THE FRIAR’S PLAN
FOR JULIET
Romeo and Juliet – Act IV, Scene I
Learning Objectives
• To understand the main Characters in Act 4 Scene 1
• You will learn about the following:
• The background events that led up to, “The Friar’s Plan for Juliet”
• Be introduced to the meaning of: Fate
• Overall significance to the play
• Reasons why Juliet immediately agrees to the Friar’s plan
• Significant lines from the Scene
• You will also have to complete the following tasks:
• Write a letter from the perspective of the Nurse on the situation that
has unfolded
• Test on its significance
Starter
• Why do you think that Juliet is still madly love with
Romeo, even though he technically killed her cousin,
Tybalt?
• What sort of effect do you think that Juliet declaring to the
Friar that she would rather stab herself than marry Paris
have on the audience?
The Friar’s Plan for Juliet
• JULIET
O, shut the door! And when thou hast done
so, Come weep with me, past hope, past
cure, past help.
• FRIAR LAWRENCE
O Juliet, I already know thy grief. It strains
me past the compass of my wits. I hear
thou must, and nothing may prorogue it, on
Thursday next be married to this county.
• JULIET
Tell me not, Friar, that thou hear’st of this,
Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it.
If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help,
Do thou but call my resolution wise,
And with this knife I’ll help it presently.
(shows him a knife)
God joined my heart and Romeo’s, thou
our hands.
And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo
sealed,
Shall be the label to another deed,
Or my true heart with treacherous revolt
Turn to another, this shall slay them both.
Therefore out of thy long-experienced time,
Give me some present counsel, or, behold,
'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody
knife
Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that
Which the commission of thy years and art
Could to no issue of true honor bring.
Be not so long to speak. I long to die
If what thou speak’st speak not of remedy.
•
•
FRIAR LAWRENCE
Hold, daughter. I do spy a kind of hope,
Which craves as desperate an execution
As that is desperate which we would
prevent.
If, rather than to marry County Paris,
Thou hast the strength of will to slay
thyself,
Then is it likely thou wilt undertake
A thing like death to chide away this
shame,
That copest with death himself to ’scape
from it.
An if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy.
• JULIET
O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower;
Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk
Where serpents are; chain me with roaring
bears;
Or shut me nightly in a charnel house,
O'ercovered quite with dead men’s rattling
bones,
With reeky shanks and yellow chapless
skulls;
Or bid me go into a new-made grave
And hide me with a dead man in his
shroud—
Things that, to hear them told, have made
me tremble—
And I will do it without fear or doubt,
To live an unstained wife to my sweet love.
FRIAR LAWRENCE
Hold, then. Go home, be merry. Give consent
To marry Paris. Wednesday is tomorrow.
Tomorrow night look that thou lie alone.
Let not the Nurse lie with thee in thy chamber.
(shows her a vial)
Take thou this vial, being then in bed,
And this distillèd liquor drink thou off,
When presently through all thy veins shall run
A cold and drowsy humor, for no pulse
Shall keep his native progress, but surcease.
No warmth, no breath shall testify thou livest.
The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade
To paly ashes, thy eyes' windows fall
Like death when he shuts up the day of life.
Each part, deprived of supple government,
Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death.
And in this borrowed likeness of shrunk death
Thou shalt continue two and forty hours,
And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.
Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes
To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead.
Then, as the manner of our country is,
In thy best robes uncovered on the bier
Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault
Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.
In the meantime, against thou shalt awake,
Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift,
And hither shall he come, and he and I
Will watch thy waking, and that very night
Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.
And this shall free thee from this present shame,
If no inconstant toy, nor womanish fear,
Abate thy valor in the acting it.
•
JULIET
Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!
•
FRIAR LAWRENCE
(gives her a vial)
Hold. Get you gone. Be strong and prosperous
In this resolve. I’ll send a friar with speed
To Mantua with my letters to thy lord.
Mini-Task 1: Background Information
• In his cell, Friar Lawrence speaks with Paris about his
upcoming marriage to Juliet
• Paris says that Juliet’s grief about Tybalt’s death has
made her unbalanced
• Paris states her father has determined they should marry
soon so that Juliet can:
• A) Stop crying and B) Put an end to her period of mourning
• The friar remarks to himself that he wishes he were
unaware of the reason that Paris’s marriage to Juliet
should be delayed
• Paris tells the Friar of the wedding is in two days
• Friar is shocked at haste - it ‘should be slowed’
• Juliet then enter and treats Paris in a way that neither
shows dislike or affection
• She cleverly sidesteps his compliments, but Paris is still
affectionate towards her
• E.g.: She remarks that she has not married him yet
• Friar Lawrence ushers Paris away, though not before
Paris kisses Juliet once
Mini-Task 2: Story of the Scene
• After Paris leaves, Juliet threatens to take ‘this bloody
knife’ and kill herself if no help is given
• She hates Paris and cannot believe how fate has worked against
her
• The Friar puts forward a plan:
1. Juliet will publically agree to marrying Paris
2. On the night before the wedding, she must drink a
sleeping potion that will make her appear to be dead
o This will put her to sleep for 42 hours
3. She will be laid to rest in the Capulet tomb on
Wednesday night
4. The friar will send a letter to Romeo in Mantua to help
him retrieve her when she wakes up
5. She will then return to Mantua with Romeo and be
free to live with him away from their parents’ hatred
• Juliet instantly agrees to the plan
Mini-Task 3: Overall Significance to the Play
• Juliet now finds someone who is willing to assist her in getting out
of the arranged marriage
• The Friar has proven himself to be devious. This is considering
that:
• A) He schemes and B) Is inventive in aiding Romeo and Juliet
• Paris is still clueless about Juliet’s true feelings about him and
actually thinks that he is doing her a favour by wanting to marry her
• The audience get to witness Juliet’s strength in this scene, since:
1.
2.
3.
4.
She is prepared to take her life rather than be without Romeo
She agrees to take the potion in the name of love
She is willing to find a way to defy her father’s rule
She agrees to the Friar’s plan, suggesting her determination and
resolution to try anything to be with Romeo
• The Friar’s plan offers hope for Juliet, but due to the influence of
fate, it then becomes the vehicle of the tragedy
• Fate: An event that unavoidably befalls a person which can be tragic. As a
result, cause the following:
A. Creates a dramatic plot
B. Have pity on those who tragically suffer as a result of fate
Mini-Task 4: Juliet’s Reasons to Agree to the Plan
1. It saves her from the arranged marriage
with Paris
2. It allows her to see the abandoned
Romeo and spend some time with him
3. She now sees the Friar as an ally
4. Her parents may reconsider their decision
about hating the Montague's and forcing
decision on her when they think she has
died
Mini-Task 5: Significant Lines from the Scene
• Juliet: “Be not so long to speak. I long to die / If what thou
speak’st speak not of remedy.”
• Significance: Like Romeo, Juliet now believes that only death can
offer a solution to her dilemma. This is considering that she sees no
way of convincing her father not to get married to Paris
• Friar Lawrance: “That copest with death himself to ’scape from it. An
if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy.”
• Significance: The Friar realizes how desperate and bold Juliet is.
He therefore proposes an idea that is not only dangerous and
courageous but it may allow Juliet to spend time with Romeo in
exile
• Juliet: “Give me the vial. Give it to me! Don’t talk to me
about/ fear.”
• Significance: Juliet immediately accepts the Friar’s plan, even
though it is risky, may put her life in danger and will get her parents
sad thinking that she is dead. She is willing to do anything to be
with Paris and spend time with Romeo
Assignment
• Task: Pretend that you are the Friar who has just discovered the
following:
• The desperate state that Juliet is and how much she hates Paris
• How eager Paris is on marrying Juliet
• How risky his plan is
• Write a formal journal entry expressing what his feelings would be
on all that has happened and what he fears may happen if his plan
does not to work. Ensure that you come up with events that can go
wrong and the consequence this would have on both Romeo and
Juliet. Ensure that you present Friar’s feelings about his fears in his
journal entry
• E.g. Juliet overdoses and dies, Juliet wakes up too early and has to get
married to Paris, Romeo does not receive the Friar’s letter in time etc
- Format: Formal letter
•
Make sure to: Avoid having contractions, informal
words and indent each of your paragraphs
- Length: 250-500 words
- Due Date: May _______.