42 hours
Romeo and Juliet · Two and Forty Hours
The length of the false death Friar Laurence promises Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (Act 4, Scene 1): "two and forty hours."
Juliet is about to be forced to marry Paris. Friar Laurence gives her a vial and tells her exactly what it will do: no pulse, no warmth, no breath, cheeks gone pale, her body stiff and cold like death. Then he names the time: "Thou shalt continue two and forty hours, / And then awake as from a pleasant sleep." The whole plan, and the tragedy that follows when the message to Romeo never arrives, hangs on that promise of forty-two hours.
What it supports
The number is printed in Shakespeare's own text, in the Friar's speech in Act 4, Scene 1 (Folger Shakespeare edition, line 4.1.107, through line number 2418). Shakespeare chose it; nothing has to be converted or counted to reach 42. Special targets: love (the star-crossed lovers) and a light that goes out and comes back.
What it does not
Not a measured duration. It is a promise spoken inside a play, and the play does not track the clock to prove it. Not a claim that 42 hours means anything in medicine or pharmacology; no real drug is named. Not Adams.
ExactnessCount
Form42
Unithours (promised duration in the play text)
Strengthhard
Whenc. 1595
Hung13 October 2026