Reading Help THE TRAGEDY OF ROMEO AND JULIET
Give me the light. Upon thy life I charge thee, `
` Whate'er thou hearest 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. `
` Bal. I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you. `
` Rom. So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou that. `
` Live, and be prosperous; and farewell, good fellow. `
` Bal. [aside] For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout. `
` His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt. [Retires.] `
` Rom. Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death, `
` Gorg'd 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. `
` Romeo opens the tomb. `
` Par. This is that banish'd haughty Montague `
` That murd'red my love's cousin- with which grief `
` It is supposed the fair creature died- `
` And here is come to do some villanous shame `
` To the dead bodies. I will apprehend him. `
` Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile Montague! `
` Can vengeance be pursu'd further than death? `
` Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee. `
` Obey, and go with me; for thou must die. `
` Rom. 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; `
` Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth, `
` But 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 arm'd against myself. `
` Stay not, be gone. Live, and hereafter say `
` A madman's mercy bid thee run away. `
` Par. I do defy thy, conjuration `
` And apprehend thee for a felon here. `
` Rom. Wilt thou provoke me? Then have at thee, boy! `
` They fight. `
` Page. O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch. `
` [Exit. Paris falls.] `
` Par. O, I am slain! If thou be merciful, `
` Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet. [Dies.] `
` Rom. In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face. `
` Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris! `
` What said my man when my betossed 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 `
` 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. `
` A grave? O, no, a lanthorn, slaught'red youth, `
` For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes `
` This vault a feasting presence full of light. `
` Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd. `
` [Lays him in the tomb.] `
` 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 `
` Call this a lightning? 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? `
` 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? `
` For fear of that I still will stay with thee `
` And never from this palace 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 `
` And shake the 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! `
` Come, bitter conduct; come, unsavoury guide! `
` Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on `
` The dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark! `
` Here's to my love! [Drinks.] O true apothecary! `
` Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. Falls. `
` `
` Enter Friar [Laurence], with lanthorn, crow, and spade. `
` `
` Friar. Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night `
` Have my old feet stumbled at graves! Who's there? `
` Bal. Here's one, a friend, and one that knows you well. `
` Friar. Bliss be upon you! Tell me, good my friend, `
` What torch is yond that vainly lends his light `
` To grubs and eyeless skulls? As I discern, `
` It burneth in the Capels' monument. `
` Bal. It doth so, holy sir; and there's my master, `
` One that you love. `
` Friar. Who is it? `
` Bal. Romeo. `
` Friar. How long hath he been there? `
` Bal. Full half an hour. `
` Friar. Go with me to the vault. `
` Bal. 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. Stay then; I'll go alone. Fear comes upon me. `
` O, much I fear some ill unthrifty thing. `
` Bal. As I did sleep under this yew tree here, `
` I dreamt my master and another fought, `
` And that my master slew him. `
` Friar. Romeo! `
` Alack, alack, what blood is this which stains `
` The stony entrance of this sepulchre? `
` What mean these masterless and gory swords `
` To lie discolour'd by this place of peace? [Enters the tomb.] `
` Romeo! O, pale! Who else? What, Paris too? `
` And steep'd in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour `
` Is guilty of this lamentable chance! The lady stirs. `
` Juliet rises. `
` Jul. O comfortable friar! where is my lord? `
` I do remember well where I should be, `
` And there I am. Where is my Romeo? `
` Friar. I hear some noise. Lady, come from that nest `
` Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep. `
` A greater power than we can contradict `
` Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away. `
` Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead; `
` And Paris too. Come, I'll dispose of thee `
` Among a sisterhood of holy nuns. `
` Stay not to question, for the watch is coming. `
` Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay. `
` Jul. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away. `
` Exit [Friar]. `
` What's here? A cup, clos'd in my true love's hand? `
` Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end. `
` 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 `
` To make me die with a restorative. [Kisses him.] `
` Thy lips are warm! `
` Chief Watch. [within] Lead, boy. Which way? `
` 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 [Paris's] Boy and Watch. `
` `
` Boy. This is the place. There, where the torch doth burn. `
` Chief Watch. 'the ground is bloody. Search about the `
` churchyard. `
` Go, some of you; whoe'er you find attach. `
` [Exeunt some of the Watch.] `
` Pitiful sight! here lies the County slain; `
` And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead, `
` Who here hath lain this two days buried. `
` Go, tell the Prince; run to the Capulets; `
` Raise up the Montagues; some others search. `
` [Exeunt others of the Watch.] `
` We see the ground whereon these woes do lie, `
` But the true ground of all these piteous woes `
` We cannot without circumstance descry. `
` `
` Enter [some of the Watch,] with Romeo's Man [Balthasar]. `
` `
` 2. Watch. Here's Romeo's man. We found him in the churchyard. `
` Chief Watch. Hold him in safety till the Prince come hither. `
` `
` Enter Friar [Laurence] and another Watchman. `
` `
` 3. Watch. Here is a friar that trembles, sighs, and weeps. `
` We took this mattock and this spade from him `
` As he was coming from this churchyard side. `
` Chief Watch. A great suspicion! Stay the friar too. `
` `
` Enter the Prince [and Attendants]. `
` `
` Prince. What misadventure is so early up, `
` That calls our person from our morning rest? `
` `
` Enter Capulet and his Wife [with others]. `
` `
` Cap. What should it be, that they so shriek abroad? `
` Wife. The people in the street cry 'Romeo,' `
` Some 'Juliet,' and some 'Paris'; and all run, `
`
` Whate'er thou hearest 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. `
` Bal. I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you. `
` Rom. So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou that. `
` Live, and be prosperous; and farewell, good fellow. `
` Bal. [aside] For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout. `
` His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt. [Retires.] `
` Rom. Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death, `
` Gorg'd 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. `
` Romeo opens the tomb. `
` Par. This is that banish'd haughty Montague `
` That murd'red my love's cousin- with which grief `
` It is supposed the fair creature died- `
` And here is come to do some villanous shame `
` To the dead bodies. I will apprehend him. `
` Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile Montague! `
` Can vengeance be pursu'd further than death? `
` Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee. `
` Obey, and go with me; for thou must die. `
` Rom. 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; `
` Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth, `
` But 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 arm'd against myself. `
` Stay not, be gone. Live, and hereafter say `
` A madman's mercy bid thee run away. `
` Par. I do defy thy, conjuration `
` And apprehend thee for a felon here. `
` Rom. Wilt thou provoke me? Then have at thee, boy! `
` They fight. `
` Page. O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch. `
` [Exit. Paris falls.] `
` Par. O, I am slain! If thou be merciful, `
` Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet. [Dies.] `
` Rom. In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face. `
` Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris! `
` What said my man when my betossed 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 `
` 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. `
` A grave? O, no, a lanthorn, slaught'red youth, `
` For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes `
` This vault a feasting presence full of light. `
` Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd. `
` [Lays him in the tomb.] `
` 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 `
` Call this a lightning? 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? `
` 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? `
` For fear of that I still will stay with thee `
` And never from this palace 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 `
` And shake the 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! `
` Come, bitter conduct; come, unsavoury guide! `
` Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on `
` The dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark! `
` Here's to my love! [Drinks.] O true apothecary! `
` Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. Falls. `
` `
` Enter Friar [Laurence], with lanthorn, crow, and spade. `
` `
` Friar. Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night `
` Have my old feet stumbled at graves! Who's there? `
` Bal. Here's one, a friend, and one that knows you well. `
` Friar. Bliss be upon you! Tell me, good my friend, `
` What torch is yond that vainly lends his light `
` To grubs and eyeless skulls? As I discern, `
` It burneth in the Capels' monument. `
` Bal. It doth so, holy sir; and there's my master, `
` One that you love. `
` Friar. Who is it? `
` Bal. Romeo. `
` Friar. How long hath he been there? `
` Bal. Full half an hour. `
` Friar. Go with me to the vault. `
` Bal. 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. Stay then; I'll go alone. Fear comes upon me. `
` O, much I fear some ill unthrifty thing. `
` Bal. As I did sleep under this yew tree here, `
` I dreamt my master and another fought, `
` And that my master slew him. `
` Friar. Romeo! `
` Alack, alack, what blood is this which stains `
` The stony entrance of this sepulchre? `
` What mean these masterless and gory swords `
` To lie discolour'd by this place of peace? [Enters the tomb.] `
` Romeo! O, pale! Who else? What, Paris too? `
` And steep'd in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour `
` Is guilty of this lamentable chance! The lady stirs. `
` Juliet rises. `
` Jul. O comfortable friar! where is my lord? `
` I do remember well where I should be, `
` And there I am. Where is my Romeo? `
` Friar. I hear some noise. Lady, come from that nest `
` Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep. `
` A greater power than we can contradict `
` Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away. `
` Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead; `
` And Paris too. Come, I'll dispose of thee `
` Among a sisterhood of holy nuns. `
` Stay not to question, for the watch is coming. `
` Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay. `
` Jul. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away. `
` Exit [Friar]. `
` What's here? A cup, clos'd in my true love's hand? `
` Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end. `
` 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 `
` To make me die with a restorative. [Kisses him.] `
` Thy lips are warm! `
` Chief Watch. [within] Lead, boy. Which way? `
` 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 [Paris's] Boy and Watch. `
` `
` Boy. This is the place. There, where the torch doth burn. `
` Chief Watch. 'the ground is bloody. Search about the `
` churchyard. `
` Go, some of you; whoe'er you find attach. `
` [Exeunt some of the Watch.] `
` Pitiful sight! here lies the County slain; `
` And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead, `
` Who here hath lain this two days buried. `
` Go, tell the Prince; run to the Capulets; `
` Raise up the Montagues; some others search. `
` [Exeunt others of the Watch.] `
` We see the ground whereon these woes do lie, `
` But the true ground of all these piteous woes `
` We cannot without circumstance descry. `
` `
` Enter [some of the Watch,] with Romeo's Man [Balthasar]. `
` `
` 2. Watch. Here's Romeo's man. We found him in the churchyard. `
` Chief Watch. Hold him in safety till the Prince come hither. `
` `
` Enter Friar [Laurence] and another Watchman. `
` `
` 3. Watch. Here is a friar that trembles, sighs, and weeps. `
` We took this mattock and this spade from him `
` As he was coming from this churchyard side. `
` Chief Watch. A great suspicion! Stay the friar too. `
` `
` Enter the Prince [and Attendants]. `
` `
` Prince. What misadventure is so early up, `
` That calls our person from our morning rest? `
` `
` Enter Capulet and his Wife [with others]. `
` `
` Cap. What should it be, that they so shriek abroad? `
` Wife. The people in the street cry 'Romeo,' `
` Some 'Juliet,' and some 'Paris'; and all run, `
`