Shakespeare Quarterly

Wilder, Lina Perkins.
Toward a Shakespearean "Memory Theater": Romeo, the Apothecary, and the Performance of Memory
Shakespeare Quarterly - Volume 56, Number 2, Summer 2005, pp. 156-175

The Johns Hopkins University Press

Lina Perkins Wilder - Toward a Shakespearean "Memory Theater": Romeo, the Apothecary, and the Performance of Memory - Shakespeare Quarterly 56:2 Shakespeare Quarterly 56.2 (2005) 156-175 Toward a Shakespearean "Memory Theater": Romeo, the Apothecary, and the Performance of Memory Lina Perkins Wilder Romeo's first reaction to the news of juliet's death is not mourning but a lengthy and, according to some, unnecessary recollection of an apothecary and the contents of his shop: Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight. Let's see for means. O mischief thou art swift To enter in the thoughts of desperate men. I do remember an apothecary-- And hereabouts a dwells -- which late I noted In tatter'd weeds, with overwhelming brows, Culling of simples. Meagre were his looks, Sharp misery had worn him to the bones, And in his needy shop a tortoise hung, An alligator stuff'd, and other skins Of ill-shap'd fishes; and about his shelves A beggarly account of empty boxes, Green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds, Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of roses Were thinly scatter'd to make up a show. (5.1.34-48) Critics have long complained that this speech is inappropriate to Romeo's situation both practically and in its affect, that the speech has little to do with the acquisition of poison (the scene's ostensible purpose) and nothing to do with the grief that one might expect Romeo to be feeling. I argue here that the apothecary scene is appropriate, that it...