Skip to main content

What does the "poison" foreshadow in Romeo and Juliet?

In Act 2, Scene 3, just prior to Romeo's arrival at his cell, Friar Lawrence is working with his plants.  He says that within one "weak flower / Poison hath residence and medicine power" (2.3.23-24).  In other words, one plant has the ability to help or harm, depending on the dosage.  This seems to foreshadow the plan that the Friar will later make, where he will provide Juliet with a medicinal potion that will make...

In Act 2, Scene 3, just prior to Romeo's arrival at his cell, Friar Lawrence is working with his plants.  He says that within one "weak flower / Poison hath residence and medicine power" (2.3.23-24).  In other words, one plant has the ability to help or harm, depending on the dosage.  This seems to foreshadow the plan that the Friar will later make, where he will provide Juliet with a medicinal potion that will make her seem dead.  The plan is to use this distillation to allow Juliet to fake her own death and run away with Romeo.


However, the Friar also says that the flower is also like a person because "Two such opposed kings encamp them still / In man as well as herbs -- grace and rude will; / And where the worser is predominant, / Full soon the canker death eats up that plant" (2.3.28-31).  He draws attention to humankind's ability to be both loving and hateful, and where hatred rules, there can only be destruction.  This seems to foreshadow that, although Romeo and Juliet love each other, showing the better side of humanity, the hatred with which they are surrounded will eventually overcome and destroy them, showing the worse.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the meaning of "juggling fiends" in Macbeth?

Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a... Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a sense of guilt, and that man tells him: Despair thy charm. And let the angel whom thou still hast serve...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are some external and internal conflicts that Montag has in Fahrenheit 451?

 Montag, the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451, faces both external and internal conflicts throughout the novel. Some examples of these conflicts are: External Conflicts: Conflict with the society: Montag lives in a society that prohibits books and critical thinking. He faces opposition from the government and the people who enforce this law. Montag struggles to come to terms with the fact that his society is based on censorship and control. Conflict with his wife: Montag's wife, Mildred, is completely absorbed in the shallow and meaningless entertainment provided by the government. Montag's growing dissatisfaction with his marriage adds to his external conflict. Conflict with the fire captain: Montag's superior, Captain Beatty, is the personification of the oppressive regime that Montag is fighting against. Montag's struggle against Beatty represents his external conflict with the government. Internal Conflicts: Conflict with his own beliefs: Montag, at the beginning of th...
Post a Comment
Read more

In A People's History of the United States, why does Howard Zinn feel that Wilson made a flimsy argument for entering World War I?

"War is the health of the state," the radical writer Randolph Bourne said, in the midst of the First World War. Indeed, as the nations of Europe went to war in 1914, the governments flourished, patriotism bloomed, class struggle was stilled, and young men died in frightful numbers on the battlefields-often for a hundred yards of land, a line of trenches. -- Chapter 14, Page 350, A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn outlines his arguments for why World War I was fought in the opening paragraph of Chapter 14 (referenced above). The nationalism that was created by the Great War benefited the elite political and financial leadership of the various countries involved. Socialism, which was gaining momentum in Europe, as was class struggle, took a backseat to mobilizing for war. Zinn believes that World War I was fought for the gain of the industrial capitalists of Europe in a competition for capital and resources. He states that humanity itself was punished by t...
Post a Comment
Read more