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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 4Scene 5
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"ill" and "well"
Wordplay
Act 4,
Scene 5
Lines 69-76

An explanation of the contrast between “ill” and “well” in Act 4, Scene 5 of myShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Friar Laurence

Your part in her you could not keep from death,
But heaven keeps his part in eternal life. 
The most you sought was her promotion,
For 'twas your heaven she should be advanced;
And weep ye now, seeing she is advanced
Above the clouds, as high as heaven itself?
O, in this love, you love your child so ill
That you run mad seeing that she is well.

The Capulets' love for Juliet is "ill", or wrongly based, since they are mad with grief, even though Juliet is "well" because she's in heaven.