Romeo and Juliet
The Apothecary
Poor seller of poison
A starving chemist in Mantua who sells Romeo poison because poverty leaves him no choice.
The Apothecary is an impoverished man who keeps a bare shop in Mantua. He is thin, afraid of the law and in need of money. Selling poison is a crime punishable by death, and he knows it.
He is neither a villain nor an agent of the plot. He is a poor man in a desperate situation who accepts gold from a desperate customer. His line about poverty and will shows how Romeo's grief meets another person's hunger.
“My poverty, but not my will, consents.”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Romeo calls out "What, ho! Apothecary!" and offers forty ducats for a dram of fast poison. The Apothecary hesitates, since the sale is illegal, then yields. He says his poverty, not his will, consents.
The poison goes with Romeo to Juliet's tomb, where he uses it to die by her side. Romeo calls the Apothecary true and says his drugs are quick. The Apothecary does not appear again.
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