Deaths in the Capulet tomb

Scene summary

In the cemetery, at night, Paris orders his page to stay far off, lying under a yew tree, and to whistle if he hears anyone approaching. He scatters flowers over Juliet's tomb and says he will moisten it every night with flower water or with tears. When the page whistles, Paris hides. Romeo arrives with Balthasar, a pickaxe, and a crowbar; he hands Balthasar a letter for his father, saying he enters the tomb partly to see Juliet's face, but mainly to take a precious ring from her finger, and threatens to tear Balthasar apart if he stays to spy. Balthasar hides. Romeo breaks open the door of the tomb. Paris, who sees him, thinks that the banished Montague, who killed Juliet's cousin and of whose grief she is said to have died, has come to desecrate the dead, and moves to arrest him. Romeo asks him to flee, says he comes armed against himself and does not want another sin on his head, but Paris insists, and the two fight. The page runs to call the watch. Paris falls and asks to be laid beside Juliet. Romeo recognizes him as Mercutio's kinsman, the groom the servant had spoken of, and lays him in the tomb. Before Juliet, he says death has not taken her beauty, asks Tybalt's forgiveness, swears to stay with her forever and shake off the yoke of the stars, kisses her, drinks the poison, and dies.

Friar Laurence arrives with a lantern, a crowbar, and a spade, stumbling over tombs, and finds Balthasar, who tells him that Romeo has been inside the tomb for half an hour and that he dreamed his master killed someone. The friar enters and finds Romeo and Paris dead. Juliet wakes, looks for Romeo, and the friar, hearing noise, asks her to come; he says a greater power has frustrated the plan and that he will take her to a convent. She refuses, and the friar leaves. Juliet sees the cup in Romeo's hand and kisses his lips, hoping still to find poison on them, and, hearing the watch, takes his dagger, saying, "This is your sheath," and kills herself, falling upon him.

The watch finds Paris, Romeo, and Juliet dead and arrests Balthasar and the friar, who weeps and carries the pickaxe and spade, while Paris's page tells what he saw. The Prince arrives, with Capulet and his wife. Montague arrives and says his wife died that night of grief over their son's exile. The Prince asks for patience until the case is clear, and Friar Laurence tells all: he married Romeo and Juliet in secret, the wedding was the day of Tybalt's death, Romeo was banished, and Juliet, when promised to Paris, asked for a way to escape the second marriage. He gave her the sleeping potion and wrote to Romeo, but Friar John was held back, and when the friar arrived, Romeo and Paris were already dead. Balthasar and the page confirm, and the Prince reads Romeo's letter, which proves the friar's words and recounts the purchase of the poison. The Prince tells Capulet and Montague that a scourge has fallen upon their hatred, for heaven has killed their joys with love, and that he too has lost two kinsmen for having closed his eyes to their brawls. Capulet and Montague join hands: Montague promises a golden statue of Juliet, and Capulet another, of Romeo. The Prince closes the play: the morning brings a dark peace, there will be pardon for some and punishment for others, and there has never been a story of more sorrow.