Act 4 Scene 1 • An Unfortunate Arrangment

Saying that Paris's unforeseen announcement of his upcoming marriage to poor Juliet was a shock would be quite the understatement. Not only was I taken aback, but also horrified. Horrified that this horrible man was arranging a marriage to a young girl that he barely knew, let alone could possibly love. And under these circumstances? He claimed that he had not had the opportunity to woo her because she was grieving the loss of her "cousin", pointing out that Venus did not smile in a house of tears. Little did he know, Venus would not be smiling upon this betrothal no matter the circumstances. In the society of this time period, young daughters such as Juliet do not have as much of a say on their futures and I imagine that this fact was the root cause of the matter.

Juliet, hiding her vehement emotions and retaining her composure, walked in on my futile attempt to dissuade him from this hasty marriage. She had probably come to look to me for advice of a last resort. To the annoyance of Paris, Juliet was very curt in replying to him during their exchange and I saw no affection towards him hiding behind her tense visage. A deep and uncrossable chasm lies in between the two and Paris's attempt to cross it will be in vain.

 I was finally able to convince Paris to leave us to our private discussion and the pain that Juliet had been bearing due to this predicament was expressed the moment that the doors were closed. However, I was able to spot a difference between the star-crossed lovers' reactions to chaos. While Romeo weeped and wallowed in a puddle of self pity, reasonable Juliet declared that she would either hear out any remedies that I had to offer or end her life.

The one solution that I was able to bring forth was a desperate move and required quite a lot of bravery that I doubted was to be expected from a woman. However, she was able to surprise me yet again, promising that her love for Juliet would overpower any fear. I told her of a potion that would still the pulse and deaden the body, making it appear as though she were dead. I then promised to send word to Romeo to come with me to awaken her in two days time from the tomb of the Capulet's, where I would send them off to the start of a new life together in Mantua. Promising that love would lend her the necessary strength, Juliet made off with the poison in determination to remain true to Romeo.