ACT IV - Scene V Romeo and Juliet

Previous Chapter Next Chapter
The family mourning over Juliet, believed to be dead
The Feigned Death of Juliet by Frederic Leighton (1858)

Juliet's chamber.

[Enter Nurse.]

NURSE
Mistress! what, mistress! Juliet! Fast, I warrant her, she.
Why, lamb! why, lady! Fie, you slug-abed!
Why, love, I say! madam! sweetheart! Why, bride!
What, not a word? You take your pennyworths now!
Sleep for a week;
for the next night, I warrant,
The County Paris hath set up his rest
That you shall rest but little. God forgive me!
Marry, and amen. How sound is she asleep!
I needs must wake her. Madam, madam, madam!
Ay, let the County take you in your bed!
He'll fright you up, i' faith. Will it not be?

[Draws aside the curtains.]

What, dress'd, and in your clothes, and down again?
I must needs wake you. Lady! lady! lady!
Alas, alas! Help, help! My lady's dead!
O weraday that ever I was born!
Some aqua-vitae, ho! My lord! my lady!

Enter Mother.

MOTHER
What noise is here?

NURSE
O lamentable day!

MOTHER
What is the matter?

NURSE
Look, look! O heavy day!

MOTHER
O me, O me! My child, my only life!
Revive, look up, or I will die with thee!
Help, help! Call help.

Enter Father.

FATHER
For shame, bring Juliet forth;
her lord is come.

NURSE
She's dead, deceas'd;
she's dead! Alack the day!

MOTHER
Alack the day, she's dead, she's dead, she's dead!

CAPULET
Ha! let me see her. Out alas! she's cold,
Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff;

Life and these lips have long been separated.
Death lies on her like an untimely frost
Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.

NURSE
O lamentable day!

MOTHER
O woful time!

CAPULET
Death, that hath ta'en her hence to make me wail,
Ties up my tongue and will not let me speak.

Enter Friar [Laurence] and the County [Paris], with Musicians.

PARIS
Come, is the bride ready to go to church?

CAPULET
Ready to go, but never to return.
O son, the night before thy wedding day
Hath Death lain with thy wife. See, there she lies,
Flower as she was, deflowered by him.
Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir;

My daughter he hath wedded. I will die
And leave him all. Life, living, all is Death's.

PARIS
Have I thought long to see this morning's face,
And doth it give me such a sight as this?

MOTHER
Accurs'd, unhappy, wretched, hateful day!
Most miserable hour that e'er time saw
In lasting labour of his pilgrimage!
But one, poor one, one poor and loving child,
But one thing to rejoice and solace in,
And cruel Death hath catch'd it from my sight!

NURSE
O woe? O woful, woful, woful day!
Most lamentable day, most woful day
That ever ever I did yet behold!
O day! O day! O day! O hateful day!
Never was seen so black a day as this.
O woful day! O woful day!

PARIS
Beguil'd, divorced, wronged, spited, slain!
Most detestable Death, by thee beguil'd,
By cruel cruel thee quite overthrown!
O love! O life! not life, but love in death!

CAPULET
Despis'd, distressed, hated, martyr'd, kill'd!
Uncomfortable time, why cam'st thou now
To murther, murther our solemnity?
O child! O child! my soul, and not my child!
Dead art thou, dead! alack, my child is dead,
And with my child my joys are buried!

PARIS
Peace, ho, for shame! Confusion's cure lives not
In these confusions. Heaven and yourself
Had part in this fair maid! now heaven hath all,
And all the better is it for the maid.
Your part in her you could not keep from death,
But heaven keeps his part in eternal life.
The most you sought was her promotion,
For 'twas your heaven she should be advanc'd;

And weep ye now, seeing she is advanc'd
Above the clouds, as high as heaven itself?
O, in this love, you love your child so ill
That you run mad, seeing that she is well.
She's not well married that lives married long,
But she's best married that dies married young.
Dry up your tears and stick your rosemary
On this fair corse, and, as the custom is,
In all her best array bear her to church;

For though fond nature bids us all lament,
Yet nature's tears are reason's merriment.

CAPULET
All things that we ordained festival
Turn from their office to black funeral-
Our instruments to melancholy bells,
Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast;

Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change;

Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse;

And all things change them to the contrary.

FRIAR
Sir, go you in;
and, madam, go with him;

And go, Sir Paris. Every one prepare
To follow this fair corse unto her grave.
The heavens do low'r upon you for some ill;

Move them no more by crossing their high will.

Exeunt. Manent Musicians [and Nurse].

FIRST MUSICIAN
Faith, we may put up our pipes and be gone.
Nurse. Honest good fellows, ah, put up, put up!
For well you know this is a pitiful case.

[Exit.]

FIRST MUSICIAN
Ay, by my troth, the case may be amended.

Enter Peter.

PETER
Musicians, O, musicians, 'Heart's ease,' 'Heart's ease'!
O, an you will have me live, play 'Heart's ease.'

FIRST MUSICIAN
Why 'Heart's ease'?

PETER
O, musicians, because my heart itself plays 'My heart is
full of woe.' O, play me some merry dump to comfort me.

FIRST MUSICIAN
Not a dump we! 'Tis no time to play now.

PETER
You will not then?

FIRST MUSICIAN
No.

PETER
I will then give it you soundly.

FIRST MUSICIAN
What will you give us?

PETER
No money, on my faith, but the gleek. I will give you the
minstrel.

FIRST MUSICIAN
Then will I give you the serving-creature.

PETER
Then will I lay the serving-creature's dagger on your
pate. I will carry no crotchets. I'll re you, I'll fa you.
Do you note me?

FIRST MUSICIAN
An you re us and fa us, you note us.

SECOND MUSICIAN
Pray you put up your dagger, and put out your wit.

PETER
Then have at you with my wit! I will dry-beat you with an
iron wit, and put up my iron dagger. Answer me like men.

'When griping grief the heart doth wound,
And doleful dumps the mind oppress,
Then music with her silver sound'-

Why 'silver sound'? Why 'music with her silver sound'?
What say you, Simon Catling?

FIRST MUSICIAN
Marry, sir, because silver hath a sweet sound.

PETER
Pretty! What say you, Hugh Rebeck?

SECOND MUSICIAN
I say 'silver sound' because musicians sound for
silver.

PETER
Pretty too! What say you, James Soundpost?

THIRD MUSICIAN
Faith, I know not what to say.

PETER
O, I cry you mercy! you are the singer. I will say for
you. It is 'music with her silver sound' because musicians
have no gold for sounding.

'Then music with her silver sound
With speedy help doth lend redress.'

[Exit.]

FIRST MUSICIAN
What a pestilent knave is this same?

SECOND MUSICIAN
Hang him, Jack! Come, we'll in here, tarry for the
mourners, and stay dinner.

Exeunt.

Frequently Asked Questions about ACT IV - Scene V from Romeo and Juliet

What happens in Act 4, Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet?

Act 4, Scene 5 opens on the morning of Juliet's scheduled wedding to Count Paris. The Nurse enters Juliet's chamber to wake her and discovers that she appears to be dead—cold, stiff, and unresponsive. In reality, Juliet has taken the sleeping potion given to her by Friar Laurence. Lady Capulet, Lord Capulet, and Paris all arrive and are devastated. Friar Laurence counsels the family to redirect their grief and prepare Juliet's body for burial. The scene ends with a comic exchange between Peter and the hired musicians, who debate whether to play music and trade witty insults.

Why does the Nurse fail to wake Juliet in Act 4, Scene 5?

The Nurse cannot wake Juliet because Juliet has drunk a sleeping potion provided by Friar Laurence in the previous scene. The potion makes her appear dead—her blood has settled, her joints are stiff, and her body is cold. The Nurse, unaware of the plan, genuinely believes Juliet has died and raises the alarm, calling for aqua vitae (a strong spirit) and summoning Lord and Lady Capulet. The dramatic irony of the scene lies in the audience knowing the truth while every character on stage mourns sincerely.

How does Capulet react to Juliet's death in Act 4, Scene 5?

Lord Capulet reacts with intense grief, personifying Death as a rival bridegroom who has married and "deflowered" his daughter. He declares that "Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir" and says he will die and leave everything to Death. He then catalogs how every element of the planned wedding must be reversed: instruments become funeral bells, wedding cheer becomes a burial feast, hymns become dirges, and bridal flowers now adorn a corpse. His speech reveals both genuine sorrow and his tendency to view Juliet as family property and legacy rather than as an independent person.

What role does Friar Laurence play in Act 4, Scene 5?

Friar Laurence arrives with Paris and the musicians expecting to escort the bride to church. When he finds the family grieving, he delivers a speech urging them to accept Juliet's death as God's will, arguing that "heaven hath all, and all the better is it for the maid." He tells them to dry their tears, place rosemary on her body, and bear her to church for burial. His words carry heavy dramatic irony because he alone knows Juliet is not actually dead—he devised the sleeping potion plan. His counsel to accept heaven's will is both a standard religious consolation and a strategic move to keep his plan on track.

Why does Shakespeare include the musicians scene at the end of Act 4, Scene 5?

The exchange between Peter and the musicians serves several dramatic purposes. It provides comic relief after the intense grief of the mourning scene, giving the audience a moment to breathe before the catastrophe of Act 5. The musicians’ pragmatic concerns—losing their gig, missing dinner—contrast sharply with the aristocratic family's elaborate laments, highlighting the class divide in Verona. Their wordplay on musical terms ("crotchets," "re," "fa") and the debate about why music has a "silver sound" inject humor while also touching on the scene's broader theme of music's power to comfort grief. The sequence functions as a tonal bridge between acts.

What is the dramatic irony in Act 4, Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet?

The central dramatic irony of Act 4, Scene 5 is that the audience knows Juliet is not dead—she has taken a sleeping potion from Friar Laurence that merely simulates death—while every character on stage believes her death is real. This creates a painful gap between appearance and reality as the Nurse, Lady Capulet, Lord Capulet, and Paris pour out genuine grief. Friar Laurence's consolation speech is doubly ironic: he speaks of heavenly reward knowing Juliet will awaken, making his spiritual advice both a comfort and a deception. The irony deepens the tragedy because the audience understands that the plan is fragile and that miscommunication will ultimately lead to real death in Act 5.

How does Act 4, Scene 5 transform the wedding into a funeral?

Shakespeare dramatizes the transformation through Lord Capulet's speech, in which he systematically lists every wedding element and its funeral counterpart: "Our instruments to melancholy bells, / Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast; / Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change; / Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse." This rhetorical structure of paired opposites emphasizes the theme of fate reversing human plans that runs throughout the play. The reversal also operates on a dramatic level—the musicians who arrived to play at a celebration instead pack up their instruments, and the scene that began with the Nurse's cheerful, bawdy wake-up call ends in mourning. The wedding-to-funeral inversion foreshadows the final tragedy, where the lovers’ planned reunion in the Capulet tomb becomes their actual deathbed.

 

Previous Chapter Next Chapter
Return to the Romeo and Juliet Summary Return to the William Shakespeare Library