In 'Romeo and Juliet', what does Juliet drink to appear dead?

In 'Romeo and Juliet', Juliet drinks a sleeping potion to appear dead. Friar Laurence gives her the potion after she refuses to marry Paris, hoping the deception will allow her to escape Verona with Romeo.

The potion is designed to create the appearance of death without actually killing her. Juliet drinks it in Act 4, Scene 3, after expressing fear that it might be poison or fail to work. Her family discovers her apparently lifeless body and prepares her for burial in the Capulet tomb.

A common mix-up is calling the substance simply a poison. In the play, Juliet worries that Friar Laurence may have given her poison, but that is her fearful suspicion, not what she actually drinks. The plan fails because Romeo never receives the friar's message explaining the deception. Believing Juliet truly dead, he goes to the tomb, where the tragedy reaches its fatal conclusion.