ACT III
SCENE I. A public place.
Enter MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, Page, and ServantsBENVOLIO
I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire:MERCUTIO
The day is hot, the Capulets abroad,
And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl;
For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.
Thou art like one of those fellows that when heBENVOLIO
enters the confines of a tavern claps me his sword
upon the table and says 'God send me no need of
thee!' and by the operation of the second cup draws
it on the drawer, when indeed there is no need.
Am I like such a fellow?MERCUTIO
Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood asBENVOLIO
any in Italy, and as soon moved to be moody, and as
soon moody to be moved.
And what to?MERCUTIO
Nay, an there were two such, we should have noneBENVOLIO
shortly, for one would kill the other. Thou! why,
thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more,
or a hair less, in his beard, than thou hast: thou
wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no
other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes: what
eye but such an eye would spy out such a quarrel?
Thy head is as fun of quarrels as an egg is full of
meat, and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as
an egg for quarrelling: thou hast quarrelled with a
man for coughing in the street, because he hath
wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun:
didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing
his new doublet before Easter? with another, for
tying his new shoes with old riband? and yet thou
wilt tutor me from quarrelling!
An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any manMERCUTIO
should buy the fee-simple of my life for an hour and a quarter.
The fee-simple! O simple!BENVOLIO
By my head, here come the Capulets.MERCUTIO
By my heel, I care not.TYBALT
Enter TYBALT and others
Follow me close, for I will speak to them.MERCUTIO
Gentlemen, good den: a word with one of you.
And but one word with one of us? couple it withTYBALT
something; make it a word and a blow.
You shall find me apt enough to that, sir, an youMERCUTIO
will give me occasion.
Could you not take some occasion without giving?TYBALT
Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo,--MERCUTIO
Consort! what, dost thou make us minstrels? anBENVOLIO
thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but
discords: here's my fiddlestick; here's that shall
make you dance. 'Zounds, consort!
We talk here in the public haunt of men:MERCUTIO
Either withdraw unto some private place,
And reason coldly of your grievances,
Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us.
Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze;TYBALT
I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I.
Enter ROMEO
Well, peace be with you, sir: here comes my man.MERCUTIO
But I'll be hanged, sir, if he wear your livery:TYBALT
Marry, go before to field, he'll be your follower;
Your worship in that sense may call him 'man.'
Romeo, the hate I bear thee can affordROMEO
No better term than this,--thou art a villain.
Tybalt, the reason that I have to love theeTYBALT
Doth much excuse the appertaining rage
To such a greeting: villain am I none;
Therefore farewell; I see thou know'st me not.
Boy, this shall not excuse the injuriesROMEO
That thou hast done me; therefore turn and draw.
I do protest, I never injured thee,MERCUTIO
But love thee better than thou canst devise,
Till thou shalt know the reason of my love:
And so, good Capulet,--which name I tender
As dearly as my own,--be satisfied.
O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!TYBALT
Alla stoccata carries it away.
Draws
Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?
What wouldst thou have with me?MERCUTIO
Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nineTYBALT
lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and as you
shall use me hereafter, drybeat the rest of the
eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pitcher
by the ears? make haste, lest mine be about your
ears ere it be out.
I am for you.ROMEO
Drawing
Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up.MERCUTIO
Come, sir, your passado.ROMEO
They fight
Draw, Benvolio; beat down their weapons.MERCUTIO
Gentlemen, for shame, forbear this outrage!
Tybalt, Mercutio, the prince expressly hath
Forbidden bandying in Verona streets:
Hold, Tybalt! good Mercutio!
TYBALT under ROMEO's arm stabs MERCUTIO, and flies with his followers
I am hurt.BENVOLIO
A plague o' both your houses! I am sped.
Is he gone, and hath nothing?
What, art thou hurt?MERCUTIO
Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis enough.ROMEO
Where is my page? Go, villain, fetch a surgeon.
Exit Page
Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much.MERCUTIO
No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as aROMEO
church-door; but 'tis enough,'twill serve: ask for
me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I
am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o'
both your houses! 'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a
cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a
rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of
arithmetic! Why the devil came you between us? I
was hurt under your arm.
I thought all for the best.MERCUTIO
Help me into some house, Benvolio,ROMEO
Or I shall faint. A plague o' both your houses!
They have made worms' meat of me: I have it,
And soundly too: your houses!
Exeunt MERCUTIO and BENVOLIO
This gentleman, the prince's near ally,BENVOLIO
My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt
In my behalf; my reputation stain'd
With Tybalt's slander,--Tybalt, that an hour
Hath been my kinsman! O sweet Juliet,
Thy beauty hath made me effeminate
And in my temper soften'd valour's steel!
Re-enter BENVOLIO
O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead!ROMEO
That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds,
Which too untimely here did scorn the earth.
This day's black fate on more days doth depend;BENVOLIO
This but begins the woe, others must end.
Here comes the furious Tybalt back again.ROMEO
Alive, in triumph! and Mercutio slain!TYBALT
Away to heaven, respective lenity,
And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!
Re-enter TYBALT
Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again,
That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio's soul
Is but a little way above our heads,
Staying for thine to keep him company:
Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him.
Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here,ROMEO
Shalt with him hence.
This shall determine that.BENVOLIO
They fight; TYBALT falls
Romeo, away, be gone!ROMEO
The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain.
Stand not amazed: the prince will doom thee death,
If thou art taken: hence, be gone, away!
O, I am fortune's fool!BENVOLIO
Why dost thou stay?First Citizen
Exit ROMEO
Enter Citizens, & c
Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio?BENVOLIO
Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he?
There lies that Tybalt.First Citizen
Up, sir, go with me;PRINCE
I charge thee in the princes name, obey.
Enter Prince, attended; MONTAGUE, CAPULET, their Wives, and others
Where are the vile beginners of this fray?BENVOLIO
O noble prince, I can discover allLADY CAPULET
The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl:
There lies the man, slain by young Romeo,
That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio.
Tybalt, my cousin! O my brother's child!PRINCE
O prince! O cousin! husband! O, the blood is spilt
O my dear kinsman! Prince, as thou art true,
For blood of ours, shed blood of Montague.
O cousin, cousin!
Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?BENVOLIO
Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay;LADY CAPULET
Romeo that spoke him fair, bade him bethink
How nice the quarrel was, and urged withal
Your high displeasure: all this uttered
With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd,
Could not take truce with the unruly spleen
Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts
With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast,
Who all as hot, turns deadly point to point,
And, with a martial scorn, with one hand beats
Cold death aside, and with the other sends
It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity,
Retorts it: Romeo he cries aloud,
'Hold, friends! friends, part!' and, swifter than
his tongue,
His agile arm beats down their fatal points,
And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm
An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life
Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled;
But by and by comes back to Romeo,
Who had but newly entertain'd revenge,
And to 't they go like lightning, for, ere I
Could draw to part them, was stout Tybalt slain.
And, as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly.
This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.
He is a kinsman to the Montague;PRINCE
Affection makes him false; he speaks not true:
Some twenty of them fought in this black strife,
And all those twenty could but kill one life.
I beg for justice, which thou, prince, must give;
Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live.
Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio;MONTAGUE
Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?
Not Romeo, prince, he was Mercutio's friend;PRINCE
His fault concludes but what the law should end,
The life of Tybalt.
And for that offence
Immediately we do exile him hence:
I have an interest in your hate's proceeding,
My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding;
But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine
That you shall all repent the loss of mine:
I will be deaf to pleading and excuses;
Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses:
Therefore use none: let Romeo hence in haste,
Else, when he's found, that hour is his last.
Bear hence this body and attend our will:
Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.
Exeunt
SCENE II. Capulet's orchard.
Enter JULIETJULIET
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,Nurse
Towards Phoebus' lodging: such a wagoner
As Phaethon would whip you to the west,
And bring in cloudy night immediately.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
That runaway's eyes may wink and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen.
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods:
Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold,
Think true love acted simple modesty.
Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night,
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
But not possess'd it, and, though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy'd: so tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes
And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse,
And she brings news; and every tongue that speaks
But Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence.
Enter Nurse, with cords
Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there? the cords
That Romeo bid thee fetch?
Ay, ay, the cords.JULIET
Throws them down
Ay me! what news? why dost thou wring thy hands?Nurse
Ah, well-a-day! he's dead, he's dead, he's dead!JULIET
We are undone, lady, we are undone!
Alack the day! he's gone, he's kill'd, he's dead!
Can heaven be so envious?Nurse
Romeo can,JULIET
Though heaven cannot: O Romeo, Romeo!
Who ever would have thought it? Romeo!
What devil art thou, that dost torment me thus?Nurse
This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell.
Hath Romeo slain himself? say thou but 'I,'
And that bare vowel 'I' shall poison more
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice:
I am not I, if there be such an I;
Or those eyes shut, that make thee answer 'I.'
If he be slain, say 'I'; or if not, no:
Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe.
I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,--JULIET
God save the mark!--here on his manly breast:
A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse;
Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood,
All in gore-blood; I swounded at the sight.
O, break, my heart! poor bankrupt, break at once!Nurse
To prison, eyes, ne'er look on liberty!
Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here;
And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier!
O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had!JULIET
O courteous Tybalt! honest gentleman!
That ever I should live to see thee dead!
What storm is this that blows so contrary?Nurse
Is Romeo slaughter'd, and is Tybalt dead?
My dear-loved cousin, and my dearer lord?
Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom!
For who is living, if those two are gone?
Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished;JULIET
Romeo that kill'd him, he is banished.
O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?Nurse
It did, it did; alas the day, it did!JULIET
O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!Nurse
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!
Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb!
Despised substance of divinest show!
Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st,
A damned saint, an honourable villain!
O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell,
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend
In moral paradise of such sweet flesh?
Was ever book containing such vile matter
So fairly bound? O that deceit should dwell
In such a gorgeous palace!
There's no trust,JULIET
No faith, no honesty in men; all perjured,
All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.
Ah, where's my man? give me some aqua vitae:
These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.
Shame come to Romeo!
Blister'd be thy tongueNurse
For such a wish! he was not born to shame:
Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit;
For 'tis a throne where honour may be crown'd
Sole monarch of the universal earth.
O, what a beast was I to chide at him!
Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin?JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?Nurse
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name,
When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?
But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?
That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband:
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring;
Your tributary drops belong to woe,
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain;
And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband:
All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death,
That murder'd me: I would forget it fain;
But, O, it presses to my memory,
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds:
'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo--banished;'
That 'banished,' that one word 'banished,'
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there:
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be rank'd with other griefs,
Why follow'd not, when she said 'Tybalt's dead,'
Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentations might have moved?
But with a rear-ward following Tybalt's death,
'Romeo is banished,' to speak that word,
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. 'Romeo is banished!'
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,
In that word's death; no words can that woe sound.
Where is my father, and my mother, nurse?
Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse:JULIET
Will you go to them? I will bring you thither.
Wash they his wounds with tears: mine shall be spent,Nurse
When theirs are dry, for Romeo's banishment.
Take up those cords: poor ropes, you are beguiled,
Both you and I; for Romeo is exiled:
He made you for a highway to my bed;
But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed.
Come, cords, come, nurse; I'll to my wedding-bed;
And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead!
Hie to your chamber: I'll find RomeoJULIET
To comfort you: I wot well where he is.
Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night:
I'll to him; he is hid at Laurence' cell.
O, find him! give this ring to my true knight,
And bid him come to take his last farewell.
Exeunt
SCENE III. Friar Laurence's cell.
Enter FRIAR LAURENCEFRIAR LAURENCE
Romeo, come forth; come forth, thou fearful man:ROMEO
Affliction is enamour'd of thy parts,
And thou art wedded to calamity.
Enter ROMEO
Father, what news? what is the prince's doom?FRIAR LAURENCE
What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand,
That I yet know not?
Too familiarROMEO
Is my dear son with such sour company:
I bring thee tidings of the prince's doom.
What less than dooms-day is the prince's doom?FRIAR LAURENCE
A gentler judgment vanish'd from his lips,ROMEO
Not body's death, but body's banishment.
Ha, banishment! be merciful, say 'death;'FRIAR LAURENCE
For exile hath more terror in his look,
Much more than death: do not say 'banishment.'
Hence from Verona art thou banished:ROMEO
Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.
There is no world without Verona walls,FRIAR LAURENCE
But purgatory, torture, hell itself.
Hence-banished is banish'd from the world,
And world's exile is death: then banished,
Is death mis-term'd: calling death banishment,
Thou cutt'st my head off with a golden axe,
And smilest upon the stroke that murders me.
O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness!ROMEO
Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind prince,
Taking thy part, hath rush'd aside the law,
And turn'd that black word death to banishment:
This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not.
'Tis torture, and not mercy: heaven is here,FRIAR LAURENCE
Where Juliet lives; and every cat and dog
And little mouse, every unworthy thing,
Live here in heaven and may look on her;
But Romeo may not: more validity,
More honourable state, more courtship lives
In carrion-flies than Romeo: they my seize
On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand
And steal immortal blessing from her lips,
Who even in pure and vestal modesty,
Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin;
But Romeo may not; he is banished:
Flies may do this, but I from this must fly:
They are free men, but I am banished.
And say'st thou yet that exile is not death?
Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife,
No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean,
But 'banished' to kill me?--'banished'?
O friar, the damned use that word in hell;
Howlings attend it: how hast thou the heart,
Being a divine, a ghostly confessor,
A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd,
To mangle me with that word 'banished'?
Thou fond mad man, hear me but speak a word.ROMEO
O, thou wilt speak again of banishment.FRIAR LAURENCE
I'll give thee armour to keep off that word:ROMEO
Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy,
To comfort thee, though thou art banished.
Yet 'banished'? Hang up philosophy!FRIAR LAURENCE
Unless philosophy can make a Juliet,
Displant a town, reverse a prince's doom,
It helps not, it prevails not: talk no more.
O, then I see that madmen have no ears.ROMEO
How should they, when that wise men have no eyes?FRIAR LAURENCE
Let me dispute with thee of thy estate.ROMEO
Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel:FRIAR LAURENCE
Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love,
An hour but married, Tybalt murdered,
Doting like me and like me banished,
Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair,
And fall upon the ground, as I do now,
Taking the measure of an unmade grave.
Knocking within
Arise; one knocks; good Romeo, hide thyself.ROMEO
Not I; unless the breath of heartsick groans,FRIAR LAURENCE
Mist-like, infold me from the search of eyes.
Knocking
Hark, how they knock! Who's there? Romeo, arise;Nurse
Thou wilt be taken. Stay awhile! Stand up;
Knocking
Run to my study. By and by! God's will,
What simpleness is this! I come, I come!
Knocking
Who knocks so hard? whence come you? what's your will?
[Within] Let me come in, and you shall knowFRIAR LAURENCE
my errand;
I come from Lady Juliet.
Welcome, then.Nurse
Enter Nurse
O holy friar, O, tell me, holy friar,FRIAR LAURENCE
Where is my lady's lord, where's Romeo?
There on the ground, with his own tears made drunk.Nurse
O, he is even in my mistress' case,ROMEO
Just in her case! O woful sympathy!
Piteous predicament! Even so lies she,
Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering.
Stand up, stand up; stand, and you be a man:
For Juliet's sake, for her sake, rise and stand;
Why should you fall into so deep an O?
Nurse!Nurse
Ah sir! ah sir! Well, death's the end of all.ROMEO
Spakest thou of Juliet? how is it with her?Nurse
Doth she not think me an old murderer,
Now I have stain'd the childhood of our joy
With blood removed but little from her own?
Where is she? and how doth she? and what says
My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love?
O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps;ROMEO
And now falls on her bed; and then starts up,
And Tybalt calls; and then on Romeo cries,
And then down falls again.
As if that name,FRIAR LAURENCE
Shot from the deadly level of a gun,
Did murder her; as that name's cursed hand
Murder'd her kinsman. O, tell me, friar, tell me,
In what vile part of this anatomy
Doth my name lodge? tell me, that I may sack
The hateful mansion.
Drawing his sword
Hold thy desperate hand:Nurse
Art thou a man? thy form cries out thou art:
Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote
The unreasonable fury of a beast:
Unseemly woman in a seeming man!
Or ill-beseeming beast in seeming both!
Thou hast amazed me: by my holy order,
I thought thy disposition better temper'd.
Hast thou slain Tybalt? wilt thou slay thyself?
And stay thy lady too that lives in thee,
By doing damned hate upon thyself?
Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth?
Since birth, and heaven, and earth, all three do meet
In thee at once; which thou at once wouldst lose.
Fie, fie, thou shamest thy shape, thy love, thy wit;
Which, like a usurer, abound'st in all,
And usest none in that true use indeed
Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit:
Thy noble shape is but a form of wax,
Digressing from the valour of a man;
Thy dear love sworn but hollow perjury,
Killing that love which thou hast vow'd to cherish;
Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love,
Misshapen in the conduct of them both,
Like powder in a skitless soldier's flask,
Is set afire by thine own ignorance,
And thou dismember'd with thine own defence.
What, rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive,
For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead;
There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slew'st Tybalt; there are thou happy too:
The law that threaten'd death becomes thy friend
And turns it to exile; there art thou happy:
A pack of blessings lights up upon thy back;
Happiness courts thee in her best array;
But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench,
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love:
Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.
Go, get thee to thy love, as was decreed,
Ascend her chamber, hence and comfort her:
But look thou stay not till the watch be set,
For then thou canst not pass to Mantua;
Where thou shalt live, till we can find a time
To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends,
Beg pardon of the prince, and call thee back
With twenty hundred thousand times more joy
Than thou went'st forth in lamentation.
Go before, nurse: commend me to thy lady;
And bid her hasten all the house to bed,
Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto:
Romeo is coming.
O Lord, I could have stay'd here all the nightROMEO
To hear good counsel: O, what learning is!
My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come.
Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide.Nurse
Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir:ROMEO
Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late.
Exit
How well my comfort is revived by this!FRIAR LAURENCE
Go hence; good night; and here stands all your state:ROMEO
Either be gone before the watch be set,
Or by the break of day disguised from hence:
Sojourn in Mantua; I'll find out your man,
And he shall signify from time to time
Every good hap to you that chances here:
Give me thy hand; 'tis late: farewell; good night.
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 PARISCAPULET
Things have fall'n out, sir, so unluckily,PARIS
That we have had no time to move our daughter:
Look you, she loved 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.
These times of woe afford no time to woo.LADY CAPULET
Madam, good night: commend me to your daughter.
I will, and know her mind early to-morrow;CAPULET
To-night she is mew'd up to her heaviness.
Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tenderPARIS
Of my child's love: I think she will be ruled
In 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?
Monday, my lord,CAPULET
Monday! ha, ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon,PARIS
O' Thursday let it be: o' 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?
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. Capulet's orchard.
Enter ROMEO and JULIET above, at the windowJULIET
Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day:ROMEO
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear;
Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree:
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.
It was the lark, the herald of the morn,JULIET
No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east:
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.
Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I:ROMEO
It is some meteor that the sun exhales,
To be to thee this night a torch-bearer,
And light thee on thy way to Mantua:
Therefore stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone.
Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death;JULIET
I am content, so thou wilt have it so.
I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye,
'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow;
Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat
The 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.
It is, it is: hie hence, be gone, away!ROMEO
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 changed 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.
More light and light; more dark and dark our woes!Nurse
Enter Nurse, to the chamber
Madam!JULIET
Nurse?Nurse
Your lady mother is coming to your chamber:JULIET
The day is broke; be wary, look about.
Exit
Then, window, let day in, and let life out.ROMEO
Farewell, farewell! one kiss, and I'll descend.JULIET
He goeth down
Art thou gone so? love, lord, ay, husband, friend!ROMEO
I must hear from thee every day in the hour,
For in a minute there are many days:
O, by this count I shall be much in years
Ere I again behold my Romeo!
Farewell!JULIET
I will omit no opportunity
That may convey my greetings, love, to thee.
O think'st thou we shall ever meet again?ROMEO
I doubt it not; and all these woes shall serveJULIET
For sweet discourses in our time to come.
O God, I have an ill-divining soul!ROMEO
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.
And trust me, love, in my eye so do you:JULIET
Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu!
Exit
O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle:LADY CAPULET
If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him.
That is renown'd for faith? Be fickle, fortune;
For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long,
But send him back.
[Within] Ho, daughter! are you up?JULIET
Who is't that calls? is it my lady mother?LADY CAPULET
Is she not down so late, or up so early?
What unaccustom'd cause procures her hither?
Enter LADY CAPULET
Why, how now, Juliet!JULIET
Madam, I am not well.LADY CAPULET
Evermore weeping for your cousin's death?JULIET
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.
Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss.LADY CAPULET
So shall you feel the loss, but not the friendJULIET
Which you weep for.
Feeling so the loss,LADY CAPULET
Cannot choose but ever weep the friend.
Well, girl, thou weep'st not so much for his death,JULIET
As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him.
What villain madam?LADY CAPULET
That same villain, Romeo.JULIET
[Aside] Villain and he be many miles asunder.--LADY CAPULET
God Pardon him! I do, with all my heart;
And yet no man like he doth grieve my heart.
That is, because the traitor murderer lives.JULIET
Ay, madam, from the reach of these my hands:LADY CAPULET
Would none but I might venge my cousin's death!
We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not:JULIET
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 dram,
That he shall soon keep Tybalt company:
And then, I hope, thou wilt be satisfied.
Indeed, I never shall be satisfiedLADY CAPULET
With Romeo, till I behold him--dead--
Is my poor heart for a kinsman vex'd.
Madam, if you could find out but a man
To bear a poison, I would temper it;
That Romeo should, upon receipt thereof,
Soon sleep in quiet. O, how my heart abhors
To hear him named, and cannot come to him.
To wreak the love I bore my cousin
Upon his body that slaughter'd him!
Find thou the means, and I'll find such a man.JULIET
But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl.
And joy comes well in such a needy time:LADY CAPULET
What are they, I beseech your ladyship?
Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child;JULIET
One who, to put thee from thy heaviness,
Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy,
That thou expect'st not nor I look'd not for.
Madam, in happy time, what day is that?LADY CAPULET
Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn,JULIET
The gallant, young and noble gentleman,
The County Paris, at Saint Peter's Church,
Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride.
Now, by Saint Peter's Church and Peter too,LADY CAPULET
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!
Here comes your father; tell him so yourself,CAPULET
And see how he will take it at your hands.
Enter CAPULET and Nurse
When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew;LADY CAPULET
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 body
Thou 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 overset
Thy tempest-tossed body. How now, wife!
Have you deliver'd to her our decree?
Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives you thanks.CAPULET
I would the fool were married to her grave!
Soft! take me with you, take me with you, wife.JULIET
How! will she none? doth she not give us thanks?
Is she not proud? doth she not count her blest,
Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought
So worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?
Not proud, you have; but thankful, that you have:CAPULET
Proud can I never be of what I hate;
But thankful even for hate, that is meant love.
How now, how now, chop-logic! What is this?LADY CAPULET
'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!
Fie, fie! what, are you mad?JULIET
Good father, I beseech you on my knees,CAPULET
Hear me with patience but to speak a word.
Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch!Nurse
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 blest
That 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!
God in heaven bless her!CAPULET
You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.
And why, my lady wisdom? hold your tongue,Nurse
Good prudence; smatter with your gossips, go.
I speak no treason.CAPULET
O, God ye god-den.Nurse
May not one speak?CAPULET
Peace, you mumbling fool!LADY CAPULET
Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl;
For here we need it not.
You are too hot.CAPULET
God's bread! it makes me mad:JULIET
Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play,
Alone, in company, still my care hath been
To have her match'd: and having now provided
A gentleman of noble parentage,
Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly train'd,
Stuff'd, as they say, with honourable parts,
Proportion'd as one's thought 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, as 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;
And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in
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
Is there no pity sitting in the clouds,LADY CAPULET
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 bed
In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.
Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word:JULIET
Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.
Exit
O God!--O nurse, how shall this be prevented?Nurse
My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven;
How shall that faith return again to earth,
Unless that husband send it me from heaven
By leaving earth? comfort me, counsel me.
Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems
Upon so soft a subject as myself!
What say'st thou? hast thou not a word of joy?
Some comfort, nurse.
Faith, here it is.JULIET
Romeo is banish'd; and all the world to nothing,
That 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 eye
As 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.
Speakest thou from thy heart?Nurse
And from my soul too;JULIET
Or else beshrew them both.
Amen!Nurse
What?JULIET
Well, thou hast comforted me marvellous much.Nurse
Go in: and tell my lady I am gone,
Having displeased my father, to Laurence' cell,
To make confession and to be absolved.
Marry, I will; and this is wisely done.JULIET
Exit
Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend!
Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn,
Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue
Which she hath praised him with above compare
So 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
