151 blaze announce publicly 166 here . . . state this is your situation
[Scene 4. A room in Capulet’s house.]
Enter old Capulet, his Wife, and Paris.
Capulet. Things have fall’n out, sir, so unluckily
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 tonight.
I promise° you, but for your company,
I would have been abed an hour ago.
Paris. These times of woe afford no times to woo.
Madam, good night. Commend me to your daughter.
Lady Capulet. I will, and know her mind early tomorrow;
Tonight she’s mewed up to her heaviness.°
Capulet. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender°
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?
Paris. Monday, my lord.
Capulet. Monday! Ha, ha! Well, Wednesday is too
soon.
A° Thursday let it be—a Thursday, tell her,
She shall be married to this noble earl.
Will you be ready? Do you like this haste?
We’ll keep no great ado—a friend or two;
For hark you, Tybalt being slain so late,3.4.2 move discuss the matter with 6 promise assure 11 mewed . . . heaviness shut up with her grief 12 make . . . tender risk an offer 20 A on
It may be thought we held him carelessly,
Being our kinsman, if we revel much.
Therefore we’ll have some half a dozen friends,
And there an end. But what say you to Thursday?
Paris. My lord, I would that Thursday were tomorrow.
Capulet. Well, get you gone. A 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 late
That we may call it early by and by.°
Good night Exeunt.
[Scene 5. Capulet’s orchard.]
Enter Romeo and Juliet aloft.
Juliet. 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.
Romeo. 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 mountaintops.
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 thy way to Mantua.
32 against in preparation for 34 Afore me indeed (a light oath) 35 by and by soon 3.5.3 fearful fearing 13 exhales gives out
Therefore stay yet; thou need’st not to be gone.
Romeo. Let me be ta’en, let me be put to death.
I am content, so thou wilt have it so.
I’ll say yon gray is not the morning’s eye,
’Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia’s brow;°
Nor that is not the lark whose notes do 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, be gone, away!
It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps.
Some say the lark makes sweet division;°
This doth not so, for she divideth us.
Some say the lark and loathèd 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.
Romeo. More light and light—more dark and dark
our woes.
Enter Nurse.
Nurse. Madam!
Juliet. Nurse?
Nurse. Your lady mother is coming to your chamber.
The day is broke; be wary, look about. [Exit.]
Juliet. Then, window, let day in, and let life out.
Romeo. Farewell, farewell! One kiss, and I’ll descend.
[He goeth down.]
Juliet. Art thou gone so, love-lord, ay husband-friend?°
20 reflex of Cynthia’s brow reflection of the edge of the moon 29 division melody (i.e., a division of notes) 33 affray frighten 34 hunt’s-up morning song (for hunters) 43 husband-friend husband-lover
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!
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 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.
Romeo. And trust me, love, in my eye so do you.
Dry° sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu! Exit.
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.
Enter Mother.
Lady Capulet. 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 Capulet. Why, how now, Juliet?
Juliet. Madam, I am not well.
Lady Capulet. Evermore weeping for your cousin’s death?
46 much in years much older 54 ill-divining foreseeing evil 59 Dry thirsty (as grief was thought to be) 61 what dost thou what business have you 67 not down so late so late getting to bed
What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?
And if thou couldst, thou couldst not make him live.
Therefore have done. Some grief shows much of
love;
But much of grief shows still some want of wit.
Juliet. Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss.°
Lady Capulet. So shall you feel the loss, but not the
friend
Which you weep for.
Juliet. Feeling so the loss,
I cannot choose but ever weep the friend.
Lady Capulet. Well, girl, thou weep’st not so much for
his death
As that the villain lives which slaughtered him.
Juliet. What villain, madam?
Lady Capulet. 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 m
an like he doth grieve my heart.
Lady Capulet. That is because the traitor murderer lives.
Juliet. Ay, madam, from the reach of these my hands.
Would none but I might venge my cousin’s death!
Lady Capulet. We will have vengeance for it, fear
thou not.
Then weep no more. I’ll send to one in Mantua,
Where that same 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°—
75 feeling loss loss to be felt 90 runagate renegade 95 dead (Lady Capulet takes this to refer to “him”; Juliet takes it to refer to “heart”)
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 Capulet. Find thou the means, and I’ll find such
a man.
But now I’ll tell thee joyful tidings, girl.
Juliet. And joy comes well in such a needy time.
What are they, beseech your ladyship?
Lady Capulet. Well, well, thou hast a careful° father,
child;
One who, to put thee from thy heaviness,
Hath sorted out° a sudden day of joy
That thou expects not nor I looked not for.
Juliet. Madam, in happy time!° What day is that?
Lady Capulet. 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!
98 temper (1) mix (2) weaken 102 wreak (1) avenge (2) give expression to 108 careful solicitous 110 sorted out selected 112 in happy time most opportunely
Lady Capulet. Here comes your father. Tell him so
yourself,
And see how he will take it at your hands.
Enter Capulet and Nurse.
Capulet. When the sun sets the earth doth drizzle dew,
But for the sunset of my brother’s son
It rains downright.
How now? A conduit,° girl? What, still in tears?
Evermore show’ring? In one little body
Thou counterfeits 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-tossèd body. How now, wife?
Have you delivered to her our decree?
Lady Capulet. Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives
you thanks.°
I would the fool were married to her grave!
Capulet. Soft! Take me with you,° take me with you,
wife.
How? Will she none? Doth she not give us thanks?
Is she not proud? Doth she not count her blest,
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.
Capulet. How, how, how, how, chopped-logic?° What
is this?
130 conduit water pipe 137 sudden unanticipated, immediate 140 she gives you thanks she’ll have none of it, thank you 142 Soft . . . you Wait! Help me to understand you 145 wrought arranged 147 proud highly pleased 150 chopped-logic chop logic, sophistry
“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 greensickness° carrion! Out, you baggage!°
You tallow-face!
Lady Capulet. Fie, fie! What, are you mad?
Juliet. Good father, I beseech you on my knees,
Hear me with patience but to speak a word.
Capulet. Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient
wretch!
I tell thee what—get thee to church a 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!°
Nurse. God in heaven bless her!
You are to blame, my lord, to rate° her so.
Capulet. And why, my Lady Wisdom? Hold your
tongue,
Good Prudence. Smatter with your gossips,° go!
Nurse. I speak no treason.
Capulet. O, God-i-god-en!°
Nurse. May not one speak?
152 minion minx 154 fettle make ready 156 hurdle sledge on which traitors were taken to execution 157 greensickness anemic, after the fashion of young girls 157 baggage strumpet 169 hilding worthless person 170 rate scold 172 Smatter with your gossips save your chatter for your cronies 173 God-i-god-en God give you good even (here equivalent to “Get on with you!”)
Capulet. Peace, you mumbling fool!
Utter your gravity o’er a gossip’s bowl,
For here we need it not.
Lady Capulet. You are too hot.
Capulet. God’s bread!° It makes me mad.
Day, night; hour, tide, time; work, play;
Alone, in company; still my care hath been
To have her matched; and having now provided
A gentleman of noble parentage,
Of fair demesnes,° youthful, and nobly trained,
Stuffed, as they say, with honorable parts,
Proportioned 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, and 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:°
And 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.
Juliet. Is there no pity sitting in the clouds
That sees into the bottom of my grief?
O sweet my mother, c
ast 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 Capulet. Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word.
177 God’s bread by the sacred host 182 demesnes domains 185 puling whining 186 mammet puppet 186 in her fortune’s tender (1) on good fortune’s offer (2) subject to fortuitous circumstance (?) 189 I’ll pardon you i.e., in a way you don’t expect 191 do not use to jest am not in the habit of joking 192 advise consider
Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee. Exit.
Juliet. O God!—O nurse, how shall this be prevented?
My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven.°
How shall that faith return again to earth
Unless that husband send it me from heaven
By leaving earth?° Comfort me, counsel me.
Alack, alack, that heaven should practice stratagems
Upon so soft a subject as myself!
What say’st thou? Hast thou not a word of joy?
Some comfort, nurse.
Nurse. Faith, here it is.
Romeo is banished; 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.
Juliet. Speak’st thou from thy heart?
Nurse. And from my soul too; else beshrew them both.
Juliet. Amen!
Nurse. 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.
207 my faith in heaven my vow is recorded in heaven 210 By leaving earth i.e., by dying 215 all the world to nothing (the Nurse advises a safe bet) 221 dishclout dishcloth 223 Beshrew curse (used in light oaths)
Nurse. Marry, I will; and this is wisely done. [Exit.]
Juliet. Ancient damnation!° O most wicked fiend!
Romeo and Juliet Page 16