ACT V

Scene i
The setting switches to Romeo in exile in Mantua. His servant Balthasar has gone on horseback to see him and inform him that Juliet has died, her body placed in Capulet’s family tomb. Romeo asks Balthasar if he is carrying any message from the Friar, but he has none. Romeo plans to return to Verona and see Juliet. He plans to kill himself and lay with her in the vault. He stops off on the way and buys some very strong poison with which to kill himself.

Scene ii
We discover that Friar Laurence had previously sent Friar John to deliver a letter to Romeo in Mantua. However, Friar John returns, explaining he was unable to do so. He wasn’t even allowed to leave Verona by the city’s health officers, as he was suspected of carrying an illness. Immediately realizing the potentially disastrous consequences of this, Laurence asks Friar John to get him a crow bar. Juliet will awake shortly, and the Friar intends to break into the tomb to be with her. He plans to keep her at his cell until he can inform Romeo about what has happened.

Scene iii
Paris has gone to Juliet’s tomb to pay his respects. Romeo also approaches the tomb. Not knowing anything about the relationship between Romeo and Juliet, Paris assumes that Romeo has come to do something vile against the Capulets, seeing as he is a Montague. Paris challenges Romeo, who tries to warn him not to do so. Paris rejects this advice, the pair fight, and Paris is killed. Romeo, not realizing that Juliet will shortly awake, is surprised at how her cheeks and lips have kept their color. Overwhelmed by grief, he drinks the poison, gives Juliet a final kiss and dies. Friar Laurence enters the tomb, and Juliet wakes. Some noise from outside signifies that they are about to be disturbed, most likely by the Watch. Fearing capture, Laurence runs away. Juliet stays. Realizing Romeo has killed himself with poison, she tries to do the same, but there isn’t any left. She kisses Romeo, then stabs herself with his dagger. The Watch and the Prince enter, as do Lord and Lady Capulet and Lord Montague. We find out that Lady Montague died earlier that night, heartbroken at Romeo’s exile. Friar Laurence and Balthasar are captured by the Watch. Laurence later tells the whole story to the Prince, who believes him, especially as he is supported by a letter in Romeo’s own hand, given to the Prince by Balthasar. A saddened and enraged Prince condemns the hatred between the two families. Capulet and Montague shake hands; the pair say that they will build golden statutes of Romeo and Juliet to remind the people of Verona the power of true love and the need to live peacefully.