Romeo and Juliet
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Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late.
[Exit.]Romeo. How well my comfort is reviv'd by this!
Friar. Go hence; good night! and here stands all your state.Either be gone before the watch be set,Or by the break of day disguis'd from hence.Sojourn in Mantua; I'll find out your man,And he shall signify from time to timeEvery good hap to you that chances here.Give me thy hand; 'tis late; farewell; good night.Romeo. But that a joy past joy calls out on me,
It were a grief so brief to part with thee. Farewell.
[Exeunt.]Scene IV.
A Room in Capulet's House. [Enter Capulet, Lady Capulet, and Paris. ]Capulet. Things have fallen out, sir, so unluckilyThat we have had no time to move our daughter.Look you, she lov'd her kinsman Tybalt dearly,And so did I well, we were born to die.'Tis very late, she'll not come down to-night.I promise you, but for your company,I would have been a-bed an hour ago.Paris. These times of woe afford no tune to woo..
Madam, good night. commend me to your daughter.
Lady Capulet. I will, and know her mind early to-morrow;
To-night she's mew'd up to her heaviness.
Capulet. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tenderOf my child's love. I think she will be rul'dIn all respects by me; nay more, I doubt it not..Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed;Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love;And bid her, mark you me, on Wednesday next.But, soft! what day is this?Paris. Monday, my lord.
Capulet. Monday! ha, ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon,Thursday let it be; a Thursday, tell her,She shall be married to this noble earl..Will you be ready? do you like this haste?We'll keep no great ado, a friend or two,For hark you, Tybalt being slain so late,It may be thought we held him carelessly,Being our kinsman, if we revel much.Therefore we'll have some half a dozen friends,And there an end. But what say you to Thursday?Paris. My lord, I would that Thursday were to-morrow.
Capulet. Well, get you gone. o' Thursday be it then..Go you to Juliet, ere you go to bed,Prepare her, wife, against this wedding-day..Farewell, my lord..Light to my chamber, ho!Afore me, it is so very very late.That we may call it early by and by..Good night.[Exeunt.]Scene V.
An open Gallery to Juliet's Chamber, overlooking the Garden. [Enter Romeo and Juliet.]Juliet. Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day.It was the nightingale, and not the lark,That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear;Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree.Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.Romeo. It was the lark, the herald of the morn,No nightingale. look, love, what envious streaksDo lace the severing clouds in yonder east.Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund dayStands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.I must be gone and live, or stay and die.Juliet. Yond light is not daylight, I know it, I:It is some meteor that the sun exhalesTo be to thee this night a torch-bearerAnd light thee on the way to Mantua.Therefore stay yet, thou need'st not to be gone.Romeo. Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death;I am content, so thou wilt have it so.I'll say yon gray is not the morning's eye,'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow;Nor that is not the lark whose notes do beatThe vaulty heaven so high above our heads.I have more care to stay than will to go..Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so..How is't, my soul? let's talk, it is not day.Juliet. It is, it is, hie hence, be gone, away!It is the lark that sings so out of tune.Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps.Some say the lark makes sweet division;This doth not so, for she divideth us.Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes;O, now I would they had chang'd voices too!Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,Hunting thee hence with hunt's-up to the day.O, now be gone; more light and light it grows.Romeo. More light and light,.more dark and dark our woes!
[Enter Nurse.]Nurse. Madam!
Juliet. Nurse?
Nurse. Your lady mother is coming to your chamber.
The day is broke; be wary, look about.
[Exit.]Juliet. Then, window, let day in, and let life out.
Romeo. Farewell, farewell! one kiss, and I'll descend.
[Descends.]Juliet. Art thou gone so? my lord, my love, my friend!I must hear from thee every day i' the hour,For in a minute there are many days.O, by this count I shall be much in yearsEre I again behold my Romeo!Romeo. Farewell! I will omit no opportunity
That may convey my greetings, love, to thee.
Juliet. O, think'st thou we shall ever meet again?
Romeo. I doubt it not; and all these woes shall serve
For sweet discourses in our time to come.
Juliet. O God! I have an ill-divining soul!Methinks I see thee, now thou art below,As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale.Romeo. And trust me, love, in my eye so do you.
Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu!
[Exit below.]Juliet. O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle.If thou art fickle, what dost thou with himThat is renown'd for faith? Be fickle, fortune;For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him longBut send him back.Lady Capulet. [Within.] Ho, daughter! are you up?
Juliet. Who is't that calls? is it my lady mother?Is she not down so late, or up so early?What unaccustom'd cause procures her hither?[Enter Lady Capulet.]Lady Capulet. Why, how now, Juliet?
Juliet. Madam, I am not well.
Lady Capulet. Evermore weeping for your cousin's death?What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?An if thou couldst, thou couldst not make him live;Therefore have done. Some grief shows much of love;But much of grief shows still some want of wit.Juliet. Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss.
Lady Capulet. So shall you feel the loss, but not the friend
Which you weep for.
Juliet. Feeling so the loss,
I cannot choose but ever weep the friend.
Lady Capulet. Well, girl, thou weep'st not so much for his death
As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him.
Juliet. What villain, madam?
Lady Capulet. That same villain Romeo.
Juliet. Villain and he be many miles asunder..God pardon him! I do, with all my heart;And yet no man like he doth grieve my heart.Lady Capulet. That is because the traitor murderer lives.
Juliet. Ay, madam, from the reach of these my hands.
Would none but I might venge my cousin's death!
Lady Capulet. We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not.Then weep no more. I'll send to one in Mantua.Where that same banish'd runagate doth live.Shall give him such an unaccustom'd dramThat he shall soon keep Tybalt company.And then I hope thou wilt be satisfied.Juliet. Indeed I never shall be satisfiedWith Romeo till I behold him dead.Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vex'd.Madam, if you could find out but a manTo bear a poison, I would temper it,That Romeo should, upon receipt thereof,Soon sleep in quiet. O, how my heart abhorsTo hear him nam'd and cannot come to him.To wreak the love I bore my cousin TybaltUpon his body that hath slaughter'd him!Lady Capulet. Find thou the means, and I'll find such a man.
But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl.
Juliet. And joy comes well in such a needy time.
What are they, I beseech your ladyship?
Lady Capulet. Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child;One who, to put thee from thy heaviness,Hath sorted out a sudden day of joyThat thou expect'st not, nor I look'd not for.Juliet. Madam, in happy time, what day is that?
Lady Capulet. Marry, my child, early next Thursday mornThe gallant, young, and noble gentleman,The County Paris, at St. Peter's Church,Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride.Juliet. Now by Saint Peter's Church, and Peter too,
He shall not make me there a joyful bride.
I wonder at this haste; that I must wed
Ere he that should be husband comes to woo.
I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam,
I will not marry yet; and when I do, I swear
It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate,
Rather than Paris. These are news indeed!
Lady Capulet. Here comes your father; tell him so yourself,
And see how he will take it at your hands.
[Enter Capulet and Nurse.]Capulet. When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew;But for the sunset of my brother's son.It rains downright..How now! a conduit, girl? what, still in tears?Evermore showering? In one little bodyThou counterfeit'st a bark, a sea, a wind.For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea.Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is,Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs;Who, raging with thy tears and they with them,Without a sudden calm, will oversetThy tempest-tossed body..How now, wife!Have you deliver'd to her our decree?Lady Capulet. Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives you thanks.
I would the fool were married to her grave!
Capulet. Soft! take me with you, take me with you, wife.How! will she none? doth she not give us thanks?Is she not proud? doth she not count her bles'd,Unworthy as she is, that we have wroughtSo worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?Juliet. Not proud you have; but thankful that you have.Proud can I never be of what I hate;But thankful even for hate that is meant love.Capulet. How now, how now, chop-logic! What is this?'Proud', and, 'I thank you', and 'I thank you not'.And yet 'not proud', mistress minion, you.Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds.But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next'To go with Paris to Saint Peter's Church,Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.Out, you green-sickness carrion! out, you baggage!You tallow-face!Lady Capulet. Fie, fie! what, are you mad?
Juliet. Good father, I beseech you on my knees,
Hear me with patience but to speak a word.
Capulet. Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch!I tell thee what, get thee to church o' Thursday,Or never after look me in the face.Speak not, reply not, do not answer me;My fingers itch..Wife, we scarce thought us bles'dThat God had lent us but this only child;But now I see this one is one too much,And that we have a curse in having her.Out on her, hilding!Nurse. God in heaven bless her!
You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.
Capulet. And why, my lady wisdom? hold your tongue,
Good prudence; smatter with your gossips, go.
Nurse. I speak no treason.
Capulet. O, God ye good-en!
Nurse. May not one speak?
Capulet. Peace, you mumbling fool!Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl,For here we need it not.Lady Capulet. You are too hot.
Capulet. God's bread! it makes me mad.Day, night, hour, time, tide, work, play,Alone, in company, still my care hath beenTo have her match'd, and having now providedA gentleman of noble parentage,Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly train'd,Stuffd, as they say, with honourable parts.Proportion'd as one's heart would wish a man.And then to have a wretched puling fool,A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender,To answer, 'I'll not wed.I cannot love,I am too young.I pray you pardon me.'But, an you will not wed, I'll pardon you.Graze where you will, you shall not house with me.Look to't, think on't, I do not use to jest.Thursday is near; lay hand on heart, advise.An you be mine, I'll give you to my friend;An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die i' the streets,For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee,Nor what is mine shall never do thee good.Trust to't, bethink you, I'll not be forsworn.[Exit.]Juliet. Is there no pity sitting in the clouds,That sees into the bottom of my grief?O, sweet my mother, cast me not away!Delay this marriage for a month, a week;Or, if you do not, make the bridal bedIn that dim monument where Tybalt lies.Lady Capulet. Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word;
Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.
[Exit.]Juliet. O God! O nurse! how shall this be prevented?My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven;How shall that faith return again to earth,Unless that husband send it me from heavenBy leaving earth? comfort me, counsel me..Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagemsUpon so soft a subject as myself!What say'st thou? hast thou not a word of joy?Some comfort, Nurse.Nurse. Faith, here 'tis;Romeo is banished; and all the world to nothingThat he dares ne'er come back to challenge you;Or if he do, it needs must be by stealth.Then, since the case so stands as now it doth,I think it best you married with the county.O, he's a lovely gentleman!Romeo's a dishclout to him; an eagle, madam,Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eyeAs Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart,I think you are happy in this second match,For it excels your first; or if it did not,Your first is dead; or 'twere as good he were,As living here, and you no use of him.Juliet. Speakest thou this from thy heart?
Nurse. And from my soul too.
Or else beshrew them both.
Juliet. Amen!
Nurse. What?
Juliet. Well, thou hast comforted me marvellous much.Go in; and tell my lady I am gone,Having displeas'd my father, to Lawrence' cell,To make confession and to be absolv'd.Nurse. Marry, I will; and this is wisely done.
[Exit.]Juliet. Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend!Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn,Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongueWhich she hath prais'd him with above compareSo many thousand times? Go, counsellor;Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain..I'll to the friar to know his remedy;If all else fail, myself have power to die.[Exit.]ACT IV.
Scene I.
Friar Lawrence's Cell.[Enter Friar Lawrence and Paris. ]Friar. On Thursday, sir? the time is very short.
Paris. My father Capulet will have it so;
And I am nothing slow to slack his haste.
Friar. You say you do not know the lady's mind.
Uneven is the course; I like it not.
Paris. Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt's death,And therefore have I little talk'd of love;For Venus smiles not in a house of tears.Now, sir, her father counts it dangerousThat she do give her sorrow so much sway;And, in his wisdom, hastes our marriage,To stop the inundation of her tears;Which, too much minded by herself alone,May be put from her by society.Now do you know the reason of this haste.Friar. [Aside.] I would I knew not why it should be slow'd..
Look, sir, here comes the lady toward my cell.
[Enter Juliet.]Paris. Happily met, my lady and my wife!
Juliet. That may be, sir, when I may be a wife.
Paris. That may be must be, love, on Thursday next.
Juliet. What must be shall be.
Friar. That's a certain text.
Paris. Come you to make confession to this father?
Juliet. To answer that, I should confess to you.
Paris. Do not deny to him that you love me.
Juliet. I will confess to you that I love him.
Paris. So will ye, I am sure, that you love me.
Juliet. If I do so, it will be of more price,
Being spoke behind your back than to your face.
Paris. Poor soul, thy face is much abus'd with tears.
Juliet. The tears have got small victory by that;
For it was bad enough before their spite.
Paris. Thou wrong'st it more than tears with that report.
Juliet. That is no slander, sir, which is a truth;
And what I spake, I spake it to my face.
Paris. Thy face is mine, and thou hast slander'd it.
Juliet. It may be so, for it is not mine own..Are you at leisure, holy father, now;Or shall I come to you at evening mass?Friar. My leisure serves me, pensive daughter, now..
My lord, we must entreat the time alone.
Paris. God shield I should disturb devotion!Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouse you.Till then, adieu and keep this holy kiss.[Exit.]Juliet. O, shut the door! and when thou hast done so,
Come weep with me; past hope, past cure, past help!
Friar. Ah, Juliet, I already know thy grief;It strains me past the compass of my wits.I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it,On Thursday next be married to this county.Juliet. Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'st of this,Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it.If, in thy wisdom, thou canst give no help.Do thou but call my resolution wise,And with this knife I'll help it presently.God join'd my heart and Romeo's, thou our hands;And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo's seal'd,Shall be the label to another deed,Or my true heart with treacherous revoltTurn to another, this shall slay them both.Therefore, out of thy long-experienc'd time,Give me some present counsel; or, behold,'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife.Shall play the empire; arbitrating thatWhich the commission of thy years and artCould to no issue of true honour bring.Be not so long to speak; I long to die,If what thou speak'st speak not of remedy.Friar. Hold, daughter. I do spy a kind of hope,Which craves as desperate an executionAs that is desperate which we would prevent.If, rather than to marry County ParisThou hast the strength of will to slay thyself,Then is it likely thou wilt undertakeA thing like death to chide away this shame,That cop'st with death himself to scape from it;And, if thou dar'st, I'll give thee remedy.Juliet. O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,From off the battlements of yonder tower;Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurkWhere serpents are; chain me with roaring bears;Or shut me nightly in a charnel-house,O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones,With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls.Or bid me go into a new-made grave.And hide me with a dead man in his shroud.Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble;And I will do it without fear or doubt,To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.Friar. Hold, then; go home, be merry, give consentTo marry Paris. Wednesday is to-morrow;To-morrow night look that thou lie alone,Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber.Take thou this vial, being then in bed,And this distilled liquor drink thou off.When, presently, through all thy veins shall runA cold and drowsy humour; for no pulseShall keep his native progress, but surcease.No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest;The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fadeTo paly ashes; thy eyes' windows fall,Like death, when he shuts up the day of life.Each part, depriv'd of supple government,Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death.And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk deathThou shalt continue two-and-forty hours,And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comesTo rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead.Then, as the manner of our country is.In thy best robes, uncover'd, on the bier,Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vaultWhere all the kindred of the Capulets lie.In the mean time, against thou shalt awake,Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift;And hither shall he come and he and IWill watch thy waking, and that very nightShall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.And this shall free thee from this present shame,If no inconstant toy nor womanish fearAbate thy valour in the acting it.Juliet. Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!
Friar. Hold; get you gone, be strong and prosperous In this resolve.
I'll send a friar with speed To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.
Juliet. Love give me strength! And strength shall help afford.
Farewell, dear father.
[Exeunt.]Scene II.
Hall in Capulet's House. [Enter Capulet, Lady Capulet, Nurse, and Servants.]Capulet. So many guests invite as here are writ..
[Exit first Servant.]Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks.
Second Servant. You shall have none ill, sir; for I'll try if they can lick their fingers.
Capulet. How canst thou try them so?
Second Servant. Marry, sir, 'tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers.
Therefore he that cannot lick his fingers goes not with me.
Capulet. Go, begone..
[Exit second Servant.]We shall be much unfurnish'd for this time..
What, is my daughter gone to Friar Lawrence?
Nurse. Ay, forsooth.
Capulet. Well, be may chance to do some good on her.
A peevish self-will'd harlotry it is.
Nurse. See where she comes from shrift with merry look.
[Enter Juliet.]Capulet. How now, my headstrong! where have you been gadding?
Juliet. Where I have learn'd me to repent the sinOf disobedient oppositionTo you and your behests; and am enjoin'dBy holy Lawrence to fall prostrate here,And beg your pardon..pardon, I beseech you!Henceforward I am ever rul'd by you.Capulet. Send for the county; go tell him of this.
I'll have this knot knit up to-morrow morning.
Juliet. I met the youthful lord at Lawrence' cell;And gave him what becomed love I might,Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty.Capulet. Why, I am glad on't; this is well, stand up.This is as't should be..Let me see the county;Ay, marry, go, I say, and fetch him hither..Now, afore God, this reverend holy friar,All our whole city is much bound to him.Juliet. Nurse, will you go with me into my closet,To help me sort such needful ornamentsAs you think fit to furnish me to-morrow?Lady Capulet. No, not till Thursday; there is time enough.
Capulet. Go, nurse, go with her..We'll to church to-morrow.
[Exeunt Juliet and Nurse.]Lady Capulet. We shall be short in our provision.
'Tis now near night.
Capulet. Tush, I will stir about,And all things shall be well, I warrant thee, wife.Go thou to Juliet, help to deck up her;I'll not to bed to-night; let me alone;I'll play the housewife for this once..What, ho!They are all forth. well, I will walk myselfTo County Paris, to prepare him upAgainst to-morrow. My heart is wondrous lightsince this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd.[Exeunt.]Scene III.
Juliet's Chamber. [Enter Juliet and Nurse.]Juliet. Ay, those attires are best..but, gentle nurse,I pray thee, leave me to myself to-night;For I have need of many orisonsTo move the heavens to smile upon my state,Which, well thou know'st, is cross and full of sin.[Enter Lady Capulet.]Lady Capulet. What, are you busy, ho? need you my help?
Juliet. No, madam; we have cull'd such necessariesAs are behoveful for our state to-morrow.So please you, let me now be left alone.And let the nurse this night sit up with you;For I am sure you have your hands fullIn this so sudden business.Lady Capulet. Good night.