Romeo & Juliet Exam Question: Juliet & Friar Laurence

A model answer for the past paper question about Juliet and Friar Laurence. Includes relevant quotes and a detailed analysis of the character.

Read the following extract from Act 5 Scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet and then answer the
question that follows.
At this point in the play, Juliet has just woken up and engages in conversation with the Friar

JULIET
O comfortable friar! Where is my lord?
I do remember well where I should be,
And there I am. Where is my Romeo?
Noise within

FRIAR LAURENCE
I hear some noise. Lady, come from that nest
Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep:
A greater power than we can contradict
Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away.
Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead;
And Paris too. Come, I’ll dispose of thee
Among a sisterhood of holy nuns:
Stay not to question, for the watch is coming;
Come, go, good Juliet,
Noise again
I dare no longer stay.

JULIET
Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.

Exit FRIAR LAURENCE

What’s here? a cup, closed in my true love’s hand?
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end:
O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop
To help me after? I will kiss thy lips;
Haply some poison yet doth hang on them,
To make die with a restorative.
Kisses him
Thy lips are warm.
First Watchman
[Within] Lead, boy: which way?

JULIET
Yea, noise? then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger!
Snatching ROMEO’s dagger
This is thy sheath;
Stabs herself
there rust, and let me die.
Falls on ROMEO’s body, and dies.

Explore how far Shakespeare presents Juliet as a character who is determined
in Romeo and Juliet.
Write about:
• how Shakespeare presents Juliet at this moment in the play.
• how Shakespeare presents Juliet in the play as a whole.
[30 marks]
AO4 [4 marks]