Romeo & Juliet - Act 2 Scene 6
Friar Laurence's cell.
Enter FRIAR LAURENCE and ROMEO
Friar Laurence prays for the heavens' approval for his actions, and in so doing, reintroduces the fear that all will go awry. Romeo's bluster adds to that fear a layer of literally death-defying hubris.
FRIAR LAURENCE
So smile the heavens upon this holy act,
That after hours with sorrow chide us not!
ROMEO
Amen, amen! But come what sorrow can,
It cannot countervail the exchange of joy
That one short minute gives me in her sight.
Do thou but close our hands with holy words,
Then love-devouring death do what he dare;
It is enough I may but call her mine.
Friar Lawrence again brings in the notion of moderation and pacing, and the disasters which await too-quick actions and decisions.
FRIAR LAURENCE
These violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume. The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite.
Therefore love moderately; long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.
This is Romeo and Juliet's first face-to-face meeting, in full daylight, with no masks. There's potential for both trepidation and passion, but also the need to behave, as there's a friar in the room.
Enter JULIET
Here comes the lady. O, so light a foot
Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint.
A lover may bestride the gossamer
That idles in the wanton summer air,
And yet not fall; so light is vanity.
JULIET
Good even to my ghostly confessor.
FRIAR LAURENCE
Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both.
JULIET
As much to him, else is his thanks too much.
ROMEO
Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy
Be heaped like mine, and that thy skill be more
To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath
This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue
Unfold the imagined happiness that both
Receive in either by this dear encounter.
A poetic conceit and a common experience: both lovers use heightened language to describe the inability of language to express their love.
JULIET
Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,
Brags of his substance, not of ornament;
They are but beggars that can count their worth;
But my true love is grown to such excess
I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.
Friar Laurence simultaneously demonstrates his approval for this relationship and his concern about it, insisting that the lovers not be left alone until they are properly (if secretly) married.
FRIAR LAURENCE
Come, come with me, and we will make short work;
For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone
Till Holy Church incorporate two in one.
Exeunt