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Romeo and Juliet
By William Shakespeare
The original, squashed down to read (or perform) in about 30 minutes


(London, 1595)



Romeo and Juliet is the most popular love-story of all time, having been turned into at least 24 different operas, 14 orchestral works, 8 ballets, several musicals including 'West Side Story', and forming the inspiration for music by Duke Ellington, The Supremes, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed and Dire Straits. It has been filmed more often than any other play, from one of the first dramatic movies ever made to versions inspired by the story, such as 'Shakespeare in Love' or 'High School Musical.'

Abridged: GH



Romeo and Juliet


Dramatis Personae
Escalus, Prince of Verona.
Montague and Capulet, and their wives; heads of two houses at variance with each other.
Romeo, son to Montague.
Tybalt, nephew to Lady Capulet.
Mercutio, kinsman to the Prince.
Benvolio, nephew to Montague.
Friars Laurence and John.
Balthasar, servant to Romeo.
Peter, servant to Juliet's Nurse.
An Apothecary.
Juliet, daughter to Capulet.
Nurse to Juliet.
Citizens, Chorus, a page &c.

THE PROLOGUE
Chorus: Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.


Scene I. Verona. A public place with citizens. Enter Benvolio and Tybalt, fighting with swords
Tybalt: Turn thee Benvolio! look upon thy death.
Benvolio: I do but keep the peace. Put up thy sword,
Tybalt: What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word
   As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.
Enter an officer, and Citizens with clubs.
Citizens. Down with the Capulets! Down with the Montagues!
Enter Old Capulet in his gown, and his Wife.
Capulet: What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!
Wife. A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword?
Capulet: My sword, I say! Old Montague is come
Enter Old Montague and his Wife.
Montague: Thou villain Capulet!- Hold me not, let me go.
M. Wife. Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.
Enter Prince Escalus, with his Train.
Prince Escalus: Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
   Throw your mistempered weapons to the ground
   And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
   If ever you disturb our streets again,
   Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
   For this time all the rest depart away.
   You, Capulet, shall go along with me;
   And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
   To know our farther pleasure in this case,
Exeunt, all but Montague, his Wife, and Benvolio.
M. Wife. O, where is Romeo? Saw you him to-day?
Benvolio: Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun
   Peer'd forth the golden window of the East,
   Underneath the grove of sycamore did I see your son.
Montague: Many a morning hath he there been seen,
   With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew,
Benvolio: My noble uncle, do you know the cause?
Montague: I neither know it nor can learn of him
   But he is his own affections' counsellor.
   Enter Romeo.
Benvolio: See, where he comes. So please you step aside,
   I'll know his grievance, or be much denied.
Montague: I would thou wert so happy by thy stay
   To hear true shrift. Come, madam, let's away,
   Exeunt Montague and Wife.
Benvolio: Good morrow, cousin.
Romeo: Is the day so young?
Benvolio: But new struck nine.
Romeo: Ay me! sad hours seem long.
Benvolio: What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours? In love?
Romeo: Out-
Benvolio: Of love?
Romeo: Out of her favour where I am in love.
Benvolio: Be rul'd by me: forget to think of her.
Romeo: O, teach me how I should forget to think!
Benvolio: By giving liberty unto thine eyes.
   Examine other beauties.
Romeo: Farewell. Thou canst not teach me to forget.
Exeunt.

Scene II. A Street, Benvolio and Romeo. A servant enters
Servant: God gi' go-den. I pray, sir, can you read?
Romeo: Ay, If I know the letters and the language.
Hands paper. Romeo reads.
   'Signior Martino and his wife and daughters;
   County Anselmo and his beauteous sisters;
   Signior Placentio and His lovely nieces;
   Mine uncle Capulet, his wife, and daughters;
   My fair niece Rosaline and Livia...'
   [Gives back the paper.] A fair assembly. Whither should they come?
Servant: To supper, to our house.
Romeo: Whose house?
Servant: Now I'll tell you without asking. My master is the great rich Capulet; and if you be not of the house of Montagues, I pray come and crush a cup of wine. Rest you merry! Exit.
Benvolio: At this same ancient feast of Capulet's
   Sups the fair Rosaline whom thou so lov'st;
   With all the admired beauties of Verona.
   Go thither, and with unattainted eye
   Compare her face with some that I shall show,
   And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.
Romeo: I'll go along, no such sight to be shown,
   But to rejoice in splendour of my own. Exeunt.

Scene IV. A street. Enter Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, with five or six other Maskers; Torchbearers.
Romeo: Give me a torch. I am not for this ambling.
   Being but heavy, I will bear the light.
Mercutio: Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.
Romeo: Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes
   With nimble soles; I have a soul of lead
Mercutio: You are a lover. Borrow Cupid's wings
Romeo: Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace!
Benvolio: This wind you talk of blows us from ourselves.
   Supper is done, and we shall come too late.
They march about the stage. Exeunt.

Scene V. At Capulet's house. Juliet, Tybalt, and all the Guests and Gentlewomen. The Maskers enter.
Capulet: Welcome, gentlemen! Ladies that have their toes
   Unplagu'd with corns will have a bout with you.
   Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all
   Will now deny to dance?
Romeo: [to a Servingman] What lady's that, which doth enrich the hand
   Of yonder knight?
Servant: I know not, sir.
Romeo: O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
   It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
   Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear-
   Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
   Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
   For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.
Tybalt: This, by his voice, should be a Montague.
Capulet: Why, how now, kinsman? Wherefore storm you so?
Tybalt: Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe;
   A villain, that is hither come in spite
   To scorn at our solemnity this night.
Capulet: Young Romeo is it?
Tybalt: 'Tis he, that villain Romeo.
Capulet: Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone.
   I'll make you quiet; what!- Cheerly, my hearts!
Tybalt: I will withdraw; but this intrusion shall,
   Now seeming sweet, convert to bitt'rest gall.
Exit. Romeo meets Juliet
Romeo: If I profane with my unworthiest hand
   This holy shrine, the gentle fine 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.
Romeo: Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
Juliet: Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in pray'r.
Romeo: Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urg'd!
   Give me my sin again. [Kisses her.]
Juliet: You kiss by th' book.
Nurse: Madam, your mother craves a word with you.
Romeo: What is her mother?
Nurse: Marry, bachelor,
   Her mother is the lady Capulet of the house.
Exeunt, all but Juliet and Nurse.
Juliet: Come hither, Nurse: What is yond gentleman?
   Go ask his name.- If he be married,
   My grave is like to be my wedding bed.
Nurse: 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!
Nurse: Anon, anon!
   Come, let's away; the strangers all are gone.
Exeunt. ACT II.

Scene II. Capulet's orchard. Enter Romeo. Enter Juliet above at a window.
Romeo: But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
   It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!
   Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
   It is my lady; O, it is my love!
   O that she knew she were!
   She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?
   Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
   I am too bold; 'tis not to me she speaks.
   Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
   Having some business, do entreat her eyes
   To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
   The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
   As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
   O that I were a glove upon that hand,
   That I might touch that cheek!
Juliet: O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
   Deny thy father and refuse thy name!
   'Tis but thy name that is my enemy.
   Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
   What's in a name? That which we call a rose
   By any other name would smell as sweet.
   Romeo, doff thy name; And for that name,
   Which is no part of thee, Take all myself.
Romeo: I take thee at thy word.
   Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd;
   Henceforth I never will be Romeo.
Juliet: What man art thou that, thus bescreen'd in night,
   So stumblest on my counsel?
Romeo: My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Juliet: How cam'st 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.
Romeo: With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls;
   Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me.
Juliet: If they do see thee, they will murther thee.
Romeo: I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight;
Juliet: Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face;
   Dost thou love me, I know thou wilt say 'Ay';
Romeo: Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear,
Romeo: 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.
Romeo: O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?
Juliet: What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?
Nurse calls
   Anon, good nurse! Sweet Montague, be true.
   Stay but a little, I will come again. Exit.
Romeo: O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard,
   Being in night, all this is but a dream,
Enter Juliet above.
Juliet: Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed.
   If that thy bent of love be honourable,
   Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow,
   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.
Nurse: (within) Madam!
Juliet: Romeo!
Romeo: My dear?
Juliet: At what o'clock to-morrow
   Shall I send to thee?
Romeo: By the hour of nine.
Juliet: Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
   That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
Exit.
    Scene III. Friar Laurence's cell. Enter Friar, Laurence alone, with a basket.
Friar: The grey-ey'd morn smiles on the frowning night,
   Check'ring the Eastern clouds with streaks of light;
   O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies
   In plants, herbs, stones, and their true qualities;
   For naught so vile that on the earth doth live
   But to the earth some special good doth give;
Enter Romeo.
Romeo: Good morrow, father.
Friar: Benedicite!
   What early tongue so sweet saluteth me?
   Our Romeo hath not been in bed to-night?
Romeo: That last is true-the sweeter rest was mine.
Friar: God pardon sin! Wast thou with Rosaline?
Romeo: With Rosaline, my ghostly father? No.
   I have forgot that name, and that name's woe.
Friar: That's my good son! But where hast thou been then?
Romeo: I'll tell thee ere thou ask it me again.
   I have been feasting with mine enemy,
   Where on a sudden one hath wounded me
   That's by me wounded. Both our remedies
   Within thy help and holy physic lies.
Friar: Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift
   Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift.
Romeo: Then plainly know my heart's dear love is set
   On the fair daughter of rich Capulet;
   As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine,
   And all combin'd, save what thou must combine
   By holy marriage. When, and where, and how
   We met, we woo'd, and made exchange of vow,
   I'll tell thee as we pass; but this I pray,
   That thou consent to marry us to-day.
Friar: Holy Saint Francis! What a change is here!
   Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear,
   So soon forsaken? Young men's love then lies
   Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.
Romeo: I pray thee chide not. She whom I love now
   Doth grace for grace and love for love allow.
Friar: O, for this alliance may so happy prove
   To turn your households' rancour to pure love.
Exeunt.

Scene IV. A street. Enter Benvolio and Mercutio.
Mercutio: Where the devil should this Romeo be?
   Came he not home to-night?
Benvolio: Tybalt, the kinsman to old Capulet,
   Hath sent a letter to his father's house.
Enter Nurse and Peter her Man.
Mercutio: A sail, a sail!
Benvolio: Two, two! a shirt and a smock.
Nurse: My fan, Peter.
Mercutio: To hide her face; her fan's the fairer of the two.
Nurse: God ye good morrow, gentlemen.
Mercutio: God ye good-den, fair gentlewoman.
Nurse: Gentlemen, where I may find the young Romeo?
Romeo: Young Romeo will be older when you have found him. I am the youngest of that name.
Nurse: Sir, I desire some confidence with you.
Mercutio: Romeo, will you come to your father's? We'll to dinner thither.
Romeo: I will follow you.
Mercutio: Farewell, ancient lady. Farewell,
   [sings] lady, lady, lady.
Exeunt Mercutio, Benvolio.
Nurse: What saucy merchant was this that was so full of his ropery?
Romeo: Nurse, commend me to thy lady and mistress.
Nurse: Good heart, and I faith I will tell her as much.
   Lord! she will be a joyful woman.
Romeo: Bid her devise
   Some means to come to shrift this afternoon;
   And there she shall at Friar Laurence' cell
   Be shriv'd and married. Here is for thy pains.
Nurse: This afternoon, sir? Well, she shall be there.
Romeo: Commend me to thy lady.
Nurse: Ay, a thousand times. [Exit Romeo.] Peter!
Peter. Anon.
Nurse: Peter, take my fan, and go before, and apace.
Exeunt.

Scene V. Capulet's orchard. Enter Juliet.
Juliet: The clock struck nine when I did send the nurse;
   In half an hour she 'promis'd to return.
Enter Nurse and Peter.
   O God, she comes! O honey nurse, what news?
   Hast thou met with him? Send thy man away.
Nurse: Peter, stay at the gate. Exit Peter.
Juliet: What says he of our marriage? What of that?
Nurse: Lord, how my head aches!
   It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces.
Juliet: I' faith, I am sorry that thou art not well.
   Sweet, sweet, Sweet nurse, tell me, what says my love?
Nurse: Have you got leave to go to shrift to-day?
Juliet: I have.
Nurse: Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell;
   There stays a husband to make you a wife.
Juliet: Hie to high fortune! Honest nurse, farewell.
Exeunt.

Scene VI. Friar Laurence's cell. Enter Friar Laurence and Romeo.
Friar: So smile the heavens upon this holy act.
Romeo: Amen, amen!
   It is enough I may but call her mine.
Enter Juliet.
Friar: Here comes the lady. O, so light a foot
   Come, come with me, and we will make short work;
   For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone
   Till Holy Church incorporate two in one. Exeunt.

ACT III.

Scene I. A public place. Enter Mercutio, Benvolio, and Men.
Benvolio: I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire.
   The day is hot, the Capulets abroad.
Enter Romeo.
Tybalt: Well, peace be with you, sir. Here comes my man.
Mercutio: But I'll be hang'd, sir, if he wear your livery.
Tybalt: Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford
   No better term than this: thou art a villain.
Romeo: Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee
   Doth much excuse the appertaining rage
Tybalt: Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries
   That thou hast done me; therefore turn and draw.
Romeo: I do protest I never injur'd thee,
   But love thee better than thou canst devise
Mercutio: O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!
Draws.
   Tybalt, you ratcatcher, will you walk?
Tybalt: What wouldst thou have with me?
Mercutio: Good King of Cats, nothing but one of your nine lives.
Tybalt: I am for you. Draws.
Mercutio: Come, sir, your passado! They fight.
Romeo: Gentlemen, for shame! forbear this outrage!
   Tybalt, Mercutio, the Prince expressly hath
   Forbid this bandying in Verona streets.
Tybalt under Romeo's arm thrusts Mercutio in, and flies with his Followers.
Mercutio: I am hurt.
   A plague o' both your houses! I am sped.
Benvolio: What, art thou hurt?
Mercutio: Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch. Marry, 'tis enough.
   Where is my page? Go, villain, fetch a surgeon.
Exit Page.
Romeo: Courage, man. The hurt cannot be much.
Mercutio: No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door;    but 'tis enough, 'twill serve. I am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o' both your houses! Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm.
Romeo: I thought all for the best.
Mercutio: They have made worms' meat of me!
Exit. supported by Benvolio.
Romeo: This gentleman, the Prince's near ally,
   My very friend, hath got this 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 soft'ned valour's steel
Enter Benvolio.
Benvolio: O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead!
Enter Tybalt.
Tybalt: Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here, shalt with him hence.
They fight. Tybalt falls.
Benvolio: Romeo, away, be gone!
   The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain.
   Stand not amaz'd. The Prince will doom thee death
   If thou art taken. Hence, be gone, away!
Romeo: O, I am fortune's fool! Exit Romeo.

Scene III. Friar Laurence's cell. Enter Friar Laurence. Enter Romeo.
Romeo: Father, what news? What is the Prince's doom
Friar: A gentler judgment vanish'd from his lips-
   Not body's death, but body's banishment.
Romeo: Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say 'death';
   For exile hath more terror in his look,
Friar: Hence from Verona art thou banished.
   Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.
Romeo: There is no world without Verona walls,
   But purgatory, torture, hell itself.
Friar: Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind Prince,
   Hath turn'd that black word death to banishment.
   This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not.
Romeo: 'Tis torture, and not mercy. Heaven is here,
   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.
Knock
Friar: Arise; one knocks. Good Romeo, hide thyself.
Nurse: [Enters] Let me come in, and you shall know my errand.
Romeo: [rises] Nurse- Spakest thou of Juliet? How is it with her?
   Doth not she think me an old murtherer,
   Now I have stain'd the childhood of our joy
   With blood remov'd but little from her own?
   Where is she? and how doth she! and what says
   My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love?
Nurse: O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps;
Romeo: As if that name did murther her;
   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. [Draws his dagger.]
Friar: Hold thy desperate hand.
   Go get thee to thy love, as was decreed,
   Ascend her chamber, hence and comfort her.
Nurse: Here is a ring she bid me give you, sir.
   Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late. Exit.
Friar: Go hence; good night;
   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.
Romeo: Farewell. Exeunt.

Scene V. Capulet's orchard. Enter Romeo and Juliet aloft, at the Window.
Juliet: Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.
   It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
Romeo: It was the lark, the herald of the morn;
   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 exhales
   To be to thee this night a torchbearer
   And light thee on the way to Mantua.
Romeo: Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death.
   I am content, so thou wilt have it so.
Juliet: Hie hence, be gone, away!
   It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
Romeo: More light and light- more dark and dark
Enter Nurse:
Nurse: Madam! Your lady mother is coming!
   The day is broke; be wary, look about.
Juliet: Then, window, let day in, and let life out. Exit.
Romeo: Farewell, farewell! One kiss, and I'll descend.
He goeth down.
Juliet: Art thou gone so, my lord, my love, my friend?
   I must hear from thee every day in the hour,
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.
   Adieu, adieu! Exit.
Enter Mother.
Lady. Why, how now, Juliet?
Juliet: Madam, I am not well.
Lady. Evermore weeping for your cousin's death?
   Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child;
   One who, to put thee from thy heaviness,
   Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy.
Juliet: Madam, in happy time! What day is that?
Lady. 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!
Enter Capulet and Nurse:
Capulet: How now, wife?
   Have you delivered to her our decree?
Lady. Ay, sir; but she will none.
Capulet: How, how, choplogic? What is this?
Juliet: Good father, I beseech you on my knees,
Capulet: Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch!
   I tell thee what- get thee to church a Thursday
   Or never after look me in the face! Exit.
Juliet: Is there no pity sitting in the clouds
Lady. 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.
   What say'st thou? Hast thou not a word of joy?
Nurse: Romeo is banish'd;
   I think it best you married with the County.
   O, he's a lovely gentleman!
Juliet: Amen!
Nurse: What?
Juliet: Go in; and tell my lady I am gone,
   Having displeas'd my father, to Laurence' cell,
   To make confession and to be absolv'd. Exeunt ACT IV.

Scene I. Friar Laurence's cell. Enter Friar Laurence, Enter Juliet
Friar: Ah, Juliet, I already know thy grief;
   On Thursday next to be married to this County.
Juliet: 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 revolt
   Turn to another, this shall slay them both.
Friar: Hold, daughter. I do spy a kind of hope.
   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,
   Hold, then. Go home, be merry, give consent
   To marry Paris. Wednesday is to-morrow.
   To-morrow night look that thou lie alone;
   Let not the 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 run
   A stiff and stark cold, like death;
   And in this borrowed likeness of shrunk death
   Thou shalt continue two-and-forty hours,
   And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.
   Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes
   To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead.
   Then, thou shalt be borne to that ancient vault
   Where 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 I
   Will watch thy waking, and that very night
   Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.
Juliet: Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!
Friar: In this resolve. I'll send a friar with speed
   To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord. Exeunt. ACT V.

Scene I. Mantua. A street. Enter Romeo. Enter Romeo's Man Balthasar, booted.
Romeo: News from Verona! How now, Balthasar?
   How fares my Juliet? That I ask again,
   For nothing can be ill if she be well.
Man. Then she is well, and nothing can be ill.
   Her body sleeps in Capel's monument,
   And her immortal part with angels lives.
Romeo: Is it e'en so? Then I defy you, stars!
   Hire posthorses. I will hence to-night.
Exit [Balthasar].
   Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night.
   And if a man did need a poison now,
   Whose sale is present death in Mantua,
   Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him.
   What, ho! apothecary!
Enter Apothecary.
Apoth. Who calls so loud?
Romeo: Come hither, man. I see that thou art poor.
   Hold, there is forty ducats. Let me have
   A dram of poison, such soon-speeding gear
   As will disperse itself through all the veins
   That the life-weary taker may fall dead. Exeunt.

Scene II. Verona. Friar Laurence's cell. Enter Friar John to Friar Laurence.
Laur. Welcome from Mantua. What says Romeo?
John. Alas the searchers of the town,
   Suspecting that we both were in a house
   Where the infectious pestilence did reign,
   Seal'd up the doors, and would not let us forth,
   So that my speed to Mantua there was stay'd.
Laur. Who bare my letter, then, to Romeo?
John. I could not send it- here it is again. Exit.
Laur. Now, must I to the monument alone.
   Within this three hours will fair Juliet wake. Exit.

Scene III. Verona. A churchyard; the monument of the Capulets. Enter Romeo, and Balthasar.
Romeo: Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death,
Romeo opens the tomb.
Romeo: O my love! my wife!
   Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath,
   Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.
   Thou art not conquer'd. Beauty's ensign yet
   Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
   And death's pale flag is not advanced there.
   Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
   Forgive me, cousin. Ah, dear Juliet,
   Here, here will I remain
   With worms that are thy chambermaids. O, here
   Will I set up my everlasting rest
   Eyes, look your last!
   Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
   The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
   A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
   Here's to my love! [Drinks.] O true apothecary!
   Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. Falls.
   Enter Friar Laurence, with lantern and spade.
Friar: Saint Francis be my speed! [Enters the tomb.]
   The lady stirs!    Juliet rises.
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: A greater power than we can contradict
   Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away.
   Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead;
Juliet: Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.
Exit Friar.
   What's here? Poison, I see.
   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
[Kisses him.]
   Thy lips are warm! [Sounds of the Watch without]
   Yea, noise? Then I'll be brief. O happy dagger!
Snatches Romeo's dagger.
   This is thy sheath; there rest, and let me die.
She stabs herself and falls on Romeo's body.
Enter Capulet, Montague, wives and others.
Prince: See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
   That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!
Capulet: O brother Montague, give me thy hand.
   This is my daughter's jointure, for no more
   Can I demand.
Montague: But I can give thee more;
   For I will raise her Statue in pure gold,
   That whiles Verona by that name is known,
   There shall no figure at such rate be set
   As that of true and faithful Juliet.
Capulet: As rich shall Romeo's by his lady's lie-
   Poor sacrifices of our enmity!
Prince: Never was a story of more woe
   Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
Exeunt omnes.

THE END







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