Taylor on Romeo's Soliloquy

Romeo’s Speech “In faith I will…” (Taylor Jones)

            This soliloquy takes place during a pivotal moment in the play; it is Romeo’s final thoughts before his untimely death. Romeo is reflecting on his love for the recently deceased Juliet and how he can’t live without her. In his mind, the only solution to this is to commit suicide. He ultimately drinks the poison to be reunited in with his love in death.  

His thought process during this scene is thought provoking because after carefully reading Romeo’s thoughts one might notice a crucial thing missing; horror and shock. While yes, Romeo is lamenting Juliet’s death, he doesn’t appear to be in disgust and he doesn’t seem very concerned. He appears to be even more in love and goes as far as talking about the worms Juliet will be buried with. This can be seen specifically when Romeo says things like, “With worms that are thy chambermaids; oh, here / Will I set up my everlasting rest” (5.3.109). He is talking about the worms that will be with them where they are buried in a nonchalant way, which is an odd thing to do.

This is a frustrating scene to read because the audience knows that Juliet isn’t actually dead, she just drinks a potion that makes her appear to be dead. The scene becomes even more frustrating because the reader can get hints that she isn’t actually dead and it almost seems like he catches on, but doesn’t quite get there. This is seen in Romeo’s soliloquy because he talks about how beautiful she looks and says that she doesn’t even look dead. More specifically, this reference can be seen on line 92 when Romeo says, “Death that hath sucked the honey of thy breath/Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty” (5.3.92).

The dramatic final event is crucial to the story and considered to be one main reason this play is a tragedy and captivates audiences. Tragedy in literature is different than what people associate with a tragedy in everyday life. In literature, a tragedy is defined as, “a plot in which the protagonist, because of some inherent flaw in his/her character, dies” (Hodgson). This is exactly what happens in this scene in Romeo and Juliet, so it is a perfect example of a tragedy.

Hodgson, John. Understanding Dramatic Tragedy, http://www.cameron.edu/~johnh/shakespeare/critical/tragedy.htm

Rogers, John. Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 3. 1888.

Photograph Information

Website: https://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/detail/FOLGERCM1~6~6~290642~121800:Romeo-and-Juliet,-act-5,-scene-3--g

Type: Engraving

Year: 1808-1888

Creator: John Rogers

Information: This is of an engraving of act 5 scene 3 in Romeo and Juliet. The original painting is by E. Courbould.