This ‘edge of the seat’ atmosphere was highly entertaining for the Shakespearian audience, particularly the more intelligent amongst them, who enjoyed exercising their minds by ‘second guessing’ the plot and revelled in the coincidences that Shakespeare weaves into his stories. Modern audiences, who have a greater choice of entertainment, and are perhaps more used to watching rather than thinking and listening, might be more critical of the structure of events that have lead Romeo and Juliet to this tomb. Nonetheless both audiences will respond to the drama of this love story.
In the minds of the audience Romeo’s last words, ‘here’s to my love’, end the audience’s final hope of Juliet awakening in time to save her lover. Once he takes the poison the audience knows it’s too late for Romeo, but the tension remains, as it switches to a question of how Juliet will react when she discovers Romeo’s corpse. I think that Baz Luhrmann’s modern directions in this part of the scene increase the tension. Unlike in the original play, in Luhrmann’s version Romeo does not die immediately after he has taken the poison. Therefore, when Juliet wakes, the atmosphere becomes electric as Romeo, realising his mistake, speaks to her with his dying breath. The audience are gripping their seats as they await his final words.
When Friar Lawrence arrives at tomb and sees Romeo dead and Juliet not yet wakened, the audience are again left trying to work out what will happen next. Both old and modern audiences will perhaps relate on a human level with the dilemma that Lawrence has been faced with, and his devastation at the consequences of his previous actions. In Lawrence’s presence Juliet finally wakes asking:
‘O comfortable friar, where is my lord?’
The audience are intently watching and listening waiting to know how the unfortunate Friar will break the dreadful news to her, and how she will react to it.
The Friar’s shock and sense of urgency can be heard in his words as he arrives on the scene:
Alack, alack, what blood is this…
Romeo! O pale! Who else? What, Paris too?
And steeped in blood?...
His confusion and fear is clearly demonstrated through this rapid succession of rhetorical questions. The director really wants to make the Friar’s fear and sense of urgency come across strongly. He does this by making Friar Lawrence speak these short sentences very quickly. Also once Friar Lawrence realises what has happened he has little time, and you can hear the desperation in his voice as he repeatedly urges Juliet to hurry away:
‘I hear some noise, lady. Come from that nest
of death…
Come, come away…
…the watch is coming,
Come, go, good Juliet…
The repetition of the word ‘come’ emphasises Friar Lawrence’s frustration as Juliet refuses to comply.
Shakespeare’s description of the scene as a ‘nest’ also highlights the tragedy of these deaths, as it draws attention to the fact that all those who are dead are very young people, who have died long before their time.
When Juliet finally sees Romeo’s limp corpse on the floor she absolutely refuses to leave the scene:
‘Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.’
Fearing for his own life the Friar is forced to leave her there alone:
‘…the watch is coming
…I dare no longer stay.’
The way Juliet discovers Romeo’s body can also add to the dramatic moments of this final scene. The director can increase the tension by drawing out the time it takes for Juliet to notice Romeo’s body. He can do this by making Juliet regain consciousness slowly, at first she is not fully aware of her surroundings and appears to still be drowsy before, at the sight of Romeo, the realisation of what has happened suddenly hits her.
At this point the audience is now anxious to know what Juliet is going to do and what will happen to the Friar if his is found out. The audience are in suspense looking to see what is to follow. The director can again slow down the action and use this time to express of Juliet’s shock and sheer disbelief. Her grief stricken words can be delivered slowly which will build the suspense before her final suicide:
‘What’s here? A cup in my true love’s hand?
…O happy dagger!
…let me die.’
Juliet’s personification of the dagger as ‘happy’ increases the poignancy of her death, as it suggests that she is readily embracing death in the certainty that she will join Romeo in the afterlife. Here there is a contrast between the Shakespearean audiences response to this, as they would be as sure as the fictional Juliet that she would soon be joining her lover. Today’s audience would be far more sceptical about such matters, and would perhaps find it difficult to understand both Romeo’s and Juliet’s unshakeable faith in such an afterlife.
When the young lover’s parents discover what has happened they are distraught. Capulet screams out:
‘O heavens! O wife, look how our daughter bleeds!’
When Montague sees them he is also morning for his wife, and thinks what else more could possible go wrong for him:
Alas, my wife is dead to-night;
…
‘What further woe conspires against mine age?
These lines make the audience feel sorrow and sympathy towards the parents and maybe introduce a mood of great sadness, especially amongst those members of the audience who are themselves parents.
The families blame themselves and their family feud for their children’s deaths. Feeling he drove his daughter to kill herself Capulet suggests the lovers are:
‘Poor sacrifices of our enmity
When the Friar is found and taken to give his account to the prince the audience feel sorry for him because tried so hard to make things right. Nothing went right for him in the end, but despite his good intentions Lawrence is willing to accept full responsibility for his actions:
Miscarried by my fault, let my old life
Be sacrificed…
He is truly in danger of being punished for trying to help the young lovers. On a human level both the Shakespearian and modern audience could empathise with Lawrence’s plight. Most people have at some experienced the done things with every good intention that have gone wrong. The Prince forgives Lawrence understanding that his actions are that of a ‘holy man’. He is angrier with himself because he did not intervene sooner between the Capulets and the Montagues. He has now ‘lost a brace of kinsmen’ and feels that this is because he let this ‘petty feud’ go on so long:
‘…heaven finds means to kill...with love
And I, for winking at your discords too’
Still full of questions the audience are wondering what will come of this? The resolution comes when both fathers recognise the consequences of their rivalry. The blood of their own children has been spilled. Deciding to end their feud forever Capulet beckons Montague:
‘O brother Montague, give me they hand’
Both agree to ‘raise…statues in pure gold’ of Juliet and Romeo’
The Prince’s dramatic words end the play. His words are emphasised because they form a rhyming couplet:
‘For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo’
The final three speeches are in the form of a sonnet, they are powerful and compelling, and should be spoken with strong clear diction.
As has been shown this final scene of Romeo and Juliet is dramatic. If well directed the tension of this drama can be heightened, thus increasing not only the enjoyment but also the audiences understanding of the play. The image on stage of these three young bodies laid on stage close to each as if in a nest can be a highly emotive. It would seem likely that at the end of the play both Shakespearian and modern audiences will leave the theatre perhaps wiser, but at least contemplating the futility of such violent young deaths.
