Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary
On this fair corse; and, as the custom is,
In all her best array bear her to church:
For though fond nature bids us an lament,
Yet nature’s tears are reason’s merriment.
– William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 5. As Friar Laurence bids the Capulets and Paris to dry their tears and get on with Juliet’s funeral arrangements, everything is not as it appears. The audience knows that the Friar has given Juliet a sleeping potion to simulate death which will wear off in 42 hours. So he is anxious that the body be brought to church and the funeral held before she wakes up. The rosemary, a symbol of fidelity and also remembrance, will now be used for her funeral instead of her wedding. Nature is personified in this passage.