Reading Help THE TRAGEDY OF ROMEO AND JULIET
Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill. `
` Exeunt. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` Scene II. `
` Capulet's orchard. `
` `
` Enter Juliet alone. `
` `
` Jul. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, `
` Towards Phoebus' lodging! Such a wagoner `
` As Phaeton would whip you to the West `
` And bring in cloudy night immediately. `
` Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, `
` That runaway eyes may wink, and Romeo `
` Leap to these arms untalk'd 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, `
` Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods. `
` Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks, `
` With thy black mantle till strange love, grown 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-brow'd night; `
` Give me my Romeo; and, when he 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 possess'd it; and though I am sold, `
` Not yet enjoy'd. 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, `
` `
` Enter Nurse, with cords. `
` `
` 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? `
` Nurse. Ay, ay, the cords. `
` [Throws them down.] `
` Jul. Ay me! what news? Why dost thou wring thy hands `
` Nurse. 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 kill'd, he's dead! `
` Jul. Can heaven be so envious? `
` Nurse. Romeo can, `
` Though heaven cannot. O Romeo, Romeo! `
` Who ever would have thought it? Romeo! `
` Jul. What devil art thou that dost torment me thus? `
` This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell. `
` Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but 'I,' `
` 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 make thee answer 'I.' `
` If be be slain, say 'I'; or if not, 'no.' `
` Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe. `
` Nurse. 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 bedaub'd in blood, `
` All in gore-blood. I swounded at the sight. `
` Jul. 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! `
` Nurse. O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had! `
` O courteous Tybalt! honest gentleman `
` That ever I should live to see thee dead! `
` Jul. What storm is this that blows so contrary? `
` Is Romeo slaught'red, and is Tybalt dead? `
` My dear-lov'd cousin, and my dearer lord? `
` Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom! `
` For who is living, if those two are gone? `
` Nurse. Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished; `
` Romeo that kill'd him, he is banished. `
` Jul. O God! Did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? `
` Nurse. It did, it did! alas the day, it did! `
` Jul. O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face! `
` Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave? `
` Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! `
` Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb! `
` Despised substance of divinest show! `
` Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st- `
` A damned saint, an honourable 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! `
` Nurse. There's no trust, `
` No faith, no honesty in men; all perjur'd, `
` 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! `
` Jul. Blister'd be thy tongue `
` For such a wish! He was not born to shame. `
` Upon his brow shame is asham'd to sit; `
` For 'tis a throne where honour may be crown'd `
` Sole monarch of the universal earth. `
` O, what a beast was I to chide at him! `
` Nurse. Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin? `
` Jul. 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 kill'd 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 murd'red me. I would forget it fain; `
` But O, it presses to my memory `
` Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds! `
` 'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo- banished.' `
` That 'banished,' that one word 'banished,' `
` 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 rank'd 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 mov'd? `
` But with a rearward following Tybalt's death, `
` 'Romeo is banished'- to speak that word `
` Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, `
` All slain, all dead. 'Romeo is banished'- `
` 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? `
` Nurse. Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse. `
` Will you go to them? I will bring you thither. `
` Jul. 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 beguil'd, `
` Both you and I, for Romeo is exil'd. `
` He made you for a highway to my bed; `
` But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed. `
` Come, cords; come, nurse. I'll to my wedding bed; `
` And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead! `
` Nurse. Hie to your chamber. I'll find Romeo `
` To comfort you. I wot well where he is. `
` Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night. `
` I'll to him; he is hid at Laurence' cell. `
` Jul. O, find him! give this ring to my true knight `
` And bid him come to take his last farewell. `
` Exeunt. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` Scene III. `
` Friar Laurence's cell. `
` `
` Enter Friar [Laurence]. `
` `
` Friar. Romeo, come forth; come forth, thou fearful man. `
` Affliction is enanmour'd of thy parts, `
` And thou art wedded to calamity. `
` `
` Enter Romeo. `
` `
` Rom. Father, what news? What is the Prince's doom `
` What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand `
` That I yet know not? `
` Friar. Too familiar `
` Is my dear son with such sour company. `
` I bring thee tidings of the Prince's doom. `
` Rom. What less than doomsday is the Prince's doom? `
` Friar. A gentler judgment vanish'd from his lips- `
` Not body's death, but body's banishment. `
` Rom. Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say 'death'; `
` For exile hath more terror in his look, `
` Much more than death. Do not say 'banishment.' `
` Friar. Hence from Verona art thou banished. `
` Be patient, for the world is broad and wide. `
` Rom. There is no world without Verona walls, `
` But purgatory, torture, hell itself. `
` Hence banished is banish'd from the world, `
` And world's exile is death. Then 'banishment' `
` Is death misterm'd. Calling death 'banishment,' `
` Thou cut'st my head off with a golden axe `
` And smilest upon the stroke that murders me. `
` Friar. O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness! `
` Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind Prince, `
`
` Exeunt. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` Scene II. `
` Capulet's orchard. `
` `
` Enter Juliet alone. `
` `
` Jul. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, `
` Towards Phoebus' lodging! Such a wagoner `
` As Phaeton would whip you to the West `
` And bring in cloudy night immediately. `
` Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, `
` That runaway eyes may wink, and Romeo `
` Leap to these arms untalk'd 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, `
` Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods. `
` Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks, `
` With thy black mantle till strange love, grown 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-brow'd night; `
` Give me my Romeo; and, when he 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 possess'd it; and though I am sold, `
` Not yet enjoy'd. 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, `
` `
` Enter Nurse, with cords. `
` `
` 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? `
` Nurse. Ay, ay, the cords. `
` [Throws them down.] `
` Jul. Ay me! what news? Why dost thou wring thy hands `
` Nurse. 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 kill'd, he's dead! `
` Jul. Can heaven be so envious? `
` Nurse. Romeo can, `
` Though heaven cannot. O Romeo, Romeo! `
` Who ever would have thought it? Romeo! `
` Jul. What devil art thou that dost torment me thus? `
` This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell. `
` Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but 'I,' `
` 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 make thee answer 'I.' `
` If be be slain, say 'I'; or if not, 'no.' `
` Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe. `
` Nurse. 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 bedaub'd in blood, `
` All in gore-blood. I swounded at the sight. `
` Jul. 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! `
` Nurse. O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had! `
` O courteous Tybalt! honest gentleman `
` That ever I should live to see thee dead! `
` Jul. What storm is this that blows so contrary? `
` Is Romeo slaught'red, and is Tybalt dead? `
` My dear-lov'd cousin, and my dearer lord? `
` Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom! `
` For who is living, if those two are gone? `
` Nurse. Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished; `
` Romeo that kill'd him, he is banished. `
` Jul. O God! Did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? `
` Nurse. It did, it did! alas the day, it did! `
` Jul. O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face! `
` Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave? `
` Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! `
` Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb! `
` Despised substance of divinest show! `
` Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st- `
` A damned saint, an honourable 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! `
` Nurse. There's no trust, `
` No faith, no honesty in men; all perjur'd, `
` 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! `
` Jul. Blister'd be thy tongue `
` For such a wish! He was not born to shame. `
` Upon his brow shame is asham'd to sit; `
` For 'tis a throne where honour may be crown'd `
` Sole monarch of the universal earth. `
` O, what a beast was I to chide at him! `
` Nurse. Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin? `
` Jul. 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 kill'd 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 murd'red me. I would forget it fain; `
` But O, it presses to my memory `
` Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds! `
` 'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo- banished.' `
` That 'banished,' that one word 'banished,' `
` 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 rank'd 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 mov'd? `
` But with a rearward following Tybalt's death, `
` 'Romeo is banished'- to speak that word `
` Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, `
` All slain, all dead. 'Romeo is banished'- `
` 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? `
` Nurse. Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse. `
` Will you go to them? I will bring you thither. `
` Jul. 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 beguil'd, `
` Both you and I, for Romeo is exil'd. `
` He made you for a highway to my bed; `
` But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed. `
` Come, cords; come, nurse. I'll to my wedding bed; `
` And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead! `
` Nurse. Hie to your chamber. I'll find Romeo `
` To comfort you. I wot well where he is. `
` Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night. `
` I'll to him; he is hid at Laurence' cell. `
` Jul. O, find him! give this ring to my true knight `
` And bid him come to take his last farewell. `
` Exeunt. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` Scene III. `
` Friar Laurence's cell. `
` `
` Enter Friar [Laurence]. `
` `
` Friar. Romeo, come forth; come forth, thou fearful man. `
` Affliction is enanmour'd of thy parts, `
` And thou art wedded to calamity. `
` `
` Enter Romeo. `
` `
` Rom. Father, what news? What is the Prince's doom `
` What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand `
` That I yet know not? `
` Friar. Too familiar `
` Is my dear son with such sour company. `
` I bring thee tidings of the Prince's doom. `
` Rom. What less than doomsday is the Prince's doom? `
` Friar. A gentler judgment vanish'd from his lips- `
` Not body's death, but body's banishment. `
` Rom. Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say 'death'; `
` For exile hath more terror in his look, `
` Much more than death. Do not say 'banishment.' `
` Friar. Hence from Verona art thou banished. `
` Be patient, for the world is broad and wide. `
` Rom. There is no world without Verona walls, `
` But purgatory, torture, hell itself. `
` Hence banished is banish'd from the world, `
` And world's exile is death. Then 'banishment' `
` Is death misterm'd. Calling death 'banishment,' `
` Thou cut'st my head off with a golden axe `
` And smilest upon the stroke that murders me. `
` Friar. O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness! `
` Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind Prince, `
`