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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 5Scene 1
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"As violently as hasty powder"
Simile
Act 5,
Scene 1
Lines 58-65

An explanation of the “hasty powder” simile in Act 5, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo

Come hither, man. I see that thou art poor.
Hold, there is forty ducats. Let me have
A dram of poison, such soon-speeding gear
As will disperse itself through all the veins
That the life-weary taker may fall dead,
And that the trunk may be discharged of breath
As violently as hasty powder fired
Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb.

In this simile, the poison Romeo will take will cause the breath to leave the body as quickly as the air rushes out of a cannon when the gunpowder is lit.