Act 4 Scene 1

Objective Summary: Paris goes to the Friar's cell to tell him about Juliet and himself marrying each other on Thursday. The Friar does not like the idea of marrying Juliet to Paris because he has already married Juliet to Romeo and feels like the wedding date is too soon. Then Juliet arrives at the Friar's cell and smartly avoids Paris’s comments about marrying her and her being his wife. After Paris leaves Juliet to talk to the Friar by themselves, Juliet tells the Friar that she does not want to marry Paris because she loves Romeo but she fears that death is her only option if he can not help her stop the wedding. The Friar then tells Juliet about a solution to her problem which is a sleeping potion that will make it appear that she is dead but will be unconscious and put in her family’s tomb since her family does know about the Friar’s and her plan. While Juliet is asleep the Friar will tell Romeo about the plan so Juliet and Romeo can be together. Juliet immediately agrees to the plan and will drink the potion Wednesday night which is the day before her wedding day to Paris. Scene Significance: This scene is significant because it leads up to why Romeo killed himself when he thought that Juliet was dead. It also connects to how Juliet avoids her wedding day with Paris by pretending to be dead. Also because it creates irony in the story since we as the readers know that Juliet is only pretending to be dead and will wake up after 42 hours have passed.