A Dangerous Risk- Act 4 Blog

             IN Romeo and Juliet, act 4, scene 1, a plan is put into action to save Juliet of her marriage to Paris. While Lady Capulet thinks that Juliet is going to Friar Laurence to confess for disobeying her father, Juliet is really going to receive advice from Friar Laurene. Since Friar Laurence had seen an incident like this coming, he had already had a plan to help Juliet. He gave her a potion. The plan is to have Juliet sleep alone the night before her wedding, and drink the potion.

         
           "When presently through all thy veins shall run a cold and drowsy humor; for no pulse shall 
          keep his native progress, but surcease; no warmth, no breath shall testily thou livest; The roses in                thy lips and cheeks shall fade. To to paly ashes, thy eyes' window fall, Like death when he shut        

          up the day of life; Each part, depriv'd of supple government, Shall stiff and stark, and cold  
          appear like death: And in this borrowed likeness of shrunk death thou shalt continue two                                and  forty hours , and then awake as from a pleasant sleep," is how Friar Laurence describes it              (Shakespeare 234).   

                      
          It sounds like a good plan, but soon Juliet questions weather or not she should drink the potion. So, the question is, why would Friar Laurence ask Juliet to carry out such a dangerous plan instead of just going to her parents and explaining that she was already married to Romeo?  The question is not why wouldn't you, but why would you?  This feud between the Capulets and the Montagues is clearly not going away, after the fight in Verona and epically after Tybalt's death. Juliet's father was angry enough knowing that she didn't want to marry Paris, but if he knew why, he would be furious.  What if Juliet were to say, " Well father, the reason why I didn't want to marry Paris is because I secretly married to Romeo, an enemy of our family, because he is a Capulet." I don't think that that would go over very well with Mr.Capulet.  So, in my opinion, Juliet's decision not tell her father, and to drink the risky potion was a good one. On Friar Laurence's part, the potion was a good idea too.

Vocabulary: 



Arbitrating: to act as arbitrator or arbiter; decide between opposing or contending parties or sides

Distraught: mentally deranged; crazed

Immoderately: not moderate; exceeding just or reasonable limits; excessive; extreme

inundation: to overwhelm

Resolution: the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc

Spited: a particular instance of such an attitude or action; grudge.

Supple: characterized by ease, responsiveness, and adaptability in mental action.