Juliet found him...
- Scene 24Late Thursday afternoon, the Friar's cell. Friar John returns from his errand to Mantua with the letter still in his hand. He...
- Scene 25The end at the vault. Paris arrives first to mourn Juliet; Romeo arrives with a crowbar; Paris challenges him; Romeo kills him and...