Every speech, act by act
Cues in italics: the line before each of hers
Act I
Scene IIIA room in Capulet’s house
5 speechesNurseCue
Now, by my maidenhead at twelve year old, I bade her come.—What, lamb! What, ladybird! God forbid. Where’s this girl? What, Juliet!
Juliet
How now, who calls?
NurseCue
Your mother.
Juliet
Madam, I am here. What is your will?
NurseCue
Yes, madam, yet I cannot choose but laugh To think it should leave crying and say “Ay.” And yet, I warrant, it had upon its brow A bump as big as a young cock’rel’s stone, A perilous knock, and it cried bitterly. “Yea,” quoth my husband. “Fall’st upon thy face? Thou wilt fall backward when thou comest to age, Wilt thou not, Jule?” It stinted and said “Ay.”
Juliet
And stint thou, too, I pray thee, nurse, say I.
Lady CapuletCue
Marry, that “marry” is the very theme I came to talk of.—Tell me, daughter Juliet, How stands your disposition to be married?
Juliet
It is an honor that I dream not of.
Lady CapuletCue
Speak briefly. Can you like of Paris’ love?
Juliet
I’ll look to like, if looking liking move. But no more deep will I endart mine eye Than your consent gives strength to make it fly.
Scene VA hall in Capulet’s house
11 speechesRomeoCue
(taking Juliet’s hand) If I profane with my unworthiest hand This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
Juliet
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, Which mannerly devotion shows in this; For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.
RomeoCue
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
Juliet
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
RomeoCue
O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. They pray: grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
Juliet
Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.
RomeoCue
Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.
Juliet
Then have my lips the sin that they have took.
RomeoCue
Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.
Juliet
You kiss by th’ book.
CapuletCue
Nay, gentlemen, prepare not to be gone. We have a trifling foolish banquet towards.— Is it e’en so? Why then, I thank you all. I thank you, honest gentlemen. Good night.— More torches here.—Come on then, let’s to bed.— Ah, sirrah, by my fay, it waxes late. I’ll to my rest.
Juliet
Come hither, nurse. What is yond gentleman?
NurseCue
The son and heir of old Tiberio.
Juliet
What’s he that now is going out of door?
NurseCue
Marry, that, I think, be young Petruchio.
Juliet
What’s he that follows here, that would not dance?
NurseCue
I know not.
Juliet
Go ask his name.
If he be marrièd, My grave is like to be my wedding bed.
NurseCue
(returning) His name is Romeo, and a Montague, The only son of your great enemy.
Juliet
My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me That I must love a loathèd enemy.
NurseCue
What’s this? What’s this?
Juliet
A rhyme I learned even now Of one I danced withal.
Act II
Scene IICapulet’s orchard
27 speechesRomeoCue
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars As daylight doth a lamp; her eye in heaven Would through the airy region stream so bright That birds would sing and think it were not night. See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. O, that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek!
Juliet
Ay me.
RomeoCue
(aside) She speaks. O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art As glorious to this night, being o’er my head, As is a wingèd messenger of heaven Unto the white-upturnèd wond’ring eyes Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him When he bestrides the lazy puffing clouds And sails upon the bosom of the air.
Juliet
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name, Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.
RomeoCue
(aside) Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
Juliet
’Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face. O, be some other name Belonging to a man. What’s in a name?
That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And, for thy name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself.
RomeoCue
I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized. Henceforth I never will be Romeo.
Juliet
What man art thou that, thus bescreened in night, So stumblest on my counsel?
RomeoCue
By a name I know not how to tell thee who I am. My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself Because it is an enemy to thee. Had I it written, I would tear the word.
Juliet
My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words Of thy tongue’s uttering, yet I know the sound. Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?
RomeoCue
Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike.
Juliet
How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore? The orchard walls are high and hard to climb, And the place death, considering who thou art, If any of my kinsmen find thee here.
RomeoCue
With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls, For stony limits cannot hold love out, And what love can do, that dares love attempt. Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.
Juliet
If they do see thee, they will murder thee.
RomeoCue
Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye Than twenty of their swords. Look thou but sweet, And I am proof against their enmity.
Juliet
I would not for the world they saw thee here.
RomeoCue
I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes, And, but thou love me, let them find me here. My life were better ended by their hate Than death proroguèd, wanting of thy love.
Juliet
By whose direction found’st thou out this place?
RomeoCue
By love, that first did prompt me to inquire. He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes. I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far As that vast shore washed with the farthest sea, I should adventure for such merchandise.
Juliet
Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face, Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek For that which thou hast heard me speak tonight. Fain would I dwell on form; fain, fain deny What I have spoke. But farewell compliment.
Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say “Ay,” And I will take thy word. Yet, if thou swear’st, Thou mayst prove false. At lovers’ perjuries, They say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo, If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully.
Or, if thou thinkest I am too quickly won, I’ll frown and be perverse and say thee nay, So thou wilt woo, but else not for the world. In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond, And therefore thou mayst think my havior light.
But trust me, gentleman, I’ll prove more true Than those that have more coying to be strange. I should have been more strange, I must confess, But that thou overheard’st ere I was ware My true-love passion. Therefore pardon me, And not impute this yielding to light love, Which the dark night hath so discoverèd.
RomeoCue
Lady, by yonder blessèd moon I vow, That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops—
Juliet
O, swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
RomeoCue
What shall I swear by?
Juliet
Do not swear at all. Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, Which is the god of my idolatry, And I’ll believe thee.
RomeoCue
If my heart’s dear love—
Juliet
Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract tonight. It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden, Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be Ere one can say “It lightens.”
Sweet, good night. This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. Good night, good night. As sweet repose and rest Come to thy heart as that within my breast.
RomeoCue
O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?
Juliet
What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?
RomeoCue
Th’ exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine.
Juliet
I gave thee mine before thou didst request it, And yet I would it were to give again.
RomeoCue
Wouldst thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?
Juliet
But to be frank and give it thee again. And yet I wish but for the thing I have. My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep. The more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.
I hear some noise within. Dear love, adieu.— Anon, good nurse.—Sweet Montague, be true. Stay but a little; I will come again.
RomeoCue
O blessèd, blessèd night! I am afeard, Being in night, all this is but a dream, Too flattering sweet to be substantial.
Juliet
Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed. If that thy bent of love be honorable, Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow, By one that I’ll procure to come to thee, Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite, And all my fortunes at thy foot I’ll lay And follow thee my lord throughout the world.
NurseCue
(within) Madam.
Juliet
I come anon.—But if thou meanest not well, I do beseech thee—
NurseCue
(within) Madam.
Juliet
By and by, I come.— To cease thy strife and leave me to my grief. Tomorrow will I send.
RomeoCue
So thrive my soul—
Juliet
A thousand times good night.
RomeoCue
A thousand times the worse to want thy light. Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books, But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.
Juliet
Hist, Romeo, hist! O, for a falc’ner’s voice To lure this tassel-gentle back again! Bondage is hoarse and may not speak aloud, Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine With repetition of “My Romeo!”
RomeoCue
It is my soul that calls upon my name. How silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues by night, Like softest music to attending ears.
Juliet
Romeo.
RomeoCue
My dear.
Juliet
What o’clock tomorrow Shall I send to thee?
RomeoCue
By the hour of nine.
Juliet
I will not fail. ’Tis twenty year till then. I have forgot why I did call thee back.
RomeoCue
Let me stand here till thou remember it.
Juliet
I shall forget, to have thee still stand there, Rememb’ring how I love thy company.
RomeoCue
And I’ll still stay, to have thee still forget, Forgetting any other home but this.
Juliet
’Tis almost morning. I would have thee gone, And yet no farther than a wanton’s bird, That lets it hop a little from his hand, Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves, And with a silken thread plucks it back again, So loving-jealous of his liberty.
RomeoCue
I would I were thy bird.
Juliet
Sweet, so would I. Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow That I shall say “Good night” till it be morrow.
Scene VCapulet’s orchard
10 speechesJuliet
The clock struck nine when I did send the Nurse. In half an hour she promised to return. Perchance she cannot meet him. That’s not so. O, she is lame! Love’s heralds should be thoughts, Which ten times faster glides than the sun’s beams, Driving back shadows over louring hills. Therefore do nimble-pinioned doves draw Love, And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings.
Now is the sun upon the highmost hill Of this day’s journey, and from nine till twelve Is three long hours, yet she is not come. Had she affections and warm youthful blood, She would be as swift in motion as a ball; My words would bandy her to my sweet love, And his to me. But old folks, many feign as they were dead, Unwieldy, slow, heavy, and pale as lead.
O God, she comes!—O, honey nurse, what news? Hast thou met with him? Send thy man away.
NurseCue
Peter, stay at the gate.
Juliet
Now, good sweet nurse—O Lord, why lookest thou sad? Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily. If good, thou shamest the music of sweet news By playing it to me with so sour a face.
NurseCue
I am aweary. Give me leave awhile. Fie, how my bones ache! What a jaunt have I!
Juliet
I would thou hadst my bones, and I thy news. Nay, come, I pray thee, speak. Good, good nurse, speak.
NurseCue
Jesu, what haste! Can you not stay awhile? Do you not see that I am out of breath?
Juliet
How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath To say to me that thou art out of breath? The excuse that thou dost make in this delay Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse. Is thy news good or bad? Answer to that. Say either, and I’ll stay the circumstance. Let me be satisfied; is ’t good or bad?
NurseCue
He is not the flower of courtesy, but I’ll warrant him as gentle as a lamb. Go thy ways, wench. Serve God. What, have you dined at home?
Juliet
No, no. But all this did I know before. What says he of our marriage? What of that?
NurseCue
Lord, how my head aches! What a head have I! It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces. My back o’ t’ other side! Ah, my back, my back! Beshrew your heart for sending me about To catch my death with jaunting up and down.
Juliet
I’ faith, I am sorry that thou art not well. Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me, what says my love?
NurseCue
Your love says, like an honest gentleman, and a courteous, and a kind, and a handsome, and, I warrant, a virtuous—Where is your mother?
Juliet
Where is my mother? Why, she is within. Where should she be? How oddly thou repliest: “Your love says, like an honest gentleman, Where is your mother?”
NurseCue
O God’s lady dear, Are you so hot? Marry, come up, I trow. Is this the poultice for my aching bones? Henceforward do your messages yourself.
Juliet
Here’s such a coil. Come, what says Romeo?
NurseCue
Have you got leave to go to shrift today?
Juliet
I have.
NurseCue
I must another way, To fetch a ladder by the which your love Must climb a bird’s nest soon when it is dark. I am the drudge and toil in your delight, But you shall bear the burden soon at night. Go. I’ll to dinner. Hie you to the cell.
Juliet
Hie to high fortune! Honest nurse, farewell.
Scene VIFriar Lawrence’s cell
3 speechesFriar LawrenceCue
Here comes the lady. O, so light a foot Will ne’er wear out the everlasting flint. A lover may bestride the gossamers That idles in the wanton summer air, And yet not fall, so light is vanity.
Juliet
Good even to my ghostly confessor.
Friar LawrenceCue
Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both.
Juliet
As much to him, else is his thanks too much.
RomeoCue
Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy Be heaped like mine, and that thy skill be more To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath This neighbor air, and let rich music’s tongue Unfold the imagined happiness that both Receive in either by this dear encounter.
Juliet
Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, Brags of his substance, not of ornament. They are but beggars that can count their worth, But my true love is grown to such excess I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.
Act III
Scene IICapulet’s orchard
12 speechesJuliet
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phoebus’ lodging. Such a wagoner As Phaëton would whip you to the west And bring in cloudy night immediately. Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, That runaways’ eyes may wink, and Romeo Leap to these arms, untalked 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 Played for a pair of stainless maidenhoods.
Hood my unmanned blood, bating in my cheeks, With thy black mantle till strange love grow 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 upon a raven’s back.
Come, gentle night; come, loving black-browed night, Give me my Romeo, and when I 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 possessed it, and, though I am sold, Not yet enjoyed. 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.— Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there? The cords That Romeo bid thee fetch?
NurseCue
Ay, ay, the cords.
Juliet
Ay me, what news? Why dost thou wring thy hands?
NurseCue
Ah weraday, he’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead! We are undone, lady, we are undone. Alack the day, he’s gone, he’s killed, he’s dead.
Juliet
Can heaven be so envious?
NurseCue
Romeo can, Though heaven cannot. O Romeo, Romeo, Whoever would have thought it? Romeo!
Juliet
What devil art thou that dost torment me thus? This torture should be roared in dismal hell. Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but “Ay,” 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 makes thee answer “Ay.” If he be slain, say “Ay,” or if not, “No.” Brief sounds determine my weal or woe.
NurseCue
I saw the wound. I saw it with mine eyes God save the mark! here on his manly breast— A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse, Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaubed in blood, All in gore blood. I swoonèd at the sight.
Juliet
O break, my heart, poor bankrout, break at once! To prison, eyes; ne’er look on liberty. Vile earth to earth resign; end motion here, And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier.
NurseCue
O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had! O courteous Tybalt, honest gentleman, That ever I should live to see thee dead!
Juliet
What storm is this that blows so contrary? Is Romeo slaughtered and is Tybalt dead? My dearest cousin, and my dearer lord? Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom, For who is living if those two are gone?
NurseCue
Tybalt is gone and Romeo banishèd. Romeo that killed him—he is banishèd.
Juliet
O God, did Romeo’s hand shed Tybalt’s blood?
NurseCue
It did, it did, alas the day, it did.
Juliet
O serpent heart hid with a flow’ring face! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave? Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! Dove-feathered raven, wolvish-ravening lamb! Despisèd substance of divinest show! Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st, A damnèd saint, an honorable villain.
O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend In mortal 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!
NurseCue
There’s no trust, 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!
Juliet
Blistered be thy tongue For such a wish! He was not born to shame. Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit, For ’tis a throne where honor may be crowned Sole monarch of the universal Earth. O, what a beast was I to chide at him!
NurseCue
Will you speak well of him that killed your cousin?
Juliet
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? 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 killed 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 murdered me. I would forget it fain, But, O, it presses to my memory Like damnèd guilty deeds to sinners’ minds: “Tybalt is dead and Romeo banishèd.”
That “banishèd,” that one word “banishèd,” 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 ranked with other griefs, Why followed not, when she said “Tybalt’s dead,” “Thy father” or “thy mother,” nay, or both, Which modern lamentation might have moved?
But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death, “Romeo is banishèd.” To speak that word Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, All slain, all dead. “Romeo is banishèd.” 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?
NurseCue
Weeping and wailing over Tybalt’s corse. Will you go to them? I will bring you thither.
Juliet
Wash they his wounds with tears? Mine shall be spent, 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-widowèd. Come, cords—come, nurse. I’ll to my wedding bed, And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead!
NurseCue
Hie to your chamber. I’ll find Romeo To comfort you. I wot well where he is. Hark you, your Romeo will be here at night. I’ll to him. He is hid at Lawrence’ cell.
Juliet
O, find him!
Give this ring to my true knight And bid him come to take his last farewell.
Scene VJuliet’s chamber
28 speechesJuliet
Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear. Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree. Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.
RomeoCue
It was the lark, the herald of the morn, 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.
Juliet
Yond light is not daylight, I know it, I. It is some meteor that the sun exhaled To be to thee this night a torchbearer And light thee on thy way to Mantua. Therefore stay yet. Thou need’st not to be gone.
RomeoCue
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.
Juliet
It is, it is. Hie hence, begone, 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 loathèd toad changed 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 begone. More light and light it grows.
NurseCue
Madam.
Juliet
Nurse?
NurseCue
Your lady mother is coming to your chamber. The day is broke; be wary; look about.
Juliet
Then, window, let day in, and let life out.
RomeoCue
Farewell, farewell. One kiss and I’ll descend.
Juliet
Art thou gone so? Love, lord, ay husband, friend! 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.
RomeoCue
Farewell. I will omit no opportunity That may convey my greetings, love, to thee.
Juliet
O, think’st thou we shall ever meet again?
RomeoCue
I doubt it not; and all these woes shall serve For sweet discourses in our times to come.
Juliet
O God, I have an ill-divining soul! Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyesight fails or thou lookest pale.
RomeoCue
And trust me, love, in my eye so do you. Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu.
Juliet
O Fortune, Fortune, all men call thee fickle. If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him That is renowned for faith? Be fickle, Fortune, For then I hope thou wilt not keep him long, But send him back.
Lady CapuletCue
Ho, daughter, are you up?
Juliet
Who is ’t that calls? It is my lady mother. Is she not down so late or up so early? What unaccustomed cause procures her hither?
Lady CapuletCue
Why, how now, Juliet?
Juliet
Madam, I am not well.
Lady CapuletCue
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 CapuletCue
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 CapuletCue
Well, girl, thou weep’st not so much for his death As that the villain lives which slaughtered him.
Juliet
What villain, madam?
Lady CapuletCue
That same villain, Romeo.
Juliet
(aside) 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 CapuletCue
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 CapuletCue
We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not. Then weep no more. I’ll send to one in Mantua, Where that same banished runagate doth live, Shall give him such an unaccustomed dram That he shall soon keep Tybalt company. And then, I hope, thou wilt be satisfied.
Juliet
Indeed, I never shall be satisfied With Romeo till I behold him—dead— Is my poor heart, so for a kinsman vexed. 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 hath slaughtered him.
Lady CapuletCue
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, beseech your Ladyship?
Lady CapuletCue
Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child, One who, to put thee from thy heaviness, Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy That thou expects not, nor I looked not for.
Juliet
Madam, in happy time! What day is that?
Lady CapuletCue
Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn The gallant, young, and noble gentleman, The County Paris, at Saint 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!
CapuletCue
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 blessed, Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought So worthy a gentleman to be her bride?
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.
Lady CapuletCue
Fie, fie, what, are you mad?
Juliet
(kneeling) Good father, I beseech you on my knees, Hear me with patience but to speak a word.
CapuletCue
An you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend. An 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.
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 bed In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.
Lady CapuletCue
Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word. Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.
Juliet
(rising) 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 heaven By leaving Earth? Comfort me; counsel me.— Alack, alack, that heaven should practice stratagems Upon so soft a subject as myself.— What sayst thou? Hast thou not a word of joy? Some comfort, nurse.
NurseCue
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.
Juliet
Speak’st thou from thy heart?
NurseCue
And from my soul too, else beshrew them both.
Juliet
Amen.
NurseCue
What?
Juliet
Well, thou hast comforted me marvelous much. Go in and tell my lady I am gone, Having displeased my father, to Lawrence’ cell To make confession and to be absolved.
NurseCue
Marry, I will; and this is wisely done.
Juliet
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, counselor. 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.
Act IV
Scene IFriar Lawrence’s cell
13 speechesParisCue
Happily met, my lady and my wife.
Juliet
That may be, sir, when I may be a wife.
ParisCue
That “may be” must be, love, on Thursday next.
Juliet
What must be shall be.
ParisCue
Come you to make confession to this father?
Juliet
To answer that, I should confess to you.
ParisCue
Do not deny to him that you love me.
Juliet
I will confess to you that I love him.
ParisCue
So will you, 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.
ParisCue
Poor soul, thy face is much abused with tears.
Juliet
The tears have got small victory by that, For it was bad enough before their spite.
ParisCue
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.
ParisCue
Thy face is mine, and thou hast slandered 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?
ParisCue
God shield I should disturb devotion!— Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouse you. Till then, adieu, and keep this holy kiss.
Juliet
O, shut the door, and when thou hast done so, Come weep with me, past hope, past care, past help.
Friar LawrenceCue
O 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 hearest 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 joined my heart and Romeo’s, thou our hands; And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo’s sealed, Shall be the label to another deed, Or my true heart with treacherous revolt Turn to another, this shall slay them both.
Therefore out of thy long-experienced time Give me some present counsel, or, behold, ’Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that Which the commission of thy years and art Could to no issue of true honor bring. Be not so long to speak. I long to die If what thou speak’st speak not of remedy.
Friar LawrenceCue
If, rather than to marry County Paris, Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself, Then is it likely thou wilt undertake A thing like death to chide away this shame, That cop’st with death himself to ’scape from it; And if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy.
Juliet
O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris, From off the battlements of any tower, Or walk in thievish ways, or bid me lurk Where serpents are. Chain me with roaring bears, Or hide me nightly in a charnel house, O’ercovered 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 unstained wife to my sweet love.
Friar LawrenceCue
In the meantime, against thou shalt awake, Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift, And hither shall he come, and he and I Will watch thy waking, and that very night Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua. And this shall free thee from this present shame, If no inconstant toy nor womanish fear Abate thy valor in the acting it.
Juliet
Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!
Friar LawrenceCue
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.
Scene IIA hall in Capulet’s house
3 speechesCapuletCue
How now, my headstrong, where have you been gadding?
Juliet
Where I have learned me to repent the sin Of disobedient opposition To you and your behests, and am enjoined By holy Lawrence to fall prostrate here
To beg your pardon. Pardon, I beseech you. Henceforward I am ever ruled by you.
CapuletCue
Send for the County. Go tell him of this. I’ll have this knot knit up tomorrow morning.
Juliet
I met the youthful lord at Lawrence’ cell And gave him what becomèd love I might, Not stepping o’er the bounds of modesty.
CapuletCue
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 ornaments As you think fit to furnish me tomorrow?
Scene IIIJuliet’s chamber
3 speechesJuliet
Ay, those attires are best. But, gentle nurse, I pray thee leave me to myself tonight, For I have need of many orisons To move the heavens to smile upon my state, Which, well thou knowest, is cross and full of sin.
Lady CapuletCue
What, are you busy, ho? Need you my help?
Juliet
No, madam, we have culled such necessaries As are behooveful for our state tomorrow. 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 full all In this so sudden business.
Lady CapuletCue
Good night. Get thee to bed and rest, for thou hast need.
Juliet
Farewell.—God knows when we shall meet again. I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins That almost freezes up the heat of life. I’ll call them back again to comfort me.— Nurse!—What should she do here? My dismal scene I needs must act alone. Come, vial.
What if this mixture do not work at all? Shall I be married then tomorrow morning?
No, no, this shall forbid it. Lie thou there. What if it be a poison which the Friar Subtly hath ministered to have me dead, Lest in this marriage he should be dishonored Because he married me before to Romeo? I fear it is. And yet methinks it should not, For he hath still been tried a holy man.
How if, when I am laid into the tomb, I wake before the time that Romeo Come to redeem me? There’s a fearful point. Shall I not then be stifled in the vault, To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in, And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?
Or, if I live, is it not very like The horrible conceit of death and night, Together with the terror of the place— As in a vault, an ancient receptacle Where for this many hundred years the bones Of all my buried ancestors are packed; Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth, Lies fest’ring in his shroud; where, as they say, At some hours in the night spirits resort— Alack, alack, is it not like that I, So early waking, what with loathsome smells, And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth, That living mortals, hearing them, run mad— O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught, Environèd with all these hideous fears, And madly play with my forefathers’ joints, And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud, And, in this rage, with some great kinsman’s bone, As with a club, dash out my desp’rate brains?
O look, methinks I see my cousin’s ghost Seeking out Romeo that did spit his body Upon a rapier’s point! Stay, Tybalt, stay! Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink. I drink to thee.
Act V
Friar LawrenceCue
(moving toward the tomb) Romeo!— Alack, alack, what blood is this which stains The stony entrance of this sepulcher? What mean these masterless and gory swords To lie discolored by this place of peace? Romeo! O, pale! Who else? What, Paris too? And steeped in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour Is guilty of this lamentable chance! The lady stirs.
Juliet
O comfortable friar, where is my lord? I do remember well where I should be, And there I am. Where is my Romeo?
Friar LawrenceCue
I hear some noise.—Lady, come from that nest Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep. A greater power than we can contradict Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away. Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead, And Paris, too. Come, I’ll dispose of thee Among a sisterhood of holy nuns. Stay not to question, for the watch is coming. Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay.
Juliet
Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.
What’s here? A cup closed in my true love’s hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.— O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop To help me after! I will kiss thy lips. Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, To make me die with a restorative.
Thy lips are warm!
First WatchCue
Lead, boy. Which way?
Juliet
Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O, happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die.