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Act 2, Scene 3

Within the infant rind of this small flower
Poison hath residence and medicine power.
For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part;
Being tasted, stays all senses with the heart.
Two such opposèd kings encamp them still,
In man as well as herbs—grace and rude will.

In Act 2, Scene 3 lines 23–28, Friar Lawrence talks about a plant that has medicinal power if smelled, but that can kill if eaten. He claims that this dual nature is present in everything, including people, and likens the poison in the plant to the “rude will” found in men. In this way, poison represents the dark side of human nature in the play. This type of poison will play a major role in the events that follow, ultimately leading to the deaths of the two young lovers, Romeo and Juliet.

Act 3, Scene 2

Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but “ay,”
And that bare vowel I shall poison more
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice.

In this quote from Act 3, Scene 2 lines 46–48, Juliet says that if Romeo has killed himself, she will become figuratively like poison—angry, dangerous, harmful—and even more poisonous than a “cockatrice,” which mythical monster with the head of a rooster and the body of a winged dragon. As with the earlier comment by Friar Lawrence (see above) poison is being used to symbolize the dark side of humans.

Act 5, Scene 1

There is thy gold, worse poison to men’s souls,
Doing more murder in this loathsome world,
Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell.
I sell thee poison. Thou hast sold me none.

In Act 5, Scene 1 lines 84–87, Romeo buys poison from the poor apothecary, which he plans to take to Juliet’s tomb and then drink himself. Here, he claims that the money he uses to pay for the poison is a type of poison itself, as money has been the cause of more deaths than the actual poison he bought ever has. Thus, poison is being used to symbolize anything that is evil and harmful.

Act 5, Scene 3

(kisses JULIET, takes out the poison)
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide.
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy seasick, weary bark.
Here’s to my love! (drinks the poison) O true apothecary,
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.

Poison has been described as harmful and evil throughout Romeo and Juliet, but with his final words in the play (in Act 5, Scene, 3 lines 125–130), Romeo also calls it a guide and a pilot—things that will bring him relief. In this quote, poison symbolizes Romeo’s escape from the cruel world that took Juliet from him, which is now empty for him.

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