The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works
Page 135
PETER I will then give it you soundly.
FIRST MUSICIAN What will you give us?
PETER No money, on my faith, but the gleek. I will give you the minstrel.
FIRST MUSICIAN Then will I give you the serving-creature.
PETER (drawing his dagger) Then will I lay the serving-creature’s dagger on your pate. I will carry no crochets. I’ll re you, I’ll fa you. Do you note me?
FIRST MUSICIAN An you re us and fa us, you note us.
SECOND MUSICIAN Pray you, put up your dagger and put out your wit.
⌈PETER⌉ Then have at you with my wit. I will dry-beat you with an iron wit, and put up my iron dagger. Answer me like men.
⌈Sings⌉
When griping grief the heart doth wound,
And doleful dumps the mind oppress,
Then music with her silver sound—
Why ‘silver sound’, why ‘music with her silver sound’?
What say you, Matthew Minikin?
FIRST MUSICIAN Marry, sir, because silver hath a sweet sound.
PETER Prates! What say you, Hugh Rebec?
SECOND MUSICIAN I say ’silver sound’ because musicians sound for silver.
PETER Prates too! What say you, Simon Soundpost?
THIRD MUSICIAN Faith, I know not what to say.
PETER O, I cry you mercy, you are the singer. I will say for you. It is ’music with her silver sound’ because musicians have no gold for sounding.
⌈Sings⌉
Then music with her silver sound
With speedy help doth lend redress. Exit
FIRST MUSICIAN What a pestilent knave is this same!
SECOND MUSICIAN Hang him, jack! Come, we’ll in here, tarry for the mourners, and stay dinner. Exeunt
5.1 Enter Romeo
ROMEO
If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep,
My dreams presage some joyful news at hand.
My bosom’s lord sits lightly in his throne,
And all this day an unaccustomed spirit
Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts.
I dreamt my lady came and found me dead—
Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to
think!—
And breathed such life with kisses in my lips
That I revived and was an emperor.
Ah me, how sweet is love itself possessed
When but love’s shadows are so rich in joy!Enter Balthasar, Romeo’s man, ⌈booted⌉
News from Verona! How now, Balthasar?
Dost thou not bring me letters from the friar?
How doth my lady? Is my father well?
How fares my Juliet? That I ask again,
For nothing can be ill if she be well.
BALTHASAR
Then she is well, and nothing can be ill.
Her body sleeps in Capel’s monument,
And her immortal part with angels lives.
I saw her laid low in her kindred’s vault,
And presently took post to tell it you.
O, pardon me for bringing these ill news,
Since you did leave it for my office, sir.
ROMEO
Is it e’en so? Then I defy you, stars.
Thou knowest my lodging. Get me ink and paper,
And hire posthorses. I will hence tonight.
BALTHASAR
I do beseech you, sir, have patience.
Your looks are pale and wild, and do import
Some misadventure.
ROMEO Tush, thou art deceived.
Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do.
Hast thou no letters to me from the friar?
BALTHASAR
No, my good lord.
ROMEO No matter. Get thee gone,
And hire those horses. I’ll be with thee straight. Exit Balthasar
Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight.
Let’s see for means. O mischief, thou art swift
To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!
I do remember an apothecary,
And hereabouts a dwells, which late I noted,
In tattered weeds, with overwhelming brows,
Culling of simples. Meagre were his looks.
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones,
And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
An alligator stuffed, and other skins
Of ill-shaped fishes; and about his shelves
A beggarly account of empty boxes,
Green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds,
Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of roses
Were thinly scattered to make up a show.
Noting this penury, to myself I said
‘An if a man did need a poison now,
Whose sale is present death in Mantua,
Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him.’
O, this same thought did but forerun my need,
And this same needy man must sell it me.
As I remember, this should be the house.
Being holiday, the beggar’s shop is shut.
What ho, apothecary!
Enter Apothecary
APOTHECARY Who calls so loud?
ROMEO
Come hither, man. I see that thou art poor.He offers money
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,
And that the trunk may be discharged of breath
As violently as hasty powder fired
Doth hurry from the fatal cannon’s womb.
APOTHECARY
Such mortal drugs I have, but Mantua’s law
Is death to any he that utters them.
ROMEO
Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness,
And fear’st to die? Famine is in thy cheeks,
Need and oppression starveth in thy eyes,
Contempt and beggary hangs upon thy back.
The world is not thy friend, nor the world’s law.
The world affords no law to make thee rich.
Then be not poor, but break it, and take this.
APOTHECARY
My poverty but not my will consents.
ROMEO
I pay thy poverty and not thy will.
APOTHECARY (handing Romeo poison)
Put this in any liquid thing you will
And drink it off, and if you had the strength
Of twenty men it would dispatch you straight.
ROMEO (giving money)
There is thy gold—worse poison to men’s souls, 80
Doing more murder in this loathsome world,
Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell.
I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none.
Farewell, buy food, and get thyself in flesh.⌈Exit Apothecary⌉
Come, cordial and not poison, go with me 85
To Juliet’s grave, for there must I use thee. Exit
5.2 Enter Friar John at one door
FRIAR JOHN
Holy Franciscan friar, brother, ho!
Enter Friar Laurence at another door
FRIAR LAURENCE
This same should be the voice of Friar John.
Welcome from Mantua! What says Romeo?
Or if his mind be writ, give me his letter.
FRIAR JOHN
Going to find a barefoot brother out—5
One of our order—to associate me
Here in this city visiting the sick,
And finding him, the searchers of the town,
Suspecting that we both were in a house
Where the infectious pestilence did reign, 10
Sealed up the doors, and would not let us forth,
So that my speed to Mantua there was stayed.
FRIAR LAURENCE
Who bare my letter then to Romeo?
FRIAR JOHN
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I could not send it—here it is again—
Nor get a messenger to bring it thee,
So fearful were they of infection.
FRIAR LAURENCE
Unhappy fortuneǃ By my brotherhood,
The letter was not nice, but full of charge,
Of dear import, and the neglecting it
May do much danger. Friar John, go hence.
Get me an iron crow, and bring it straight
Unto my cell.
FRIAR JOHN Brother, I’ll go and bring it thee. Exit
FRIAR LAURENCE
Now must I to the monument alone.
Within this three hours will fair Juliet wake.
She will beshrew me much that Romeo
Hath had no notice of these accidents.
But I will write again to Mantua,
And keep her at my cell till Romeo come.
Poor living corpse, closed in a dead man’s tomb! Exit
5.3 Enter Paris and his Page, with flowers, sweet water, and a torch
PARIS
Give me thy torch, boy. Hence, and stand aloof.
Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.
⌈His Page puts out the torch⌉
Under yon yew trees lay thee all along,
Holding thy ear close to the hollow ground.
So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread, 5
Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves,
But thou shalt hear it. Whistle then to me
As signal that thou hear’st something approach.
Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee. Go.
PAGE ⌈aside⌉
I am almost afraid to stand alone 10
Here in the churchyard, yet I will adventure.
He hides himself at a distance from Paris
PARIS (strewing flowers)
Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew.He sprinkles water
O woe! Thy canopy is dust and stones,
Which with sweet water nightly I will dew,
Or, wanting that, with tears distilled by moans.
The obsequies that I for thee will keep
Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep.The Page whistles
The boy gives warning. Something doth approach.
What cursed foot wanders this way tonight
To cross my obsequies and true love’s rite? 20Enter Romeo and ⌈Balthasar⌉ his man, with a torch, a mattock, and a crow of iron
What, with a torch? Muffle me, night, a while.
He stands aside
ROMEO
Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron.
Hold, take this letter. Early in the morning
See thou deliver it to my lord and father.
Give me the light. Upon thy life I charge thee, 25
Whate’er thou hear’st or seest, stand all aloof,
And do not interrupt me in my course.
Why I descend into this bed of death
Is partly to behold my lady’s face,
But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger
A precious ring, a ring that I must use
In dear employment. Therefore hence, be gone.
But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry
In what I farther shall intend to do,
By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint,
And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs.
The time and my intents are savage-wild,
More fierce and more inexorable far
Than empty tigers or the roaring sea.
⌈BALTHASAR⌉
I will be gone, sir, and not trouble ye. 40
ROMEO
So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou that.He gives money
Live and be prosperous, and farewell, good fellow.
⌈BALTHASAR⌉ (aside)
For all this same, I’ll hide me hereabout. His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt.
He hides himself at a distance from Romeo. ⌈Romeo begins to jorce open the tombs⌉
ROMEO
Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death,
Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth,
Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open,
And in despite I’ll cram thee with more food.
PARIS (aside)
This is that banished haughty Montague
That murdered my love’s cousin, with which grief
It is supposed the fair creature died;
And here is come to do some villainous shame
To the dead bodies. I will apprehend him.
⌈Drawing⌉ Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile Montague!
Can vengeance be pursued further than death? 55
Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee.
Obey and go with me, for thou must die.
ROMEO
I must indeed, and therefore came I hither.
Good gentle youth, tempt not a desp’rate man.
Fly hence, and leave me. Think upon these gone. 60
Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth,
Put not another sin upon my head
By urging me to fury. O, be gone.
By heaven, I love thee better than myself,
For I come hither armed against myself. 65
Stay not, be gone. Live, and hereafter say
A madman’s mercy bid thee run away.
PARIS
I do defy thy conjuration,
And apprehend thee for a felon here.
ROMEO (drawing)
Wilt thou provoke me? Then have at thee, boy. 70
They fight
⌈PAGE⌉
O Lord, they fight! I I will go call the watch. Exit
PARIS
O, I am slainǃ If thou be merciful,
Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.
ROMEO
In faith, I will. Paris dies
Let me peruse this face.
Mercutio’s kinsman, noble County Paris! 75
What said my man when my betossèd soul
Did not attend him as we rode? I think
He told me Paris should have married Juliet.
Said he not so? Or did I dream it so?
Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet, 80
To think it was so? O, give me thy hand,
One writ with me in sour misfortune’s book.
I’ll bury thee in a triumphant grave.⌈Heopens the tomb, revealing Juliet⌉
A grave—O no, a lantern, slaughtered youth,
For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feasting presence full of light.⌈He bears the body of Paris to the tombs⌉
Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interred.
How oft, when men are at the point of death,
Have they been merry, which their keepers call
A lightning before death! O, how may I 90
Call this a lightning? O my love, my wife!
Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.
Thou art not conquered. 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?
O, what more favour can I do to thee
Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin. Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour? 105
For fear of that I still will stay with thee,
And never from this pallet of dim night
Depart again. Here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids. O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest, 110
And shake th
e yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. 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.⌈He kisses Juliet, then pours poison into the cup⌉
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide,
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy seasick weary barque!
Here’s to my love.He drinks the poison
O true apothecary,
Thy drugs are quick! Thus with a kiss I die.He kisses Juliet, falls, and dies.
Enter Friar Laurence with lantern, crow, and spade
FRIAR LAURENCE
Saint Francis be my speed! How oft tonight
Have my old feet stumbled at graves? Who’s there?
BALTHASAR
Here’s one, a friend, and one that knows you well.
FRIAR LAURENCE
Bliss be upon you. Tell me, good my friend,
What torch is yon that vainly lends his light 125
To grubs and eyeless skulls? As I discern,
It burneth in the Capels’ monument.
BALTHASAR
It doth so, holy sir, and there’s my master,
One that you love.
FRIAR LAURENCE Who is it?
BALTHASAR Romeo.
FRIAR LAURENCE
How long hath he been there?
BALTHASAR Full half an hour.
FRIAR LAURENCE
Go with me to the vault.
BALTHASAR I dare not, sir.
My master knows not but I am gone hence,
And fearfully did menace me with death
If I did stay to look on his intents.
FRIAR LAURENCE
Stay then, I’ll go alone. Fear comes upon me. 135
O, much I fear some ill unthrifty thing.
BALTHASAR
As I did sleep under this yew tree here
I dreamt my master and another fought,
And that my master slew him.
FRIAR LAURENCE Romeo!
He ⌈stoops and⌉ looks on the blood and weapons