FRIAR              In the mean time, against thou shalt awake,

                        Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift,

                        And hither shall he come, and he and I

                        Will watch thy waking, and that very night

                        Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.

                        And this shall free thee from thy present shame,

                        If no inconstant toy, nor womanish fear,

                        Abate thy valour in the acting it. (4.1.113-120)

More plottiness. Suddenly the Friar, who began this encounter with wibbling and hand-wringing, seems to have it all worked out. He’s grasped that what he is proposing is both dangerous (the whole drug thing) and terrifying, given the nightmare scenario that Juliet herself has just articulated (of being shut up in a tomb, buried alive) and promises her that both he and Romeo will be there with her when she wakes up, that she won’t be alone with the dead. The Friar will send letters to Romeo, telling him what’s going on (again, what could possibly go wrong…) and then Juliet herself can join Romeo in Mantua. Again he uses the word shame to describe Juliet’s situation (she’s not ashamed, she’s angry, defiant, resolute) – but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt, and assume that he’s being ironic when he hopes that no inconstant toy, nor womanish fear will abate Juliet’s valour, diminish her resolve in carrying out this plan. Apparently Shakespeare lifts inconstant toy and womanish fear from Brooke, his main source; I’m not paying much (any) attention to sources, but it’s that direct borrowing that partly suggests ironic scare-quotes to me. Toy doesn’t necessarily suggest childishness (more something generally trivial) but Juliet’s constancy and maturity have never been in doubt (she has been more constant than the Friar himself, and usually more mature than Romeo), and she is doing her best to conquer her worst fears even as she articulates them. Because nothing could be worse than marrying Paris; that’s the point. I like valour: it could as easily be virtue, in terms of both metre and meaning, but it makes a difference here for the Friar explicitly to invoke Juliet’s courage, her bright bravery and defiance.