In the final scene of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Romeo arrives at the Capulet tomb to commit suicide inside the vault with Juliet. Outside the tomb he encounters Count Paris, who believes Romeo is disrespecting the Capulet monument. The two fight and Romeo kills Paris, dragging him inside next to the Capulet dead, including Tybalt and Juliet. As soon as Romeo sees Juliet he comments, as he has often done before, that she lights...
In the final scene of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Romeo arrives at the Capulet tomb to commit suicide inside the vault with Juliet. Outside the tomb he encounters Count Paris, who believes Romeo is disrespecting the Capulet monument. The two fight and Romeo kills Paris, dragging him inside next to the Capulet dead, including Tybalt and Juliet. As soon as Romeo sees Juliet he comments, as he has often done before, that she lights up the darkness of the tomb. He further suggests that Juliet still appears to be quite alive, with red lips and cheeks, and no hint of the pale complexion of the dead. Had Romeo examined her more closely he might have realized that she still lived:
Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.
Thou art not conquered. Beauty’s ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death’s pale flag is not advancèd there.
The signs are not misleading, but Romeo is overcome with grief and bent on suicide. Juliet has taken a potion mixed by Friar Laurence in order to fake her death and avoid marrying Paris. Romeo would have known that she was still alive but did not receive the letter describing the plot because Friar John, Friar Laurence's messenger, was delayed by a plague threat in Verona. Unfortunately, Romeo drinks the poison he has purchased in Mantua and is dead on the ground when Juliet wakes up.
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