Hello and welcome to "Read it and (Don't) Weep," the podcast that will help you breeze through your high school literature classes. Are you tired of struggling to understand the themes and characters in classic works of literature? Well, I’ve got you covered! I am your host, Jackey Taggart, and I taught high school English for almost 20 years. 

Join me each episode as I dive into the world of high school literature and break down the essential elements of each work. From Shakespeare to Steinbeck, I'll cover it all. My goal is to give you valuable insights and analysis on some of the most popular high school literary texts, as well as tips and tricks for acing your tests and essays.  Let’s start reading!

Welcome back!  In this episode, we will finish discussing Act 4 in Romeo and Juliet.  We are getting close to the end of the play and still have so many questions to answer!  If you have not yet read up to this point in the play, it would be a good idea to get caught up with your reading and listen to my other episodes before continuing.

Act 4, Scene 3

Act 4, Scene 3 is very short, but critical to the plot. This scene takes place in Juliet’s bedroom.  Juliet first asks the Nurse to leave her alone tonight so she can prepare for her wedding tomorrow. Lady Capulet enters, asking Juliet if she needs her help, to which Juliet declines. They both bid Juliet goodnight, and Juliet is left alone.

The remainder of the scene is a long soliloquy where Juliet must decide if she is brave enough to go through with the plan. 

She begins, “Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.”  She is not actually talking to anyone, just speaking into the universe. She is scared, nervous, and wishes she could call the Nurse back to comfort her, but she can’t. She needs to do this alone. 

She takes the potion, which my Harry Potter friends and I would call the Draught of Living Death, but that is a topic for another podcast.  Sorry, I got distracted. Back to Juliet. 

As she takes the potion, she starts to worry the potion won't work, and she will wake up in the morning and have to marry Paris. Then, she momentarily fears that Friar Lawrence has given her poison, so it will legitimately kill her, as he would be dishonored by performing a second, false marriage. But she decides that since he is a holy man, he can be trusted. 

Next, she fears waking up in the burial vault before Romeo arrives, knowing that the foul air could suffocate her. I totally relate to this fear as I would not want to be trapped in a dark tomb surrounded by dead bodies.  

Worst of all, she fears going mad amid the horrors she would encounter in the burial vault, such as skeletons, rotting corpses, horrible smells, or her greatest fear, Tybalt's ghost, coming to tell her how disloyal and dishonorable she is to her family.

In the end, she decides that Friar Lawrence is a holy man and acts for the best, so she swallows the potion and collapses onto her bed in a death-like state.

This soliloquy truly shows Juliet's bravery and her love for Romeo. Despite her fears, Juliet decides to go through with the plan. What does this decision reveal about her character? Would you have made the same choice if you were in her position? Why or why not? Jot your ideas down in your reading journal before continuing to read.  Remember to use evidence from the text to support your ideas. 

Act 4, Scene 4

The purpose of Act 4, Scene 4 is not really comic relief, but definitely a brief break in the emotional tension that occurred at the end of scene 3 and will return in scene 5.  

The Capulets are awake early, and the household is bustling with activity. The servants are ordered around, and there's a sense of urgency and excitement in the air.

Lord Capulet has been up all night preparing for the wedding and is in high spirits.  He sends the Nurse to wake Juliet. Lady Capulet expresses  her concern that they might not have done enough to prepare for the wedding, but Lord Capulet reassures her that everything is in order. As the scene ends, Lord Capulet goes to make sure Paris is awake and ready for the wedding. 

While this is another short scene, it is filled with dramatic irony. The audience knows that Juliet has taken the potion and is in a death-like state, but the Capulets are blissfully unaware and are excitedly preparing for a wedding that will never take place. I almost feel sorry for the sadness that is about to happen to Lord and Lady Capulet and the Nurse, but I also don’t. Lord Capulet basically forced his daughter to take drastic action as she told him she didn’t want to marry Paris, but he threatened to disown her if she didn’t.  The Nurse, who had been so supportive of Juliet’s marriage to Romeo before, wasn’t willing to help them stay together, again giving Juliet no other option than to do something drastic.  Lady Capulet also could have told her husband to wait on the marriage, but she also said nothing. These are just my ideas, so please feel free to disagree with me. 

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Act 4, Scene 5

Act 4, Scene 5 opens with the Nurse entering Juliet's room to wake her up for her wedding to Paris. When the Nurse tries to rouse Juliet, she finds her seemingly lifeless in bed. The Nurse is distraught and believes Juliet to have taken her own life. She calls for help, and Lady Capulet enters. Upon seeing her daughter's lifeless body, Lady Capulet is overcome with grief, “O me, O me! My child, my only life, / Revive, look up, or I will die with thee!”  Lord Capulet enters and is also overcome with grief.  Remember, Juliet is their only surviving child. 

Friar Lawrence arrives with Paris and the musicians saying, “Come, is the bride ready to go to church?”  Let me just say that I think it is a little odd that the musicians arrive in Juliet’s bedroom, but I guess Shakespeare needed to have them on stage for later in the scene. 

Back to the grieving Capulets.  Lord Capulet describes Juliet as "death's bride," "death is my son-in-law," "death is my heir." This metaphor signifies that he has married his daughter off to death.

Friar Lawrence tries to comfort the grieving family. He offers consolation that Juliet is now in heaven. He criticizes the adults for their tears and their lack of faith in the afterlife. If they have any faith, they must believe that Juliet is in heaven and happier in the next life than she ever was in this life. His words are ironic because he knows that Juliet is not truly dead, but he needs to act like she is.

After the main characters exit to prepare for Juliet's funeral, there's a brief, somewhat comic interlude with the musicians and Peter, the Capulet servant. Peter asks the musicians to play a song to lighten the mood, but they refuse. I find this scene a little disrespectful, but with all of the tension and grief, Shakespeare needed something to lighten the mood for the audience.

So as Act 4 ends, the audience knows that Juliet isn't truly dead, but her family believes she is. How does this dramatic irony, when the audience knows something that the characters do not, affect your feelings or reactions as you read the scene? Can you think of another instance in a book, movie, or show where dramatic irony played a significant role in how you experienced the story? Jot your ideas down in your reading journal so you can come back to them later.  

We are almost there! One more act to go. What about Romeo?  How is he going to be involved in the ending? Be sure to listen to the final episode to find out. 

Thanks for listening to this episode of Read it and (Don’t) Weep. Be sure to subscribe to the show so you will be notified when new episodes are released. If you liked today’s show, please leave a review so others can discover my show.  If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, drop me an email at readitanddontweep@gmail.com, or reach out to me on social media. I would love to hear from you. The links are in the show notes.  

Thank you for listening.  I am Jackey Taggart and remember to Read It and Don’t Weep. 

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