In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet threatens to kill herself if she is forced to marry Paris.
Juliet makes this threat when she visits Friar Laurence after her parents arrange the wedding. She has already married Romeo in secret, so marrying Paris would violate both her vows and her relationship with Romeo. Her words show that the marriage is not merely an unwanted social arrangement but a crisis she sees as impossible to escape.
The threat leads directly to Friar Laurence’s plan. He gives Juliet a potion that will make her appear dead for approximately forty-two hours, hoping she can avoid the wedding and reunite with Romeo afterward.
Juliet’s language is sometimes paraphrased as a threat to become a nun, but that is not her central ultimatum in this scene. Her stated alternative is death, which emphasizes the extreme pressure created by her family’s decision.