The conflict has escalated for two reasons. First, Romeo has killed Tybalt and has, as a result been banished to Mantua just one day after his wedding to Juliet. This is why Juliet's face is, in the words of Paris, "abus'd with tears." But the real issue that gives added urgency to the Friar's plot, and which causes Juliet even more grief, is her father's decision that she is to be married to Paris on the following Thursday. Juliet cannot marry Paris (and the Friar couldn't marry them) even if she wanted to, because she is married to Romeo, her real love. With the deadline swiftly approaching, the Friar hatches a desperate, even reckless, scheme. Juliet will take a potion that causes her to appear dead, which will allow her to avoid the impending marriage to Paris. This seems to the Friar to be the only possible resolution, and Juliet is desperate enough to try anything:
O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower,
Or walk in thievish ways, or bid me lurk
Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears...
And I will do it without fear or doubt,
To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.
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