Act 5 Scene 1

Romeo is now safely in Mantua and awakes from a happy dream, that is however laced with a foreshadowing of Romeo’s own death – “my bosom’s lord sits lightly in his throne, and all this day an unaccustomed spirit lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts. I dreamt my lady came and found me dead – strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to think.” Despite this, Romeo is in relatively good spirits when his servant appears. He asks eagerly for news about Juliet. Balthasar tells him Juliet has sadly passed away and that he had seen himself the family deliver her and place her in the Capulet tomb. “Her body sleeps in the Capel’s monument, and her immortal part with angels lives.” Against Balthasar’s advice and his better senses, Romeo feels the utter need to return to Verona to be beside his deceased lover. Dramatic irony is also present in this scene as the audience knows that Juliet is still alive, and death is merely being simulated, however Romeo is none the wiser. On way to Verona, Romeo stops at a poor apothecary where an unwilling assistant supplies him with a deadly poison and with the means for his death in his hands, he continues to ride madly back to Verona.