O true apothecary!

Romeo:
"O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die."

Romeo and Juliet (V, iii, 119-120)

With these words, Romeo dies in this story of doomed love. The lovers, belonging to families of Verona long at war with each other, have secretly married and wish to run away. Juliet, with the help of Friar Laurence, has taken a potion that allows her to feign death, planning to wake up and run off with her Romeo. Unfortunately, through a series of misunderstandings, Romeo believes Juliet is really dead, and so buys poison from an apothecary. Standing over her body in the crypt, Romeo drinks the quick-acting poison, kisses Juliet's lips, and falls to the floor, dead.

Themes: death and sickness, suicide

Speakers: Romeo