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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Romeo and Juliet, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Violence
Fate
Individuals vs. Society
Language and Wordplay
Family and Duty
Summary
Analysis
At Friar Laurence’s cell, the friar and Romeo wait for Juliet. The friar says he hopes the heavens will smile upon the “holy act” of the young lovers’ marriage and prays no sorrow will visit them. Romeo says that even if sorrow does come, it will not be able to usurp the joy he feels just in looking at Juliet. The friar warns Romeo that “violent delights have violent ends,” and that even “the sweetest honey” becomes loathsome when indulged in too often. He urges Romeo to “love moderately”—if he does, he will love longer.
Even though the friar cautions Romeo against loving too “violent[ly],” his words fall on deaf ears. Romeo and Juliet are intensely in love and can’t even begin to comprehend the power of the forces that threaten to tear them apart.
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Juliet rushes into the friar’s chambers and excitedly embraces Romeo. As Friar Laurence watches the two hold each another, he admires their love but wonders to himself in an aside whether it is too “light,” heady, and “wanton” to last. Juliet greets the friar and thanks Romeo profusely for arranging the marriage so quickly. Romeo and Juliet begin imagining the love and happiness they’ll soon enjoy, but the friar urges them to hurry and follow him so that they can make their vows.
The friar’s doubt is palpable throughout this entire scene, and, in fact, the sight of Romeo and Juliet embracing each another doesn’t comfort him. It only worries him further about whether he’s doing the right thing in helping these young lovers to stoke their intense, furious passion in spite of the risks they’re taking.
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