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GCSE English Literature · key term
A person who prepares and sells medicines; Romeo buys poison from one in Mantua.
Used by AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas
Paper 1
Revise: Act 5'I do remember an apothecary', he says in Act 5 Scene 1. His recollection of the man's skeletal appearance, ragged clothing and almost empty shop explains why he expects to obtain poison there. Romeo believes extreme poverty will make the man willing to break the law.
Paper 1
A person who prepares and sells medicines. In Act 5, Romeo persuades an impoverished apothecary to sell him poison.
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Romeo needs a means of killing himself. His words 'I do remember an apothecary' in Act 5 Scene 1 begin his recollection of a medicine seller whose ragged clothes, thin body and nearly empty shop reveal extreme poverty. These details have a direct purpose: Romeo believes someone so desperate can be persuaded to break the law.
Paper 2
A person who prepares and sells medicines; in Romeo and Juliet, the impoverished apothecary sells Romeo poison despite the law forbidding it.
Revise: Act 5“I do remember an apothecary” introduces Romeo’s recollection of a medicine seller in Act 5 Scene 1. His description of the man’s thin body, ragged clothing and nearly empty shop establishes why Romeo expects him to break the law. The detail is causal, not merely atmospheric: poverty gives Romeo a means of obtaining poison.
Component 1
A person who prepares and sells medicines; in the play, Romeo buys poison from one in Mantua.
Revise: Act 5Romeo’s statement “I do remember an apothecary” in Act 5 Scene 1 turns grief into a practical plan. He remembers a medicine seller whose ragged clothing, thin body and nearly empty shop reveal extreme poverty. Romeo reasons that this man’s need will persuade him to sell poison, even though doing so is punishable by death under Mantua’s law.
