A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories
Page 2
Next morning, accompanied by her nurse, Juliet went to the chapel, where she and Romeo were married by Friar Lawrence. However, until the priest could find a way to tell their families, it was not safe for the young lovers to be together. The nurse promised to hide a ladder in the orchard so that Romeo could climb up to Juliet’s balcony after dark.
Romeo was the happiest man in Verona that day as he went in search of his friends, Benvolio and Mercutio, to tell them his secret news. But as he greeted them in the square, Tybalt appeared.
“I’ve been looking for you, villain!” Tybalt shouted at Romeo. “How dare you enter the house of Capulet?”
“I’m no villain,” replied Romeo breezily, “and I have every reason to love the name Capulet.”
Tybalt drew his sword to fight.
“Let him be,” cried Mercutio, “or I’ll teach you a lesson.”
But Tybalt was determined to punish the Montagues. He turned on Mercutio and the two began to fight.
“Put your swords away, friends,” insisted Romeo. “Remember the Prince has forbidden fighting in the street.” Romeo grabbed Mercutio by the arms and held him back but, to his horror, Tybalt took the chance to thrust his sword into Mercutio’s side.
“A plague on both your families,” cried Mercutio, seeing blood pour from his wound. Benvolio took Mercutio in his arms, but there was nothing he could do to save him.
Romeo drew his sword. “One of us will die with him, Tybalt,” he cried and he set upon Tybalt in a fury. With one fatal thrust, Tybalt was dead. Romeo dropped his sword and stared in shock at what he had done.
“Run, get away,” urged Benvolio, “I’ll explain everything.” Romeo took one last look at his dying friend and fled, realising what a fool he had been.
A crowd quickly gathered and the Prince of Verona himself appeared. When he heard what had happened he was very angry. Benvolio assured him that Romeo had been trying to prevent a fight. “Then I shall spare Romeo’s life,” said the Prince. “However, he is banished from Verona for the life he took.”
Meanwhile, Juliet waited with great excitement to see Romeo. She paced about her room impatiently, wishing the night would come. When the nurse arrived, Juliet begged her for news of him but the old woman’s anguished face filled her with alarm.
“He’s gone, Madam, gone!” the nurse cried. “Romeo killed your cousin Tybalt and now he’s banished from Verona!”
Juliet was horrified. Was she wrong to have trusted a Montague after all? Knowing Tybalt’s hot temper she guessed that he must have challenged Romeo. “I’m sure that if my cousin had not been murdered, my husband would be dead,” she thought woefully. “I must see Romeo.”
The nurse delivered a message to Romeo, who had taken refuge at the monastery with Friar Lawrence. That night, as planned, Romeo came to Juliet’s room, but instead of celebrating their marriage they comforted each other, knowing that he had to leave Verona forever. When the morning lark began to sing, Romeo promised Juliet that he’d soon find a way for them to be together. Then, with a heavy heart, he left her and set off for Mantua.
Later that morning, Juliet’s mother came to her room and found her daughter in tears. “I bring good news,” she said. “The noble Count Paris has long admired you, Juliet, so your father has given permission for you to be married.”
Juliet stared at her mother in astonishment. “No, it can’t be!” she gasped. “I won’t marry Count Paris, a man I’ve never met.” But she couldn’t reveal the real reason why.
Lord Capulet was cross when he heard of his daughter’s refusal. “You are lucky to be honoured by such a noble gentleman,” he told her and insisted that the marriage took place that very week, before Paris changed his mind. In desperation, Juliet went to see Friar Lawrence, to ask for his help.
Friar Lawrence suggested a plan to reunite her with Romeo. It was daring and dangerous but Juliet was prepared to risk her life for her love.
Juliet returned home and told her father that she would marry Count Paris. Then, the night before the wedding, she drank a potion that the Friar had given her, which caused her to fall asleep so deeply that she appeared to be dead. When she couldn’t be woken the next morning her family was distraught with grief. Juliet’s wedding day became her funeral. With great sorrow, she was laid in the Capulet tomb.
Meanwhile, Friar Lawrence sent a messenger to tell Romeo that he should go to the tomb, for a day later, Juliet would revive and they could escape together. However, the friar’s messenger visited a sick house on his way and found himself quarantined, unable to let anyone know that he’d been delayed.
Unaware of the plan, Romeo awoke late that morning with a smile. “I dreamt that Juliet found me dead, but her sweet kisses breathed life into me,” he sighed happily.
Moments later, his servant, Balthasar, arrived from Verona, having ridden hard to bring the news of Juliet’s death. Romeo listened in disbelief. Could it really be true? Balthasar nodded sadly. Heartbroken, Romeo shook his fist at the heavens. “Stars, I defy you!” he cried. “I won’t accept this fate.” He set off at once for Verona, stopping only to buy a bottle of poison to unite him with his love in death.
It was night by the time he came to the Capulet’s tomb. With dread, Romeo stepped inside. Tears streamed down his face as he approached the coffin. When he saw Juliet’s beautiful face so pale and lifeless his heart felt it would burst. “Forgive me, my love,” he said softly. “I will never leave you again.” Romeo pulled the poison from his pocket, drank it down and collapsed to the floor.
Moments later, Juliet stirred. Slowly, the colour returned to her cheeks and she sat up, drowsy from her long, deep sleep. As she blinked in the candlelight she saw Romeo’s dead body on the stone floor, the poison bottle beside him. Juliet realised at once what had happened. She took Romeo in her arms and kissed his lips, desperately hoping to find some poison there for herself, but there was not a trace left. Then she saw Romeo’s dagger at his side. Not wishing to live a moment more without him, she seized it. “Oh happy dagger!” she cried and she thrust the blade into her heart. Now at last, they would be together forever.
When the two lovers were found lying dead in each other’s arms their families were filled with remorse. Joined in grief, the Capulets and the Montagues called an end to their fatal feud. The tragic love of Romeo and Juliet had brought peace to Verona at last.
“To be or not to be, that is the question.”
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Horatio
Hamlet’s best friend
Ophelia
Polonius’s daughter
Gertrude
Queen of Denmark Hamlet’s mother
Hamlet
Prince of Denmark
Ghost
Hamlet’s father, recently deceased
Polonius
Chief counsellor to Claudius
Laertes
Polonius’ son Ophelia’s brother
Claudius
King of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle
HAMLET
It was a cold, starry night. High up among the rooftops of a castle in Denmark, Prince Hamlet and his friend, Horatio, waited for a ghost to appear…
For the last three nights, guards had seen a sad, eerie figure dressed in armour walk along the battlements. Now, Hamlet watched nervously to see whether the spectre was his dead father, the King.
As he shivered in the frosty air, Hamlet puzzled over the strange events of his father’s recent death. He was still shocked that the King had died from a snake bite while sleeping in the garden. But it was even more disturbing that his mother, Queen Gertrude, had hardly waited a month before marrying again – to the King’s own brother, Claudius. “Married before her tears were dry,” thought Hamlet, hating his uncle for being so quick to wed her and claim the crown. Maybe tonight he would see his beloved father again…
Suddenly, the night air shimmered and a ghostly figure in silver armour appeared. It moved slowly, without a sound, and beckoned Hamlet clo
se.
Hamlet’s heart thudded in his chest. When the ghost raised its visor he saw his father’s face, pale as moonlight and full of sorrow.
“Hamlet, my son,” said the ghost gravely. “It was no snake that killed me. Your uncle Claudius poured poison into my ear. He murdered me without a chance to say my prayers, then he took my queen and my crown.”
Hamlet was filled with anger. He’d been right to mistrust his treacherous uncle.
“If you love me, Hamlet, avenge my murder!” cried the ghost.
“I will, Father,” promised Hamlet. “Claudius shall pay with his life for what he has done!”
“Then fare thee well, Hamlet,” said the ghost. “But take care not to blame your mother. Let heaven be her judge.” And with a deep sigh, he faded away like a breath in winter.
Hamlet and Horatio agreed not to tell anyone what they’d seen but Hamlet was haunted by his terrible secret. If only he could have turned to Ophelia, the gentle girl he’d grown to love before he went away to university. But since his return, Ophelia had refused to see him. Hamlet didn’t know that she’d been forbidden to speak to him by her father, Polonius, who feared that a Prince could never truly love a girl who wasn’t of the same noble birth. In Hamlet’s eyes it seemed that Ophelia didn’t love him anymore. Feeling betrayed by everyone around him, he now wondered who he could trust.
Day after day, Hamlet struggled to decide what to do. All he could think about was his promise to avenge the King’s murder. Could he believe the ghostly apparition? Maybe it was an evil spirit wishing to tempt him? He had to be sure before he could act.
Hamlet’s mind became so full of turmoil that he hardly ate or slept and the more exhausted he became, the more strangely he behaved. He brooded about, unshaven and dishevelled, talking out loud to himself. People whispered about him. “They think I’ve gone mad,” Hamlet thought scornfully but this gave him an idea. “Let them believe it,” he decided. “No one will suspect a mad man while I search for proof of the ghost’s words – that Claudius killed the King!”
So Hamlet began acting the madman; one minute talking foolish nonsense, the next minute miserable with grief. But no matter where he lurked and listened, he couldn’t find proof of his father’s murder. “Do I have the courage to keep my promise to the ghost and kill my uncle,” he thought, “or should I do nothing and live with that hateful traitor, Claudius, as my stepfather and King?”
His dilemma troubled him so deeply that Hamlet started to wonder if the only way to escape from his torment was to put an end to his own life. “To be or not to be?” he asked himself. What was the answer?
The King and Queen became worried about Hamlet’s changing moods.
“I’m sure this madness is caused by the death of his father,” said Gertrude but Polonius, who was the King’s chamberlain, suggested another explanation.
“The Prince has been showing affection for my daughter, Ophelia,” he told the King and Queen. “I advised her not to encourage him but I think it’s her refusal that has driven him mad.” Polonius offered to arrange a meeting between Ophelia and Hamlet so that the King could secretly observe their behaviour for himself.
The next afternoon, to Hamlet’s surprise, he found Ophelia waiting for him. “I’ve come to return the gifts you gave me,” she said sadly.
Hamlet gazed at her fair face but he no longer trusted her. “Ophelia’s father is too close to my scheming uncle,” he thought to himself so he pushed the gifts aside. “I once said that I loved you, but you should not have believed me,” he told Ophelia. “I loved you not.”
Broken-hearted and confused, Ophelia burst into tears. “Have no thought of marriage,” Hamlet continued. “Of those that are married, all but one shall live!”
“Oh, I am the most miserable of women!” cried Ophelia and she ran from the room.
As planned, Claudius had been secretly listening nearby. Hamlet’s words made him suspicious. Was his stepson really mad or had he guessed Claudius’s secret? He decided to send Hamlet away. “A sea voyage to England should bring the Prince to his senses,” he told Polonius.
“Ask the Queen to talk to Hamlet alone first,” suggested Polonius. “Maybe he will open his heart to his mother. A play is arranged for your entertainment this evening. Afterwards, I will spy on their conversation and report it to you.” Claudius agreed.
Later that day, as the travelling actors prepared for the play they were to perform, Hamlet went in search of Horatio. He urged his friend to attend the performance that night. “I’ve given the actors new lines that change the play so that now it will imitate my father’s murder,” Hamlet explained. “Watch Claudius closely as the play unfolds. We’ll see if the ghost spoke the truth. The play’s the thing to catch the conscience of the King!”
That evening, Claudius paid little attention as the performance began. But when the players acted out a murder, pouring poison into the ear of a sleeping King, Claudius leapt to his feet. “Enough! Get out!” he shouted angrily and he stormed out of the room. The whole court followed, mystified at the King’s behaviour. Only Hamlet and Horatio remained.
“Did you see his guilty face?” asked Hamlet.
“There can be no doubt,” Horatio agreed.
Shortly afterwards, Hamlet received a message from the Queen asking him to come to her room. On his way to the Queen’s apartments Hamlet paused at his uncle’s door. “I have the proof now,” he thought. “Here is the perfect opportunity to avenge my father.” But to Hamlet’s dismay, he found Claudius on his knees in prayer, shaken by what he had seen in the play. Hamlet held back. “If I kill Claudius now he will find forgiveness in heaven,” he thought with exasperation. “I must wait for another chance to send him to the devil for his deeds.”
Hamlet left silently and went on to the Queen’s room. Although he’d promised the ghost that he wouldn’t punish her, Hamlet was determined to confront his mother with the truth. “I will speak daggers to her,” he told himself, “but I will use none.”
Queen Gertrude was waiting in her chamber. “Hamlet, you have offended your uncle,” she told him.
“Mother, you have betrayed my father!” he replied.
Gertrude was suddenly frightened by the look of madness in Hamlet’s eyes. “I fear you have come to murder me,” she cried. “Help! Guard!”
“Help! Guard!” echoed a voice from behind the curtain. Hamlet swung round, thinking that Claudius must have slipped into the room to eavesdrop on their conversation. “Now here’s a chance to punish my father’s murderer!” he thought to himself and he drew his sword and thrust it through the curtain. But to his horror, Polonius slumped to the floor at his feet, dead.
Polonius’s death gave Claudius the perfect excuse to send Hamlet away from Denmark. “The Prince’s madness is a threat to us all,” he told Gertrude. “We must send him to England for our safety and his own.” Claudius didn’t tell the Queen that he would also send a letter, ordering that Hamlet be murdered when he arrived.
Hamlet had no choice but to obey the King. However, his ship was not destined to reach England. After only a few days at sea it was attacked by pirates. The Prince offered the pirates a reward to return him to shore, but there, he found himself far from home.
Hamlet made the long journey back to the castle. When he finally arrived, he saw Gertrude and Claudius leading a funeral procession into the graveyard. They had come to bury Ophelia, who’d been so distressed by Hamlet’s rejection and her father’s death, that she had drowned in a stream.
Beside the grave stood Ophelia’s hot-headed brother Laertes, recently returned from his travels in France. Laertes had been told by the King that Hamlet was responsible for the deaths of his father and his sister, so when he saw Hamlet he lashed out at him angrily. “The devil take your soul, Prince!” he cried.
But Hamlet could only stare at the coffin strewn with flowers that lay before him. “I loved Ophelia,” he said tearfully. “Forty thousand brothers could never match my love.”
Everyone at court gathered to watch the fencing match. Horatio was worried for his friend but Hamlet was unafraid. “If I am to die today, Horatio, I am ready,” he said.
The match began. Hamlet was the most skilful opponent and soon scored the first hit, prompting praise from the King, who offered him the poisoned wine as a toast. But Hamlet wasn’t ready to drink. To the King’s horror, Gertrude drank from the glass instead. Knowing nothing could save her, Claudius let the match continue. Hamlet was scratched by Laertes’ rapier and then, in a scuffle, both weapons were dropped and switched hands. In an instant, Hamlet wounded Laertes with the poisoned blade.
At that moment the Queen was overcome. “The wine…” she gasped. “I’ve been poisoned!” And she fell dead to the floor.
Laertes hung his head. “That blade has poisoned us too, Hamlet,” he confessed. “We have little time to live. The King’s to blame!”
Everyone stared with shock at the King. “Treason!” they cried.
Claudius rushed for the door but Hamlet shouted for it to be locked so that he couldn’t escape. Feeling his strength already ebbing away, Hamlet stabbed Claudius with the poisoned rapier, then he seized the glass of poisoned wine and forced his wicked uncle to drink. “Venom, do your work!” he cried.
The promise to his father’s ghost fulfilled, Hamlet sank into Horatio’s arms.