What Does Juliet mean when she says what if it be a poison that the friar subtly minister'd to hath you dead lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd because he married me before to romeo?

Answer 1

The lines are from Act IV Scene iii. They are slightly misquoted in the question.

The true quotation is:

Juliet: What if it be a poison which the friar

Subtly hath minister'd to have me dead,

Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd

Because he married me before to Romeo?

Juliet has gone to Friar Lawrence for advice and help because her father is forcing her to marry Paris when she's already married to Romeo. Friar Lawrence has given her a bottle of a potion which, he says, will put her into a death-like sleep for 42 hours. Now she is sitting on her bed, all alone, with the bottle in her hand, and she is dealing with fears and doubts which are crowding in on her. Her first worry was, "What if it doesn't work?" Her answer is, she'll stab herself (which she does, of course, in the end).

The quotation is her second doubt. She looks at the bottle and says, "What if it be a poison?" which will really kill her instead of making her look dead. She imagines a motive why the Friar would do this: he was the one who performed the marriage ceremony between her and Romeo ("he married me before to Romeo"). Now Paris and her father expect him to perform the marriage between her and Paris. (this is the "this marriage" she is talking about) If it came out that he had knowingly conspired in bigamy, Friar Lawrence would be in big trouble ("dishonoured") all right. So, what she is thinking is "What if it (the bottle of potion Friar Lawrence gave me) be a poison that the friar subtly (ad)ministered (in order) to have me dead, lest (which means unless) in this marriage (to Paris) he (the friar) should be dishonour'd because he married me before to Romeo (and that's bigamy)?"