What are some medicinal herbs and remedies that had been used in Romeo and Juliet?
Well, in Act 1 Scene 3, the Nurse recounts how she used wormwood on her breasts, to wean Juliet from nursing. The Friar is seen in Act 2 Scene 3 with baskets of herbs, and mentions collecting them, though none are actually mentioned by name. The sleeping potion Friar Lawrence gives to Juliet is an herbal preparation that he made himself. In Act 5 Scene 3 he refers to “his art” (his training as an herbalist). “Then gave I her, so tutor’d by my art, A sleeping potion; which so took effect As I intended, for it wrought on her The form of death:” It is not clear whether the apothecary sold Romeo a vegetable, animal, or mineral poison, so you can’t really use that one.
