Act 5 of Romeo and Juliet makes Romeo’s happy dream come true in reverse: he dreams that Juliet finds him dead and kisses him back to life, and in the tomb she finds him dead and kisses him, hoping for poison enough to follow him.
This summary takes Act 5 scene by scene, from Romeo in exile to the Prince’s final words. Each scene covers what happens, the key lines, and why it matters. For the whole story, see our full guide to Romeo and Juliet. For what came before, see our Act 4 summary, and for everyone who appears here, see our guide to the Romeo and Juliet characters.
At a Glance
Here is Act 5 of Romeo and Juliet in brief.
Act 5, Scene 1: News in Mantua
The last act opens with Romeo in exile, and for once, in high spirits.
He has had a wonderful dream, and it makes him expect good news: “My bosom’s lord sits lightly in his throne.” He dreamed that Juliet came and found him dead, “And breathed such life with kisses in my lips / That I revived and was an emperor.” Then his servant Balthasar arrives from Verona. Romeo asks whether he brings letters from the Friar, and how Juliet is. Balthasar has only one piece of news: Juliet is dead, and he saw her laid in the Capulet tomb.
Romeo’s answer is instant: “Is it e’en so? then I defy you, stars!” He orders horses to ride for Verona that night, and asks once more for letters from the Friar. There are none. Alone, he makes his decision: “Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night.” He remembers a poor apothecary nearby and goes to his shop.
Selling poison in Mantua is punishable by death, but the apothecary is starving, and Romeo offers forty ducats. The man gives in: “My poverty, but not my will, consents.” The poison, he says, would kill someone with the strength of twenty men. Romeo pays and says that gold is the worse poison, doing more murder in the world: “I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none.” He leaves for Juliet’s grave.
Act 5, Scene 2: The Letter That Never Arrived
In Verona, a short scene reveals why Romeo has had no word from the Friar.
Friar John, whom Friar Laurence sent to Mantua with the letter explaining everything, returns with the letter still in hand. Before setting out, he went to find another friar to travel with him, and the town’s health officials, suspecting that the house they were in was infected with plague, sealed the doors and would not let them leave. He could not deliver the letter, or even find a messenger to send it back.
Friar Laurence sees the danger at once. Juliet will wake within three hours, alone in the tomb. He sends for a crowbar, planning to go himself, keep her hidden in his cell, and write to Romeo again. His last line sums up her position: “Poor living corse, closed in a dead man’s tomb!”
Act 5, Scene 3: The Tomb
The final scene takes place at night in the churchyard, at the Capulet family tomb.
Paris comes first, with his page, to scatter flowers and mourn the bride he never married. When he hears someone coming, he hides. Romeo arrives with Balthasar, gives him a letter for his father, and orders him away on pain of death. Balthasar, frightened by his master’s looks, hides nearby instead. Romeo begins to force open the tomb. Paris, believing this Montague has come to desecrate the Capulet dead, steps out to arrest him. Romeo begs him to leave, “Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man,” but Paris will not. They fight, and Romeo kills him. Dying, Paris asks to be laid beside Juliet, and Romeo, recognizing him, does so.
Inside the tomb, Romeo looks at Juliet and notices that death has not faded her: color is still “crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks.” He takes it as a sign of her beauty, not of life. He speaks to Tybalt’s body, begging forgiveness, and vows to stay with Juliet forever. Then he says goodbye: “Eyes, look your last! / Arms, take your last embrace!” He drinks the poison, kisses her, and dies: “O true apothecary! / Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.”
Friar Laurence arrives moments too late and finds the bodies of Paris and Romeo. Juliet wakes and asks for her husband. The Friar tells her that “A greater power than we can contradict / Hath thwarted our intents,” and that Romeo and Paris are dead. Hearing the watch approach, he begs her to come away and offers to place her in a convent. She refuses, and he flees.
Alone, Juliet finds the cup in Romeo’s hand and understands. He has drunk it all and left her nothing. She kisses his lips, hoping some poison remains, and finds them still warm. Hearing the watch, she takes his dagger: “O happy dagger! / This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.” She stabs herself and falls on his body.
The watch arrives, then the Prince, the Capulets, and Montague, who reports that his wife died that night of grief at Romeo’s exile. The Friar tells the whole story, and Balthasar’s letter from Romeo confirms it. The Prince turns on the fathers: “See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate, / That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.” He has lost two kinsmen himself, Mercutio and Paris: “all are punish’d.” Capulet takes Montague’s hand. Montague promises a statue of Juliet in pure gold, and Capulet one of Romeo beside it. The Prince closes the play: “For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”
A Closer Reading: Romeo’s Dream Comes True
Romeo’s dream at the start of Act 5 is fulfilled almost exactly in the tomb, with one change that makes it a tragedy.
In the dream, Juliet comes and finds him dead, and kisses his lips until he revives. Hours later it happens: Juliet wakes, finds Romeo dead beside her, and kisses his lips. Every detail is there, the lady, the dead man, the kisses on the lips, except the result. In the dream, her kiss brings him back to life. In the tomb, she kisses him hoping for “a restorative” of the opposite kind, enough poison on his lips to let her die too. The dream that made Romeo’s heart light was a true prophecy, read backward.
The same misreading runs through the whole scene. Romeo sees the color in Juliet’s lips and cheeks, the clearest sign that she is alive, and takes it as proof that death has spared her beauty. When Juliet kisses him, “Thy lips are warm”: he has been dead only moments. Both lovers are given the truth, and each reads it wrong, because each is certain the other is gone.
That is where the play’s long chain of messages ends. Act 1 began the love story with an invitation a servant couldn’t read. Act 5 ends it with a letter that couldn’t be delivered, news of a death that wasn’t real, and signs of life that Romeo couldn’t see. Mercutio cursed both houses with a plague, and in the end a suspected outbreak of plague is what stops the letter. The Prologue promised star-crossed lovers, and Romeo died defying the stars. But what actually killed them was information that arrived too late, or arrived wrong.
Common Questions
The questions readers ask most often about Act 5 of Romeo and Juliet, answered briefly.
What Happens in Act 5 of Romeo and Juliet?
Romeo hears in Mantua that Juliet is dead, buys poison, and returns to Verona. The Friar’s letter explaining the plan never reaches him. At the tomb, Romeo kills Paris, drinks the poison, and dies. Juliet wakes, finds him dead, and stabs herself. The Friar explains everything, and the Capulets and Montagues end their feud.
Why Doesn’t Romeo Get the Friar’s Letter?
Friar John, who was carrying it, was shut inside a house by health officials who suspected plague there. He could not travel to Mantua or send the letter by anyone else.
How Do Romeo and Juliet Die?
Romeo drinks poison he bought from an apothecary in Mantua, believing Juliet is dead. Juliet wakes moments later, finds him dead, and stabs herself with his dagger.
Who Dies in Act 5?
Paris, Romeo, and Juliet die in the tomb scene. Montague also reports that Lady Montague has died that night of grief over Romeo’s banishment.
How Does Romeo and Juliet End?
Capulet and Montague make peace over their children’s bodies and promise to raise golden statues of Romeo and Juliet. The Prince closes the play with “For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”
Related Reading
Three pages that take Romeo and Juliet further.