Scenes in this act
- Scene I The brawl in the square of Verona
On a hot day, Benvolio suggests to Mercutio that they withdraw, because if they run into the Capulets in the street, a fight will break out.
- Scene II Juliet learns of the banishment
Alone, Juliet asks the horses of the sun to run toward night, so that Romeo may come to her arms unseen, and says she has bought the house of a love without having possessed it.
- Scene III Friar Laurence and Romeo's despair
In the cell, Friar Laurence calls Romeo a fearful man, to whom anguish has clung, and tells him what the Prince has decided: not death, but banishment.
- Scene IV Capulet sets the wedding date
In the Capulet house, late at night, Capulet and Paris talk.
- Scene V The farewell and the order to marry
At dawn, in the bedroom, Juliet tells Romeo that it is not yet day: what he heard was the nightingale, not the lark.
Reading of the act
Analysis
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