“A glooming peace this morning with it brings.” (Romeo and Juliet) The epilogue to Romeo and Juliet is spoken by Prince Escalus at the very end of the play. After the bodies of Romeo and Juliet have been discovered, Friar Laurence makes a full confession explaining the series of events. Lord Montague and Lord Capulet clasp hands and promise to make peace. They also swear to raise two beautiful statues in Verona’s town square as monuments to their children. Prince Escalus then speaks the famous lines.
The epilogue to Romeo and Juliet is similar to a Shakespearean sonnet in both meter and rhyme scheme. Shakespearean sonnets have 14 lines with a specific rhyme scheme and meter. The typical rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Shakespearean sonnets are written in iambic pentameter. The epilogue to Romeo and Juliet is written in iambic pentameter. It has a rhyme scheme of ABAB CC. However, it is only six lines long, so it cannot officially be called a sonnet. A line-by-line analysis will yield a more complete understanding of the poetic devices and deeper meaning of the words.
In some performances, Prince Escalus faces the audience and delivers the epilogue as a soliloquy. A soliloquy is a speech given by a character that is addressed directly to the audience. The other characters on stage cannot hear the speaker. The epilogue lacks an important feature of a soliloquy, however. It does not reveal the inner thoughts or conflicts of the character. In some interpretations, we might make the inference that Prince Escalus is expressing his own emotions, but it would be a stretch. In other performances, the director may choose to have Prince Escalus deliver the speech as a monologue. A monologue can be heard by the other characters onstage. It is a speech intended to be addressed to the characters themselves. So, the epilogue has qualities of both a monologue and a soliloquy. Ultimately, even though it is addressed directly to the audience, it is best handled as a monologue.
t the start of the epilogue, the Prince of Verona (Prince Escalus) begins to speak the closing lines of the play. He says that peace comes this morning but that it is a sad and gloomy kind of quiet. The Prince says that the sun itself won’t even come out from behind the clouds. The image is one of a cloudy, overcast morning. The sun is hidden behind the clouds. One can picture all the families and townspeople gathered by the stone monument in the graveyard, under a gloomy, clouded sky. Prince Escalus tells everyone to leave the graveyard now. They are to “go hence”– meaning go out from here, probably back to their homes. He says that there will be more talk about these events.
There are many characters who could be implicated in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Friar Laurence has already made his confession and been pardoned by the Prince of Verona. The Nurse helped Romeo and Juliet to have their wedding night before Romeo’s banishment. After that, the Nurse advises Juliet to Marry Count Paris and forget all about Romeo. Her role in the tragedy is one that could be punished. The Montague and Capulet families are also responsible because they continued the feud. Prince Escalus is saying that this story is one of the saddest stories that has been told. The story is certainly sad because there are so many points at which the tragedies could have been prevented. Romeo and Juliet might have lived if Tybalt had not killed Mercutio. If Friar John had delivered the letter to Romeo in Mantua, Romeo would have known that Juliet was only sleeping.
