Romeo and Juliet

A Textbook Edition of Shakespeare’s Play Created By Students, For Students

Rebecca Olson

Amanda Armas, Elizabeth Babbs, Tessa Barone, Justin Bennett, Regan Breeden, Sydney Caleen, Grace Chappell, Kierstyn Cooper, Devin Curtis, Madison Dempsey, Mary Driskell, Dominique Duenas, Alessandra Ferriso, Megan Figlewicz, Serena Giunchigliani, Andrea Goicochea, Sarah Gram, Jessie Heine, Ethan Heusser, Aleah Hobbs, Bradley Hogle, Emily Kirchhofer, Garrett Kitamura, Bryn Landrus, Joseph Laver, Lindsey LeMay, Jessica Linde-Goodfellow, Aiden Littau, Jac Longstreth, Eric MacDougall, Michelle Miller, Mayra Reyes Cortes, Macey Richert, Marin Rosenquist, David Russo, Rachana Son, Sydney Sullivan, Samuel Sutherland, Nicholas Svoboda, Ruth Sylvester, Rebecca Thompson, Jalen Todd, Erin Vieira, Rebekah Villanti, Maya Walbridge, Caitlin Walsh, Benjamin Watts, and Jeffrey Williams

Oregon State University

Corvallis, OR

Romeo and Juliet by Rebecca Olson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Publication and on-going maintenance of this textbook is possible due to grant support from Oregon State University Ecampus.

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This book was produced with Pressbooks.

Contents

- Acknowledgements

- Preface

- Introduction

- List of Main Characters

- The Play

- Act 1

- PROLOGUE

- ACT 1, SCENE 1

- ACT 1, SCENE 2

- ACT 1, SCENE 3

- ACT 1, SCENE 4

- ACT 1, SCENE 5

- Act 2

- PROLOGUE

- ACT 2, SCENE 1

- ACT 2, SCENE 2

- ACT 2, SCENE 3

- ACT 2, SCENE 4

- ACT 2, SCENE 5

- ACT 2, SCENE 6

- Act 3

- ACT 3, SCENE 1

- ACT 3, SCENE 2

- ACT 3, SCENE 3

- ACT 3, SCENE 4

- ACT 3, SCENE 5

- Act 4

- ACT 4, SCENE 1

- ACT 4, SCENE 2

- ACT 4, SCENE 3

- ACT 4, SCENE 4

- ACT 4, SCENE 5

- Act 5

- ACT 5, SCENE 1

- ACT 5, SCENE 2

- ACT 5, SCENE 3

- Educational Resources for Teachers

- Racism

- Ableism

- Classism

- Contextualization

- Supplementary Lesson Plans

- Act I Focus: Family Dynamics and Misogynistic Language in the Early Modern Period

- Lesson: “Depicting Character Relationships Through Scene Tableaus”

- Lesson: “Close Reading Misogynistic Language in Sampson and Gregory’s Exchange”

- Act I Lesson Extension

- Act II Focus: Representation of Class Through Language

- Lesson: “Drawing Language Into a Scene”

- Lesson: “Close Reading Class”

- Act II Lesson Extension

- Act III Focus: Gender Dynamics and Storyline

- Lesson: “Exploring Character Interactions Through Physicalization”

- Lesson: “Contrasting Representations of Gender”

- Act III Lesson Extension

- Act IV Focus: Language Variance Across Editions

- Lesson: “Comparing and Editing Editions of Romeo and Juliet”

- Lesson: “Recapping Romeo and Juliet Through Twitter Posts”

- Act IV Lesson Extension

- Act V Focus: The Narrative of Shakespeare

- Lesson: “Writing Ourselves Into the Narrative of Shakespeare, Part I”

- Lesson: “Writing Ourselves Into the Narrative of Shakespeare, Part II”

- Act V Lesson Extension

- Glossary

- Creative Commons License

- Versioning

1

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Open Oregon State for publishing and funding this edition, and the OSU School of Writing, Literature, and Film for financial and administrative support.

We acknowledge that Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon   is located within the traditional   homelands of the Mary’s River or   Ampinefu Band of Kalapuya. Following   the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855   (Kalapuya etc. Treaty), Kalapuya people   were forcibly removed to reservations in   Western Oregon. Today, living   descendants of these people are a part   of the Confederated Tribes of Grand   Ronde Community of Oregon   (https://www.grandronde.org) and the   Confederated Tribes of the Siletz   Indians (https://ctsi.nsn.us).

We are much indebted to the teachers and students who took the time to answer our questions and share experiences and lesson plans—thank you! Tessa Barone, Justin Bennett, Ethan Heusser, Aleah Hobbs, and Benjamin Watts served as lead editors for the base text.  Shannon Fortier, a recent OSU graduate, donated her time and talents. Jac Longstreth (a Biochemistry and Biophysics major) provided a great deal of research and editing support, funded by the URSA Engage program at OSU. Jessie Heine was our graduate intern extraordinaire. Emily Kirchhofer designed the cover (deftly incorporating an abundance of ideas and opinions). Michelle Miller and Marin Rosenquist completed much of the late-stage editing and also promoted the project at the 2018 OSU Undergraduate Humanities Research Conference. The editors drew on the excellent work completed by their peers in ENG 435/535 (Fall 2017). And special thanks to Dr. Lara Bovilsky, who in January 2016 generously donated her time to lead ENG 435 students through the University of Oregon’s First Folio exhibit (now an online exhibit Time’s Pencil); the projects that resulted from that class inspired this textbook. We are also grateful to Anne Bahde, Rare Books at History of Science Librarian at the Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, for introducing the student editors to surviving early modern books and for designing thoughtful, hands-on activities that prepared them for the project. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival made our 2018 field trip to Ashland to see Othello both feasible and memorable.

Update December 2020: We are still grateful to everyone listed above! And this year, special thanks go to Stefanie Buck and Mark Lane of OSU’s Open Educational Resources for their enthusiasm and assistance.

Tessa Barone, Justin Bennett, Ethan Heusser, Aleah Hobbs, and Benjamin Watts served as lead editors for the project.  Shannon Fortier, a recent OSU graduate, donated her time and talents. Jac Longstreth (a Biochemistry and Biophysics major!) provided a great deal of research and editing support, funded by the URSA Engage program at OSU. Jessie Heine was our graduate intern extraordinaire. Emily Kirchhofer designed the cover (deftly incorporating an abundance of ideas and opinions). Michelle Miller and Marin Rosenquist completed much of the late-stage editing and also promoted the project at the 2018 OSU Undergraduate Humanities Research Conference. The editors drew on editing work completed by their peers in ENG 435/535 (Fall 2017). And special thanks to Dr. Lara Bovilsky, who in January 2016 generously donated her time to lead ENG 435 students through the University of Oregon’s exhibit devoted to the First Folio (now an online exhibit Time’s Pencil); the student projects that resulted from that class inspired this textbook.

THE EDITORS

2018 UNDERGRADUATES
Tessa Barone

Justin Bennett

Devin Curtis

Madison Dempsey

Alessandra Ferriso

Ethan Heusser

Aleah Hobbs

Bradley Hogle

Emily Kirchhofer

Garrett Kitamura

Lindsey LeMay

Michelle Miller

Marin Rosenquist

David Russo

Sydney Sullivan

Nicholas Svoboda

Jalen Todd

Benjamin Watts

Jac Longstreth

2018 GRADUATES
Rachana Son

Ruth Sylvester

Jessie Heine

2020 UNDERGRADUATES
Amanda Armas

Sydney Caleen

Grace Chappell

Kierstyn Cooper

Mary Driskell

Dominique Duenas

Megan Figlewicz

Serena Giunchigliani

Sarah Gram

Bryn Landrus

Joseph Laver

Jessica Linde-Goodfellow

Aiden Littau

Mayra Reyes Cortes

Macey Richert

Samuel Sutherland

Rebecca Thompson

Erin Vieira

Rebekah Villanti

Maya Walbridge

Caitlin Walsh

Jeffrey Williams

2020 GRADUATE STUDENTS
Elizabeth Babbs

Regan Breeden

Andrea Goicochea

Eric MacDougall

ADVISOR
Rebecca Olson

2

Preface

I first read Romeo and Juliet in my 9th grade English class. It was hard and I hated it. I got as far as “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” before I threw down the book. I could not believe that Shakespeare was so famous—it was all clichés! (What I did not yet realize was that those clichés came from Shakespeare.)

This edition of Romeo and Juliet was edited by students for students. We believe that reliably edited versions of the play should be available for free online. But we wanted ours to be easy to get in other ways as well. The editors—Oregon State University students who remember, far better than their professors, what it was like to read the play for the first time—carefully considered every pronoun, punctuation mark, and indent. Our goal: to make a friendly, confidence-building edition that supported classroom activities at the high school and college level. (For example, we wanted speakers’ names to be bold so that students reading aloud or performing in class would not miss their cues.)

One of the most radical things about this textbook is its minimalism: it has fewer marginal glosses and footnotes than most other scholarly editions. This was a deliberate choice: the editors felt that important conversations were more likely to happen in the classroom than in footnotes, and they wanted our edition to resist pushing readers toward specific interpretations. As a result, our edition features a lot of white space. If, like us, you find it helpful to take notes (and to doodle) while you read, we hope you’ll print it out and make it your own.

The edition may look simple, but it’s not. In order to avoid overwhelming the page with notes—but still help the reader understand the sixteenth-century language—my students went word by word through the play, comparing three early modern printings to select the clearest language. Emboldened by the knowledge that there is no “authoritative” version of the play (we don’t actually know what Shakespeare wrote), they also made their own minor adjustments, typically in the less culturally iconic scenes and passages. For example, in Act 3 scene 5, Juliet’s father is angry that she does not want marry Paris on Thursday. In the first printed edition of the play (known as Q1, and printed in 1597), he says:

But if you cannot wedde Ile pardon you.

Graze where you will, you shall not house with me.

Looke to it, thinke ont, I doe not vse to iest.

I tell yee what, Thursday is neere,

Lay hand on heart, aduise, bethinke your selfe,

In the second printed edition (Q2, printed in 1599) he says something slightly different:

But and you will not wed, ile pardon you.

Graze where you will, you shall not house with me,

Looke too’t, thinke on’t, I do not vse to iest.

Thursday is neare, lay hand on hart, aduise,

Our edition modernizes spelling and punctuation, but makes other minor adjustments as well:

But if 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 often jest.

Thursday is near. Lay hand on heart. Think well.

Here, the student editors have retained Q1’s “But if” instead of Q2’s now-archaic “But and.” They have replaced the potential confusing phrase “use to” (which does not mean “used to” and would have required an explanatory note) with “often,” a word that retains the original meter of the line. Similarly, they swapped out “advise”—which today tends to mean “give advice” rather than consider it—with “think well,” a phrase that also picks up on Q1’s “bethinke your self.”

This project would not have been possible even a decade ago: in the past, if you wanted to compare the early printings up close you had to gain physical access to rare book libraries. Now, there are wonderful resources online—my students made use of digital images and transcriptions of the early editions of Romeo and Juliet on the invaluable website Internet Shakespeare Editions. Other essential sources included online dictionaries (including the Oxford English Dictionary), print editions (especially those printed by Pelican and The Folger Shakespeare Library), the No Fear Shakespeare website, and David Crystal and Ben Crystal’s Shakespeare’s Words (Penguin, 2002). In preparation the editors took a course devoted to the print history of Shakespeare’s plays and studied recent scholarship on editing practices. They also interviewed high school teachers and students about their experiences with the text.

We believe that there is no one “perfect” edition of Romeo and Juliet—different readers need different things. This edition is ideal for first-time readers, and especially those of you who are young: its editors literally speak your language. That said, more seasoned readers of Shakespeare will appreciate its readability and the editors’ obvious respect for Elizabethan language. During the editing process I served as a resource to my students, lending my expertise on Shakespeare’s time period as needed. I checked my students’ work against the early modern editions to ensure that they had not misconstrued particularly archaic passages and that they preserved the play’s famous iambic pentameter. They did a really good job.

Update December 2020: As is appropriate for a Shakespearean text that has existed in various versions since the late 16th century, and in keeping with larger trends in the delivery of open educational resources, we have revised this open textbook with the specific goal of improving access. The course in which we completed the revision was scheduled and designed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and when I found out that we would be learning remotely Fall term, I worried that our inability to meet face to face would inhibit collaboration and creativity. I needn’t have worried: if anything, the events of 2020 gave new urgency to our task. In the months prior, protests over the murder of George Floyd by police and ongoing pandemic mismanagement, among other events, had made our society’s great inequities even more visible. Like many white people who teach and research Shakespeare, I committed to a more serious and sustained interrogation of the ways that my own practices have supported white supremacy and contributed to disparities in access to education. The new group of student editors—many of whom plan to teach, and some of whom already are—were just as committed to finding new, more socially just ways to engage future students in material that might be part of a mandated curriculum.

And so we spent the Fall considering—in online discussion boards and via Zoom—how to translate antiracist teaching practices advocated by early modern scholars of color into editing strategies; how to improve our textbook’s readability; and how to handle particularly harmful aspects of the text, including the explicit misogyny of the play’s first scene (which also happens to be the first lines of Shakespeare many young people ever read). For ten weeks, we also debated the extent to which editing can or should mitigate Shakespeare’s status as “team captain” of a Western literary canon that marginalizes the vast majority of today’s students. The editors’ introduction explains in more detail how these conversations resulted in specific updates to the text. What I learned from working with these dedicated and incredibly resilient students is that editing is itself a profoundly social act: they have helped me understand that the effective editor is one who makes the reader marginalized by the text feel seen. Their edition recognizes the misogyny and racism that goes unremarked upon in other editions; it anticipates which sentence constructions are most difficult for new readers of Shakespeare; and it even reaches out to help overworked teachers who are interested in designing culturally responsive Romeo and Juliet lesson plans but don’t know where to start . To say that I wish this was the edition I had read in ninth grade is an understatement.

In the preface to the first collected works of Shakespeare—printed after the playwright’s death in 1623 and known as the First Folio—his colleagues John Heminge and Henrie Condell suggest that if you do not like reading Shakespeare’s plays, it is probably because you do not understand them. If that’s the case, “his Friends, whom if you need, can be your guides”: in other words, if you want to enjoy Shakespeare, read his works with people who already get it. As an experienced teacher of Shakespearean drama, I can vouch that the opposite is also true: I did not love Romeo and Juliet until I read it with students.

I hope to hear from our readers—please reach out to me with your questions, suggestions, or thoughts about the text at rebecca.olson@oregonstate.edu.

Enjoy!

Dr. Rebecca Olson
Associate Professor of English
Oregon State University

3

Introduction

❖❖❖

Shakespeare is largely considered to be the greatest writer in the English language. Though we may find his writing an eloquent maze of prose today, we must remember that he was writing to every class and creed. 400 years in the future, a literary scholar may marvel over the complexity of rhyme and rhythm of a Jay Z song as we marvel over Shakespeare’s Sonnets.  In his lifetime, William Shakespeare wrote thirty-nine plays, most of which are still read and performed today. Romeo and Juliet is one of the best known, and yet Shakespeare did not invent the story. The tragic tale of two star-crossed lovers existed for a few hundred years before Shakespeare took a stab at it, and audiences in the early modern era were familiar with the story before setting foot in the theater. It might seem surprising to modern audiences that this story wasn’t treading any new ground at the time of its “conception,” and some might wonder why the brilliant and mighty Shakespeare might have retold a story whose twisted ending came as no surprise to its audience. Shakespeare apparently felt driven to write the narrative all over again, and something about his version impacted audiences so intensely that it is today considered one of the greatest stories ever told. Why is it that Shakespeare’s version affected his audience deeply enough that it is still firmly lodged in the literary cannon? What about this story is so enduring? And most importantly: why is it so popular?

The time period in which Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet debuted was one of particular distress and turmoil. At the time, England was ravaged by the Bubonic Plague, which had a fatality rate of 50%. Theaters were closed during mass outbreaks, which likely impacted Shakespeare financially, since he lived off the revenue from theater admissions to his plays. England was also in the grips of the Catholic-Protestant divide, which often erupted into violence. Romeo and Juliet was written, directed, and enjoyed during a time characterized by fear, tension, and disease, effectively making it a play for people of any era, who grapple with their own catastrophes and terrors. The role of theatre and literature (in society at large. and in…ahem…classrooms) is hotly debated, and we cannot claim to have a definitive answer to this age-old question. We can, however, assert that the endurance of plays such as this one speaks to their ability to move people, to speak to them in ways that inspire their preservation through the ages. And so, we became inspired to make this age-old classic more readily accessible to you, both in the digital format that has made its way onto your screens, or paper copies that you hold in your hands, and in way that the content has been carefully collected and presented.

Our Process

In an effort funded through Open Oregon State and with support from Oregon State’s School of Writing, Literature, and Film, a group of 20 students, led by Dr. Rebecca Olson, crafted this edition of Romeo and Juliet with the vision that it be easily read and accessed by high school students everywhere. As a group, we decided upon a set of guiding principles, which included an effort to modernize spellings that are no longer in use, encourage your interaction with the text, and support the Shakespeare-related Common Core educational goals. Above all, we hope that this edition will allow you, the reader, to move through the text with little need to stop and look up an unfamiliar word, or to try and figure out what in the world a “Lanthorne” is (it’s an old-fashioned word for “lantern.” Could you imagine using that word for a lantern? Neither could we, so we changed it).

To put all this together, we created a set of guidelines to get us started. We decided which text versions of the play to use as primary sources and we settled on using one Quarto and the First Folio1. We decided that we wanted to include some very important things like footnotes—necessary to clarify some words and concepts, but often intimidating and numerous—but we determined that we’d keep them brief and use them only when necessary. We also decided on some more mundane things, like the font we wanted, which is clean and easily readable instead of that nasty Times New Roman. What ever happened to Times Old Roman anyway? We made countless other decisions at the outset of this project, and after establishing these ground rules we separated into editing groups, each focusing on a particular act within the play.

When the groups had completed their edited acts, we met again as a large group to review all the work together. It was at this time that we discovered how differently each editing group had approached our individual edited acts and scenes, while still following the same set of established guidelines.  Should we use bold for the character names?  How much white space should we include?  Should there be one space after a line of dialogue, or two?  How far should we indent the stage directions? What is the impact of these seemingly trivial questions on the experience of the reader?  The team set out to analyze these and many other questions. Our deliberations were lengthy, and at times unexpectedly heated. We learned much about ourselves (and about our apparent passion for uniform margins and un-bolded character names).

After arranging our edition into a single, consistent document, we set out to consider the other requirements that go along with creating a new edition of an old work. We again separated into groups to address the facets of this project. There was a group to draft out scene and location summaries; a group to establish the technical formatting of the finished work; a group to reach out to high school teachers and students to better understand their needs and concerns when engaging with a canonical work such as Romeo and Juliet; and a group to ensure that there was consistency in formatting throughout the edition. We also created a group to draft this introduction. We also identified individuals to work on creating the cover of this edition (which, we are sure you will agree, is top notch). With the groupings settled, and the work underway, the edition that you hold in your very hands (or upon your very screen) began to take shape.

In 2020, another class, led by Dr. Olson, has endeavored to recraft this edition. We have added sensitivity footnotes to represent changing opinions and social standards. We have also put a lot of energy into creating supplemental material for students and teachers alike as they become more familiar and comfortable with reading Shakespeare.

We recognize that there are numerous other editions out there, and fervently hope that this one will be effectively suited to your educational needs. But this may beg the question: why are there so many editions? Why not just use the original? Great question!  The answer is that there not just one original edition. The idea of a singular “original” Shakespeare text is a common misunderstanding. Shakespeare was a 17th Century playwright, so he didn’t necessarily intend his works to be published for broad literary audiences–most published versions were printed after his death. This being the case, there is much debate regarding the authority of different published versions. In the particular instance of Romeo and Juliet, there are multiple versions, all of which can be seen as authentic or “original,” but are dissimilar from each other in sometimes slight and sometimes significant ways. Some scholars believe that people who attended the play numerous times and recorded the dialogue in writing produced the earliest versions of the texts. Others believe that these texts were generated by a few of the play actors. Theories abound regarding the original production. Maybe several of them are correct, maybe none, but whatever the case, this allows modern editors to have a selection of authentic Shakespearean texts to draw from, which leads to some distinct differences from one edition to the next. (Spoiler alert!) Did Juliet awaken before Romeo was fully dead? The text seems to indicate that she didn’t, but others have interpreted it differently. This play has passed through the hands of many, many editors through the centuries, all of whom have left their own distinct marks; our hope is that our varied perspectives and orientation toward our readers’ needs will result in an edition that is relatable in the events and motivations of characters that you will encounter.

Shakespeare’s Language

Shakespeare is famous for his plays. He is famous for the emotions and the responses that these plays inspire in those who interact with them. He is credited with creating over 1700 original words alone in the English language (you’re welcome, Jessica). And so, when we’re considering Shakespeare, we’re not looking just at the play, or the performance, or its history—we’re looking at the language.

Language has acted as Shakespeare’s central tool in creating some of the world’s greatest literary compositions. Both a powerful playwright and literary icon, the fundamental aspects of what makes Shakespeare’s work Shakespeare’s work in the first place—and what continues to perpetuate his worldwide fame—can be understood in some of his most recognizable moments. The average North American high school student can identify Romeo and Juliet as the source of  “Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” as easily as they can fail a math test.

When we started out to create the world’s most accessible version of Romeo and Juliet, the biggest question that we were tasked to answer was: how do we treat the language? What needs to be changed? Should the text be completely modernized—removing early modern English altogether? What about iambic pentameter—the rhythmic meter that makes poetry of Shakespeare’s words? Is it necessary to preserve a rhythm that doesn’t seem so universal without the archaic pronunciation of the words within? Where does the line between historical preservation and accessibility meet, and how do we land at that crossroad?

The language in this edition is thus a compilation of the First Folio and Quarto, as well as the collective minds of dozens of students working diligently to achieve clarity and ensure comprehension. The language has been only slightly altered, so as to maintain Shakespeare’s original intent, and in order to also appeal to a more modern audience; punctuation has been updated where appropriate; spellings have been modernized. But the story is the same. The famous, dramatic, moving story of a forbidden love and its original contexts remains. If we have changed anything, it is so that such a story can be loved and adored (though, perhaps with a bit more reserve than either Romeo or Juliet display toward one another) and can be read by many, many more people.

Romeo and Juliet On Stage

“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks” is probably one of the most quoted and easily recognizable lines of Shakespeare. Good ol’ Romeo and Juliet have been around for centuries, brought to life again and again through the text that houses them. This text is read in high schools, watched on the stage, adapted for film, and even re-written in terms of a text conversation. But where did it all begin?

Originally, Romeo and Juliet was designed to be played on a thrust stage, which extends into the audience, allowing viewers to watch from three sides. Scenery was sparse to allow for quick action and a focus on the carefully crafted language. There was a rear balcony staged as Juliet’s window and a trapdoor for her tomb. The play ran briefly in London following the Restoration of Charles II when William Davenant, acclaimed “son of Shakespeare” (whether literary or biological, we’re still not sure), presented it at Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

Several adaptations made their way around, including a version set in ancient Rome and a version in which a father and daughter played the titular characters in 1744, which was not widely accepted (for obvious reasons, we think). In 1748, David Garrick, a man renowned in the world of theatre, staged a production of Romeo and Juliet at Drury Lane and removed all sexual references and jokes present in the text. Why someone would take the best bits out we do not know. However, this version became the standard for the next century.

When Shakespeare was staging performances of Romeo and Juliet, most all actors were men, which means that Juliet was traditionally played by men dressed up as women. This tradition persisted until the late 17th century. By the 19th century, playing the role of Juliet became an actress’s marker of success in the theatrical world, and by the mid-19th century women were even allowed to take on the role of Romeo as well.

Throughout the 1900s, several noted playwrights and producers adapted and toured the play. William Poel of the Elizabethan Stage Society created a version chock-full of fast-paced action and complicated stage directions, or blocking. Before directing the 1968 film version of the play, Franco Zeffirelli created an adaptation of the original script for the stage, and then his film premiered in 1968 at the Old Vic Theatre in London. The Old Vic was traditionally a venue for live theater, and had never before hosted a film screening. The Italian renaissance setting at the Old Vic was so realistic and natural that audience members were awed by the never-before-seen representational style of stepping into a virtual snapshot of Verona.

The film was adapted again for Baz Luhrman’s 1996 Romeo + Juliet, a lush cinematic experience that exemplified Lurhman’s decadent style. This version, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, brought the tale of tragic romance to a whole new generation of teenagers. To this day, the play is read, performed, and referenced at a massive scale, but echoes of the original production linger.

Reading Romeo and Juliet Today

The challenge presented to us in our editing of the second edition was simple: How to edit the text in a way that creates total accessibility. We were then presented with articles and journal entries speaking on the implied biases rooted deep within historical texts, including the one we present to you now. The task proved to be much more difficult than anticipated. The questions had much more nuanced solutions that required extensive discussion on how to effectively combat this biased writing. Questions like: Do we change the vocabulary? Can we remove iambic pentameter? What do we do with insensitive language? Through much deliberation, we decided to keep the core language used while adapting footnotes expressing the problematic usage of specific words and phrases. These “sensitivity footnotes” are meant to explain exactly why and how the noted section exercises human biases. We don’t want to ignore the problems of the past but recognize them and learn from them.

While everyone in the class acknowledged discomfort at passages that use human beings as a comparison base for worth, there was also a discomfort in changing the language. The language was problematic, but why hesitate? Through this awkward period, we decided to keep the language as a learning opportunity. It is important to look back on the problems of the past and see the harm caused by the bias infused writing. In order to counter those biases, the sensitivity footnotes have been added in their respective passages. These footnotes are meant to inform you where and how biases are slipped into the pages that have been read for centuries.

While we’re on the subject of important social ramifications of the play, we feel it’s important to talk about the crux of the play’s tragedy: the choice Romeo and Juliet make to die by suicide. To some it can seem strange, absurd, or even silly. Why would anyone kill themselves over someone they met only earlier that same week?

The suicides of Romeo and Juliet suggest that their love and subsequent marriage were more than the result of the exaggerated emotions of a first love. What other, less obvious factors were at play? What would drive someone to make the worst and most permanent of all mistakes? Rather than attempt to answer this question that has followed this text around like a phantom, we’ll leave you with some questions that help us contemplate the complicated tangle of intention and action in this play: How did Juliet view her future after being forced to marry someone she barely knew? Maybe Romeo felt locked into the family feud and was looking for an escape? By seriously considering the motivations that led these characters to a tragic end, can we learn how to better respond to those situations that inspire feelings of powerlessness?

We also wanted to recognize the medium of this work. A play is more than words on a page; a play is a story full of feelings and experiences that the actors and the audience bring to the table. A play like Romeo and Juliet is an experience that captivates and challenges the imaginations of people across generations, across centuries. Romeo and Juliet is not a static story about a boy and a girl. It is an open story about love between two people—a story that adapts and changes in the minds and bodies that contemplate and reenact it. We believe this play offers a chance to explore what love can actually mean, from a wide variety of genders, sexual orientations, and experiences. It is a story about the tragedies and triumphs of love, and its special power lies in its ability to inspire contemplation of these ideas in all who encounter it.

Slowly but surely, our world is warming up to the idea that love is universal regardless of the identity of the bodies involved with it. More and more, people are exploring characters with more flexible categories of analysis, opening up new (or centuries-old) avenues of sexuality that challenge a heterosexual-dominant narrative. Actors of all ages are subverting historically gendered roles to inspire audiences to question their implicit assumptions. Players and playgoers are not disregarding what these stories were, but are imagining new possibilities for what these stories could be. In other words, it can be tempting to think that the script is rigidly set, but in actuality there is a real freedom in the performance. We encourage students and teachers alike to embrace that freedom, to widen their perspectives and see Romeo and Juliet (and plays in general) as tools to help explore what it means to be human.

In any case, we’ll leave the answering of those questions to you. Just as we have enjoyed Romeo and Juliet in its many forms, and from the many angles through which we have viewed it, we hope that you will enjoy this newly revised edition!

Sincerely,

The Editors

Corvallis, Oregon

December 2020

4

List of Main Characters

ROMEO, heir to the Montagues

JULIET, heir to the Capulets

LADY CAPULET, Juliet’s Mother and Tybalt’s Aunt by blood

CAPULET, Juliet’s Father and Tybalt’s uncle by marriage

LADY MONTAGUE, Romeo’s Mother

MONTAGUE, Romeo’s Father

MERCUTIO, Romeo’s friend but pledges to neither house because he is related to Prince Escalus

TYBALT, Juliet’s cousin

PRINCE ESCALUS, ruler of Verona

PARIS, engaged to Juliet and related to Prince Escalus

FRIAR LAWRENCE, religious man who marries Romeo and Juliet and gives Juliet the poison

NURSE, mother figure and confidant to Juliet

BENVOLIO, Lord Montague’s nephew and Romeo’s cousin

SAMPSON, Capulet’s Servant

GREGORY, Capulet’s Servant

BALTHASAR, Romeo’s Servant

FRIAR JOHN, Friar Lawernce’s messenger

ABRAM, Montague’s servant

APOTHECARY, potion maker that sells Romeo the poison

PETER, Capulet’s Servant

Act 1

PROLOGUE

CHORUS

Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

From ancient grudge, break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

5 From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,

destruction

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows°

Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.

This fearful showing of their death-marked love,

10 And the exhibition of their parents’ rage—

Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove—

Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage

That which–if you with patient ears attend—

Here goes unsaid, our toil shall strive to mend.

❖❖❖

ACT 1, SCENE 1

Servants of the Capulet family start a fight with Montague family servants. Benvolio, a Montague, draws his sword and attempts to break up the fight. Tybalt, a Capulet, sees the drawn sword of Benvolio. Tybalt draws his sword and, after Benvolio tries to avoid conflict, Tybalt attacks. The fight escalates. Montague and Capulet enter the scene. The Prince enters and commands the fight to end. Frustrated with the family feud, the Prince declares a death sentence on anybody who starts more trouble.

In the aftermath, Lady Montague asks Benvolio if he’s seen Romeo, her son. Benvolio tells her that he saw Romeo earlier, but Romeo seemed troubled. Later, Benvolio approaches to ask Romeo about the mood he’s in. Romeo replies that he is in love with Rosaline, but saddened that she doesn’t seem to love him back.

On a street somewhere in Verona:

Enter two servingmen of the Capulets

SAMPSON

Gregory, on my word, we’ll not carry coals.[1]

GREGORY

coal miners

No, for then we should be colliers°.

SAMPSON

anger

I mean that if we be in choler° we’ll draw.

GREGORY

Aye, while you live, draw your neck out of collar.[2]

SAMPSON

5 I strike quickly when moved.

GREGORY

But thou art not quickly moved to strike.

SAMPSON

A dog of the house of Montague would move me.

GREGORY

To move is to stir; and to be valiant is to stand:

Therefore if thou art moved, thou runn’st away.

SAMPSON

10 A dog of that house shall move me to stand;

I will take the wall[3] of any man or maid of Montague’s.

GREGORY

That shows thee a weak slave,[4] for the weakest go to the wall.

SAMPSON

‘Tis true, and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever

thrust to the wall.[5] Therefore, I will push Montague’s men from

15 the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall.

GREGORY

The quarrel is between our masters and us their men.

SAMPSON

‘Tis the same. I will show myself a tyrant. When I have fought

with the men, I will be civil with the maids, and cut off their

heads.

GREGORY

20 The heads of the maids?

SAMPSON

virginities

Aye, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads°; take it in

what sense thou wilt.

GREGORY

Those who feel it must take it in that sense.[6]

SAMPSON

They shall feel me while I’m able to stand, and ‘tis known I’m a

25 pretty piece of flesh.

GREGORY

‘Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou hadst been poor-

john.[7] Draw thy tool! Here comes of the house of Montague.

Enter ABRAHAM and BALTHASAR, servingmen of the Montagues

SAMPSON

My naked weapon is out. Quarrel, I will back thee.

GREGORY

How? Turn thy back and run?

SAMPSON

30 Fear this not.

GREGORY

really

No, marry°, I fear thee.

SAMPSON

Let us have the law on our side; let them begin.

GREGORY

I will frown as I pass by and let them take it as they will.

SAMPSON

Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them, which is

35 disgrace to them if they bear it.

ABRAHAM

Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

SAMPSON

I do bite my thumb, sir.

ABRAHAM

Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

SAMPSON

[To GREGORY] Is the law on our side, if I say aye?

GREGORY

40 No.

SAMPSON

No sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.

GREGORY

Do you quarrel, sir?

ABRAHAM

Quarrel, sir? No sir.

SAMPSON

If you do, sir, I am yours to fight. I serve as good a man as you.

ABRAHAM

45 No better than mine.

SAMPSON

Well, sir.

Enter BENVOLIO

GREGORY

Say ours is better; here comes one of our master’s kinsmen.

SAMPSON

Yes: better, sir.

ABRAHAM

You lie.

SAMPSON

50 Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember thy swashing blow.

They fight

BENVOLIO

Part, fools! Put up your swords; you know not what you do.

Enter TYBALT

TYBALT

peasants; servants

What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds°?

Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.

BENVOLIO

I do but keep the peace. Put up thy sword

55 Or manage it to part these men with me.

TYBALT

What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word,

As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.

Have at thee, coward!

They fight

Enter three or four citizens with clubs and partisans [8]

CITIZENS OF THE WATCH

Clubs, bills,[9] and partisans, strike!

60 Beat them down!

Down with the Capulets!

Down with the Montagues!

Enter CAPULET, in his gown, and LADY CAPULET

CAPULET

now

What noise is this? Give me my longsword, ho°!

LADY CAPULET

A crutch you need! Why call you for a sword?

CAPULET

65 My sword I say! Old Montague is come

And flourishes his blade to spite me.

Enter MONTAGUE and LADY MONTAGUE

MONTAGUE

Thou villain Capulet! Hold me not! Let me go.

LADY MONTAGUE

Thou shalt not stir one foot to meet a foe.

Enter PRINCE ESKALES with his entourage

PRINCE

Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,

70 Profaners with your neighbor-stainèd steel!

Will they not hear? What, ho! You men, you beasts,

That quench the fire of your pernicious rage

With purple fountains issuing from your veins.

On pain of torture, from those bloody hands

75 Throw your mistempered weapons to the ground,

And hear the sentence of your movèd prince.

Three civil brawls bred by an airy word

From thee, old Capulet, and Montague,

Have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets,

80 And made Verona’s ancient citizens

Cast off their gravely-styled ornaments[10]

To wield old partisans, in hands as old,

infested

Cankered° with peace, to part your cankered hate.

If ever you disturb our streets again

85Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.

For now, all you rest depart away.

You, Capulet, shall go along with me;

And Montague, come you this afternoon

To know our further judgment in this case

90 To old Free-town, our common judgment place.

Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.

Exit all but MONTAGUE, LADY MONTAGUE, and BENVOLIO

MONTAGUE

Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach?[11]

Speak, nephew. Were you here when it began?

BENVOLIO

Here were the servants of your adversary

before

95 And yours, close fighting ere° I did approach.

I drew to part them; in the instant came

The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared,

Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears,

He swung about its head and cut the winds,

100 Which, nothing hurt at all, hissed it in scorn.

While we were interchanging thrusts and blows

Came more and more who fought on part and part,

Til the prince came, who parted either part.

LADY MONTAGUE

O, where is Romeo? Saw you him today?

105 Right glad I am he was not at this fray.

BENVOLIO

Madam, an hour before the worshipped sun

Peered forth the golden window of the east,

A troubled mind drove me to walk abroad

Where, underneath the grove of sycamore

110 Which westward rooteth on this city-side,

So early walking did I see your son.

Towards him I made, but he was ‘ware of me,

And stole into the covert of the wood.

I, presuming his affections as my own,

115 Which then most sought where most might not be found,

Feeling one too many with my weary self,

Pursued my humor,[12] not pursuing his,

And gladly shunned who gladly flew from me.

MONTAGUE

Many a morning hath he there been seen,

120 With tears augmenting the fresh morning dew,

Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs.

And all so soon as the all-cheering sun

Doth in the farthest east begin to draw

The shady curtains from Aurora’s[13] bed,

125 Away from light steals home my heavy son,

And private in his chamber pens himself,

Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out,

And makes himself an artificial night.

of a warning

Black and portentous° will his humor prove

130 Unless good counsel may the cause remove.

BENVOLIO

My noble uncle, do you know the cause?

MONTAGUE

I neither know it nor can learn of him.

BENVOLIO

Have you importuned[14] him by any means?

MONTAGUE

Both by myself and many other friends.

135 But he, his own affections counselor

Is to himself—I will not say how well—

Keeping himself so secret and so close,

So far from sounding and discovery,

Like the flowerbud bit by an envious worm

140Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air,

Or dedicate his beauty to the same.

Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow,

We would as willingly give cure as know.

Enter ROMEO

BENVOLIO

See where he comes. So please you, step aside.

145 I’ll know his grievance or be much denied.

MONTAGUE

I wish thee fortune in thy stay

To hear the truth. Come, Madam, let’s away.

Exit MONTAGUE and LADY MONTAGUE

BENVOLIO

Good morrow, cousin.

ROMEO

Is the day so young?

BENVOLIO

150 It’s newly struck nine.

ROMEO

Aye me! Sad hours seem long.

Was that my father that went hence so fast?

BENVOLIO

It was. What sadness lengthens Romeo’s hours?

ROMEO

Not having that, which having, makes them short.

BENVOLIO

155 In love.

ROMEO

Out.

BENVOLIO

Of love.

ROMEO

Out of her favor where I am in love.

BENVOLIO

Alas that love, so gentle in his view,[15]

160 Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof.

ROMEO

Alas, that love, whose view is blinded still,

Should without eyes see the path to our will.

Where shall we dine? Gods me, what fray was here?

Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all.

165 That’s much to do with hate, but more with love.

Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate,

O anything that nothing first creates!

O heavy lightness, serious vanity!

Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms,

170 Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,

Still-waking sleep. All is not what it is!

This love feel I, for that who feels no love in this.

Dost thou not laugh?

BENVOLIO

No, coz, I rather weep.

ROMEO

175 Good heart, at what?

BENVOLIO

At thy good heart’s oppression.

ROMEO

Why, such is love’s transgression.

Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast

Which thou wilt propagate to have them pressed

180 With more of yours. This love that thou hast shown

Dost add more grief to too much of mine own.

Love is a smoke raised from the fumes of sighs;

When cleared, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes;

When vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears.

185 What is it else? A madness most discreet,[16]

bitterness, bile

A choking gall°, and a preserving sweet.

Farewell, my coz.

BENVOLIO

Wait, I will go along

And if you leave me so, you do me wrong.

ROMEO

(expresses disapproval)

190 Tut°, I have lost myself. I am not here.

This is not Romeo; he’s some other where.

BENVOLIO

Tell me in sadness: whom is it that you love?

ROMEO

What, shall I groan and tell thee?

BENVOLIO

Groan? Why no, but sadly tell me who.

ROMEO

195 A sick man in sadness makes his will,

Ill are urging words to one already ill.

In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.

BENVOLIO

I aimed so near, when I supposed you loved.

ROMEO

A right good marksman! And she’s fair I love.

BENVOLIO

200 A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.

ROMEO

Well, in that hit you miss. She’ll not be hit

With Cupid’s arrow; she hath Diana’s[17] wit

And, proving chastity strong and well-armed,

From love’s weak childish bow she lives uncharmed.

205 She will not stay the siege of loving words,

Nor bear th’ encounter of assailing eyes,

open

Nor ope° her lap to saint-seducing gold,

O, she is rich in beauty; only poor,

For when she dies, with beauty dies her store.

BENVOLIO

210 Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste?

ROMEO

She hath, and in that sparing, makes huge waste.

For beauty, starved by chaste severity,

future children

Cuts beauty off from all posterity°.

She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair,

heaven

215 To merit bliss° by causing me despair.

She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow,

Do I live dead that live to tell it now.

BENVOLIO

Be ruled by me: forget to think of her.

ROMEO

O, teach me how I should forget to think!

BENVOLIO

220 By giving liberty unto thine eyes:

Examine other beauties.

ROMEO

‘Tis the way

To call hers exquisite, in question more.

These happy masks that kiss fair ladies’ brows,

225 Being black, puts to mind that they hide the fair.

He that is struck blind cannot forget

The previous treasure of his eyesight lost.

Show me a mistress that is passing fair;

What doth her beauty serve but as a note

230 Where I may read who passed that passing fair.

Farewell. Thou canst not teach me how to forget.

BENVOLIO

I’ll pay that doctrine or else die in debt.

Exit all

❖❖❖

ACT 1, SCENE 2

Paris, a member of the Prince’s family, speaks to Capulet about marrying his daughter Juliet. They debate about whether or not Juliet is old enough, at age thirteen, to be married. Elsewhere, Romeo and Benvolio are talking about Romeo’s love of Rosaline. One of Capulet’s servants invites them to a party Capulet is throwing—not knowing they are Montagues. Benvolio encourages Romeo to go, thinking that it will be a good chance to take his mind off of Rosaline. Romeo agrees to go because Rosaline will be at the party.

Lord Capulet’s private office within the Capulet estate; then on a street somewhere in Verona:

Enter CAPULET, COUNTY PARIS, and PETER, the servingman

CAPULET

But Montague is bound as well as I,

In penalty alike, and ‘tis not hard, I think,

For men so old as we to keep the peace.

PARIS

Of honorable reckoning are you both,

5 And pity ‘tis you’ve lived at odds so long.

But now, my lord, what say you to my suit?

CAPULET

But saying more that I have said before,

My child is yet a stranger in the world.

She hath not seen the change of fourteen years.

10 Let two more summers wither in their pride

Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.

PARIS

Younger than she are happy mothers made.

CAPULET

And too soon marred are those so early made.

Earth hath swallowéd all my hopes but she.

15 She’s the hopeful Lady of my earth.

But woo her, gentle Paris; get her heart.

My will to her consent is but a part.

And she agreed within her scope of choice

Lies my consent, and fair according voice.

20This night I hold an old accustomed feast,

Whereto I have invited many a guest.

Such as I love, and you among the store,

One more, most welcome, makes my number more.

modest

At my poor° house, look to behold this night

25 Earth-treading stars that make dark heaven light.

Such delight as do lusty young men feel

With well-appareled April on the heel

Of limping winter steps. The same delight

Among fresh fennel buds[18] shall you this night

30 Inherit at my house. Hear all, all see.

You’ll like her most, whose merit most shall be

Which one more view of many, mine being one,

May stand in number, though in reckoning none.

Come, go with me.

He hands PETER a paper

35 [To PETER] Go, sirrah,[19] trudge about

Through fair Verona, find those persons out

Whose names are written there, and to them say

My house and welcome on their pleasure stay.

Exit CAPULET and PARIS

PETER

Find them out whose names are written here? It is written that

40 the shoe-maker should meddle with his yard,[20] and the tailor with

his last,[21] the fisher with his pencil, and the painter with his nets.

But I am sent to find those persons whose names are here writ,

and can never find what names the writing person hath here writ.

I must to the learned in good time.

Enter BENVOLIO and ROMEO

BENVOLIO

45 Tut, man, one fire burns out another’s burning.

One pain is lessened by another’s anguish.

Turn dizzy, and be helped by backward turning.

One desperate grief cures with another’s languish.

Take thou some new infection to thine eye,

50 And the rank poison of the old will die.

ROMEO

Your plantain leaf[22] is excellent for that.

BENVOLIO

For what, I pray thee?

ROMEO

For your broken shin.

ROMEO kicks BENVOLIO

BENVOLIO

Why, Romeo, art thou mad?

ROMEO

55 Not mad, but bound more than a madman[23] is.

Shut up in prison, kept without my food,

Whipt and tormented, and–[To PETER] Good e’en, good fellow.

PETER

God ‘i’ good e’en.[24] I pray, sir, can you read?

ROMEO

Aye, mine own fortune in my misery.

PETER

60 Perhaps you have learned it without book.

But I pray, can you read anything you see?

ROMEO

If I know the letters and the language.

PETER

A honest answer. Rest you merry.

ROMEO

Stay, fellow, I can read.

65 “Signeur Martino, and his wife and daughters; Count Anselme and

his beauteous sisters; the lady widow of Vitruvio; Seigneur

Placentio, and his lovely nieces; Mercutio and his brother

Valentine; mine uncle Capulet; his wife and daughters; my fair

niece Rosaline and Livia; Seigneur Valentio, and his cousin

70 Tybalt; Lucio and the lively Hellena.”

where

A fair assembly. Whither° should they come?

PETER

Up.

ROMEO

Whither to supper?

PETER

To our house.

ROMEO

75 Whose house?

PETER

My master’s.

ROMEO

Indeed, I should have asked thee that before.

PETER

Now I’ll tell you without asking. My master is the great rich

Capulet, and if you be not of the house of Montagues, I pray

80 come and crush a cup of wine. Rest you merry!

BENVOLIO

At this same ancient feast of Capulets

Sups the fair Rosaline, whom thou so loves,

With all the admired beauties of Verona.

impartial

there

Go thither°, and with unattainted° eye

85 Compare her face with some that I shall show

And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.

ROMEO

If the devout religion of mine eye

Allows such falsehood, then turn tears to fires

And these who, often drowned, could never die,

90 Transparent heretics, be burnt for liars!

One fairer than my love? The all-seeing Sun

Ne’er saw her match since first the world begun.

BENVOLIO

Tut! You found her fair none else being by,

Herself poised, with herself in either eye.

95 But in those crystal scales there let be weighed

Your lady’s love against some other maid

That I will show you, shining at this feast,

hardly

And she shall scant° show well that now seems best.

ROMEO

I’ll go along, no such sight to be shown,

100 But to rejoice in splendor of mine own.

Exit all

❖❖❖

ACT 1, SCENE 3

After a humorous exchange with the Nurse, Lady Capulet asks for Juliet’s thoughts on marriage. Juliet hasn’t thought about it much. Lady Capulet hints that Juliet should consider marrying Paris, who will be coming to the party tonight. Juliet agrees to observe him and consider the possibility.

Somewhere within the Capulet estate:

Enter LADY CAPULET and NURSE

LADY CAPULET

Nurse, where’s my daughter? Call her forth to me.

NURSE

Now by my maidenhead, at twelve year old I bid her come.

[Calls to JULIET] What, lamb! What, lady-bird!

God forbid, where’s the girl? [Calls to JULIET] What, Juliet?

Enter JULIET

JULIET

5 How now, who calls?

NURSE

Your mother.

JULIET

Madam, I am here. What is your will?

LADY CAPULET

This is the matter.—Nurse, give leave a while.

We must talk in secret.—Nurse, come back again,

10 I have remembered thou may hear our counsel.

Thou knowest my daughter’s of a pretty age.

NURSE

Faith, I call tell her age unto an hour.

LADY CAPULET

She’s not fourteen.

NURSE

misery

I’ll bet fourteen of my teeth—and yet to my teen° be it spoken, I

15 have just four—She’s not fourteen. How long is it now to

Lammastide?[25]

LADY CAPULET

two weeks

A fortnight° and a few odd days.

NURSE

Even or odd, of all the days in the year,

Come Lammas-Eve at night shall she be fourteen.

20 Susan[26] and she—God rest all Christian souls!—

Were born that day. Well Susan is with God.

She was too good for me. But as I said,

On Lammas-Eve at night shall she be fourteen,

That shall she. Marry, I remember it well.

25 ‘Tis since the earthquake now eleven years,

And she was weaned (I never shall forget it),

Of all the days of the year, upon that day.

breast

For I had then laid worm-wood[27] to my dug°

Sitting in the sun under the dove-house wall.

30My Lord and you were then at Mantua.

Nay, I do bear a brain. But as I said,

When it[28] did taste the worm-wood on the nipple

Of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretty fool,

To see it tetchy,[29] and fall out with the dug.

35 “Shake,” quoth the dove-house. ‘Twas no need, I trow

To bid me trudge:[30]

And since that time it is eleven years,

cross

For then she could stand alone. Nay, by the rood°,

She could have run and waddled all about

40 Or even the day before, she broke her brow,

And then my husband—God be with his soul,

He was a merry man—took up the child,

“Yea,” quoth he, “dost thou fall upon thy face?

Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit,

45 Wilt thou not, Jule?” And, by my holidam,[31]

The pretty wretch quit crying and said, “Aye.”

To see now how a jest shall come about!

I warrant that should I live a thousand years,

I never should forget it. “Wilt thou not, Jule?” quoth he.

50 And the pretty fool stopped crying and said, “Aye.”

LADY CAPULET

Enough of this. I pray thee, hold thy peace.

NURSE

Yes, Madam. Yet, I cannot choose but laugh,

To think she should stop crying and say, “Aye.”

And yet I warrant she had upon her brow

55 A bump as big as a young cockerel’s stone.[32]

A perilous knock, and she cried bitterly.

“Yea,” quoth my husband, “fall’st upon thy face,

Thou wilt fall backward when thou comest to age.

Wilt thou not, Jule?” She stopped and said, “Aye.”

JULIET

60 And stop thou too. I pray thee, Nurse, say “Aye.”

NURSE

Peace, I am done. God mark thee to his grace.

Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’re I nursed,

If I might live to see thee married once,

I’ll have my wish.

LADY CAPULET

65 Marry, that “marry” is the very theme

I came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet,

How stands your disposition to be married?

JULIET

It is an honor that I dream not of.

NURSE

An honor! Were not I thine only nurse,

70 I would say thou had’st sucked wisdom from my teat.

LADY CAPULET

Well, think of marriage now. Younger than you,

Here in Verona, ladies of esteem

Are made already mothers. By my count

I was your mother much upon these years

75 That you are now a maid. Thus in brief:

The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.

NURSE

A man, young Lady! Lady, such a man

As all the world. Why, he’s a man of wax.[33]

LADY CAPULET

Verona’s summer hath not such a flower.

NURSE

truly

80 Nay, he’s a flower, in faith°, a very flower.

LADY CAPULET

What say you? Can you love the gentleman?

This night you shall behold him at our feast.

Read o’er the volume of young Paris’ face,

And find delight writ there with beauty’s pen.

85 Examine every several lineament

And see how to each other lends content,

And what obscured in this fair volume lies

Find written in the margent of his eyes.

This precious book of love, this unbound lover,

90 To beautify him, only lacks a cover.

The fish lives in the sea, and ‘tis much pride

For fair without,[34] the fair within to hide.

That book in many eyes doth share the glory

That in gold clasps locks in the golden story.

95 So shall you share all that he doth possess,

By having him, making yourself no less.

NURSE

No less? Nay, bigger. Women grow by men.

LADY CAPULET

Speak briefly. Can you like of Paris’ love?

JULIET

I’ll look to like, if looking liking move.

100 But no more deep will I endart[35] mine eye,

Then your consent gives me strength to make fly.

Enter SERVINGMAN

SERVINGMAN

Madam, the guests are come, supper served up, you called for, my

young lady asked for, the nurse cursed in the pantry, and

everything is in chaos. I must wait upon them. I beseech you,

105 follow quick.

LADY CAPULET

(Paris)

We follow thee. Juliet, the County° awaits.

NURSE

Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.

Exit all

❖❖❖

ACT 1, SCENE 4

Romeo, along with Benvolio and their friend Mercutio, leave for the party. As they go Romeo claims, among other concerns, that he will not dance. Mercutio twists Romeo’s melancholy comments into sexual jokes. Romeo, not interested in Mercutio’s humor, says that a dream convinced him that attending the party is a bad idea. Mercutio launches into a speech about Queen Mab, the fairy queen, who visits people in their dreams. Though the speech begins in a lighthearted manner, it takes a dark turn. Romeo snaps Mercutio out of his speech. Benvolio convinces them to get moving and get to the party.

On a street somewhere in Verona, near the Capulet estate:

Enter ROMEO, MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, with five or six other maskers, torch-bearers

ROMEO

What speech shall be spoken to excuse us?

Or shall we move on without apology?

BENVOLIO

The date is out of such prolixity.[36]

We’ll have no Cupid, tricked and blindfolded,

5 Bearing a Tartar’s painted bow of lath,[37]

scarecrow

Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper°.

But let them measure us by what they will;

We’ll measure them a measure, and be gone.

ROMEO

dancing

Give me a torch, I am not for this ambling°.

10 Being but heavy, I will bear the light.

MERCUTIO

Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.

ROMEO

Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes

With nimble soles; I have a soul of lead

That so stakes me to the ground I cannot move.

MERCUTIO

15 You are a lover: borrow Cupid’s wings

And soar above a common bound.[38]

ROMEO

I am too sore enpierced with his shaft

To soar with his light feathers, and so bound

I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe.[39]

20 Under love’s heavy burden do I sink.

MERCUTIO

And, to sink in it, so you burden love:

Too great oppression for a tender thing.

ROMEO

Is love a tender thing? It is too rough,

Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.

MERCUTIO

25 If love be rough with you, be rough with love,

Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.

face; expression

Give me a case to put my visage° in,

mask

A visor° for a visor. What care I

If a curious eye doth note deformities?[40]

30 Here are the beetle-brows[41] that shall blush for me.

BENVOLIO

Come, knock and enter; and no sooner in,

But every man betake him to his legs.[42]

ROMEO

A torch for me. Let wantons light of heart[43]

the floor

Tickle the senseless rushes° with their heels,

35 For I am proverbed with a grandsier phrase.[44]

I’ll be a candle-holder, and look on,

The game was never so fair, and I am done.[45]

MERCUTIO

Tut, dun’s the mouse, the constable’s own word,[46]

your misery

If thou art done, we’ll draw thee from the mire°

40 Or—save your reverence[47]—love, wherein thou stickest

Up to the ears. Come, we burn daylight, ho!

ROMEO

Nay, that’s not so.

MERCUTIO

I mean, sir, in delay

We waste our lights in vain, like lights by day;

good intentions

45 Take our good meaning°, for our judgment’s fit

Five times in that, ere once in our fine wits.

ROMEO

masquerade

And we mean well in going to this masque°,

But ‘tis no wit to go.

MERCUTIO

Why, may one ask?

ROMEO

50 I dreamt a dream tonight.

MERCUTIO

And so did I.

ROMEO

Well, what was yours?

MERCUTIO

That dreamers often lie.

ROMEO

In bed asleep, while they do dream things true.

MERCUTIO

55 O, then I see Queen Mab has been with you.

She is the Fairies’ midwife, and she comes

In shape no bigger than an agate-stone,

councilman

On the forefinger of an alderman°,

miniscule creatures

Drawn with a team of little atomies°

60 Over men’s noses as they lie asleep.

spider legs

Her wagon spokes made of long spinners’ legs°,

The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers,

reins

Her traces° of the smallest spider web,

part of a harness

Her collars° of the moonshine’s watery beams,

film; fine thread

65 Her whip of cricket’s bone, the lash of philome°,

Her waggoner, a small gray-coated gnat

Not half so big as a round little worm

Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid.[48]

Her chariot is an empty hazelnut,

carpenter

70 Made by the joiner° squirrel or old grub,

Time out o’ mind[49] the fairies’ coach-makers.

In this state she gallops night by night

Through lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love;

On courtiers’ knees, that dream on curtsies straight,[50]

75 O’er ladies’ lips, who strait on kisses dream—which

Oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues

candy

Because their breaths with sweetmeats° tainted are.

Sometime she gallops o’er a lawyer’s nose,

Then dreams he of smelling out a suit.

80 And sometime comes she with a tithe-pigs tail,[51]

Tickling a person’s nose that lies asleep,

Then he dreams of another benefice.[52]

Sometimes she drives over a soldier’s neck,

And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,

ambushes

85 Of breaches, ambuscados°, Spanish blades,

Of healths five-fathom deep,[53] and then anon

Drums in his ears, at which he starts and wakes,

And being thus frighted, swears a prayer or two

And sleeps again. This is that very Mab

90 That plaits the manes of horses in the night

And bakes the elklocks in foul sluttish hairs

Which, once untangled, much misfortune bodes.[54]

This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs,

That presses them and learns them first to bear,

95 Making them women of good carriage.

This is she—[55]

ROMEO

Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace!

Thou talkst of nothing.

MERCUTIO

True, I talk of dreams

100 Which are the children of an idle brain,

Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,

Which is as thin of substance as the air,

And more inconstant than the wind, who woos

breast

Even now the frozen bosom° of the North;

105 And, being angered, puffs away from thence,

Turning his tide to the dew-dropping South.

BENVOLIO

This wind you talk of blows us from ourselves.

Supper is done, and we shall come too late.

ROMEO

I fear too early, for my mind misgives

110 Some consequence yet hanging in the stars

Shall bitterly begin his fearful date

With this night’s revels, and expire the term

Of the despised life closed in my breast

By some vile forfeit of untimely death.

115 But he that hath the steerage of my course,

Direct my suit. On, lusty gentlemen!

BENVOLIO

Strike, drum!

Exit all

❖❖❖

ACT 1, SCENE 5

The party begins. Capulet greets guests, encouraging them to dance and have a good time. Romeo sees Juliet. For him, it’s love at first sight. Tybalt recognizes Romeo as a Montague, and wants to fight. Capulet hears this and rebukes Tybalt. Capulet wants no disturbances at the party, and explains that Romeo is a respected youth in the community.

Romeo approaches Juliet, touching her hand. They flirt back and forth and eventually kiss. The Nurse finds Juliet and beckons her away. Romeo asks the Nurse who Juliet is. The Nurse tells him she’s Capulet’s daughter. Juliet is intrigued by Romeo, and convinces the Nurse to find out who he is. The Nurse finds out, and tells Juliet that Romeo is a Montague. Romeo and Juliet are each crushed to find out the identity of the other. They both feel powerful longing for one another despite their family conflict.

Inside the Capulet estate:

Enter SERVINGMEN with napkins

PETER

Where’s Potpan, that he does not help us clear away? He took a plate? He eats from it?

FIRST SERVINGMAN

When good manners are found in just one or two men’s hands,

and they unwashed too, ‘tis a foul thing.

SECOND SERVINGMAN

5 Take away the joint stools, remove the sideboards, and the plates

too, good thou, save me a piece of marzipan,[56] and if thou loves

me, let the porter let in Susan Grindstone and Nell.[57]

Enter ANTHONIE and POTPAN

Anthonie and Potpan!

ANTHONIE

Aye, boy, ready.

PETER

10 You are looked for and called for, asked for and sought for in the

great chamber.

POTPAN

We cannot be here and there too. Cheerly, boys,

Be brisk for now, then the longest liver takes all.

Exit all

Enter CAPULET, TYBALT, JULIET, NURSE, LADY CAPULET as well as ROMEO, MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, and the other guests and servants

CAPULET

Welcome, gentlemen! Ladies that have their toes

foot calluses

Unplagued with corns° will walk about with you.

15 Ah, my mistresses, which of you all

Will now deny to dance? She that makes dainty,[58]

She I’ll swear hath corns. Am I come near to truth?

Welcome, gentlemen! I have seen the day

When I could wear a mask and tell

20 A whispering tale in a fair lady’s ear

Such as would please. ‘Tis gone, ‘tis gone, ‘tis gone.

You are welcome, gentlemen!—Come, musicians, play!

Music plays, they dance

The hall, the hall, make room! And foot it, girls.

fools

[To SERVANTS] More light, you knaves°. And turn the tables up.

25 And quench the fire. The room has grown too hot.

Ah sirrah, this unlooked-for sport feels well.

[To COUSIN] Nay sit, nay sit, good cousin Capulet,

For you and I are past our dancing days.

How long is ‘t now since last yourself and I

30 Were in a mask?

COUSIN CAPULET

By’r Lady,[59] about thirty years.

CAPULET

What man, ‘tis not so much, ‘tis not so much.

wedding

‘Tis since the nuptial° of Lucentio,

Come the years as quickly as they will,

35 Some five and twenty years than last we masked.

COUSIN CAPULET

‘Tis more, ‘tis more, his son is older, sir.

His son is thirty.

CAPULET

Will you tell me that?

a child

His son was but a ward° two years ago.

ROMEO

40 What lady is that which does enrich the hand of yonder Knight?

SERVINGMAN

I know not, sir.

ROMEO

Oh, she doth teach the torches to burn bright,

It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night

Ethiopian’s

45 Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s° ear,

Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear.[60]

So shows like a snowy dove trooping with crows,

That yonder lady o’er her fellows shows.

When dancing done, I’ll find her place of stand,

50 And touching hers, make blessèd my rude hand.

swear off

If my heart loved till now, forswear° it sight,

For I never saw true beauty till this night.

TYBALT

This by that voice, should be a Montague.

Fetch me my rapier,[61] boy.

His PAGE exits

55 How dares the slave[62]

Come hither covered with a masked face,

To laugh and scorn at our ceremony?

breeding; pedigree

Now, by the stock° and honor of my kin,

I’ll strike him dead, and hold it not a sin.

CAPULET

60 Why, how now, kinsman? Wherefore storm you so?

TYBALT

Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe.

A villain that is hither come in spite,

To scorn at our ceremony this night.

CAPULET

Young Romeo, is it?

TYBALT

65 ‘Tis he, that villain Romeo.

CAPULET

Content thee, gentle cousin. Let him alone.

He bears himself like a real gentleman.

And, to say truth, Verona brags of him

To be a virtuous and well-governed youth.

70 I would not, for the wealth of all this town,

Here in my house do him disparagement.

Therefore be patient, take no note of him.

It is my will, so if this thou respect,

Show a fair presence, and give up those frowns

75 Which are ill-beseeming semblance for a feast.

TYBALT

It fits, when such a villain is a guest.

I’ll not endure him.

CAPULET

He shall be endured.

What, lordful[63] boy! I say he shall. Go to.

80 Am I the master here or you? Go to.

You’ll not endure him. God shall mend my soul!

You’ll make a mutiny among my guests:

You will set chaos here. You’ll be the cause!

TYBALT

But Uncle, he shames us.

CAPULET

85 Go to, go to.

You are a saucy boy. Is’t so, indeed?

This trick may chance to scathe you, I know what.

Must you contradict me? Marry, ‘tis time–

[To GUESTS] Well said, my hearts — [To TYBALT] You are a young fool. Go.

90 Be quiet, or — [To SERVANTS] More light, more light! — [To TYBALT] For shame,

I’ll make you quiet. — [To GUESTS] What, cheerly my hearts!

TYBALT

Patience forced, with willful choler meeting,

Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting.

I will withdraw, but this intrusion shall,

95 Now seeming sweet, convert to bitterest gall.

Exit TYBALT

ROMEO

If I profane with my unworthiest hand

This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:

My lips, two blushing pilgrims, readily stand,

To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.

JULIET

100 Good Pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much.

Such mannerly devotion shows in this,

For saints have hands, that pilgrims’ hands do touch,

And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.

ROMEO

Have not saints lips? And holy palmers too?

JULIET

105 Aye, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.

ROMEO

O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do,

And pray. Grant thou, lest faith turn to despair?

JULIET

Saints do not move; they grant for prayers’ sake.

ROMEO

Then move not while my prayer’s effect I take.

110 Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.

They kiss

JULIET

Now have my lips the sin that they have took.

ROMEO

Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged!

Give me my sin again.

They kiss again

JULIET

You kiss by the book.

NURSE

Madam, your mother craves a word with you.

JULIET joins her mother

ROMEO

115 Who is her mother?

NURSE

Marry, bachelor,

Her mother is the lady of the house,

And a good lady, and so wise and virtuous.

I nursed her daughter that you talked withal.

120 I tell you, he that can lay hold of her

Shall have the chinks.[64]

ROMEO

Is she a Capulet?

O, what price! My life is my foe’s charge.

BENVOLIO

Away, begone! This sport has reached its best.

ROMEO

125 Aye, so I fear. The more is my unrest.

CAPULET

Nay, gentlemen, prepare not to be gone!

We have a trifling foolish feast that comes.

Is it e’en so? Why, then, I thank you all.

I thank you, honest gentlemen, good night.—

130 [To SERVANTS] More torches here.— Come on, then, let’s to bed.

Ah, sirrah, by my thought, it waxes late:

I’ll to my rest.

Exit all but JULIET and NURSE

JULIET

Come hither, nurse. Who was that gentleman?

NURSE

The son and heir of old Tiberio.

JULIET

135 Who’s he that now is going out the door?

NURSE

Marry, that, I think, be young Petruchio.

JULIET

Who’s he that follows here that would not dance?

NURSE

I know not.

JULIET

Go ask his name.

NURSE goes

140 If he be married,

My grave is like to be my wedding bed.

NURSE returns

NURSE

His name is Romeo, and a Montague,

The only son of your great enemy.

JULIET

My only love sprung from my only hate!

145 Too early seen, unknown, and known too late.

Prodigious birth of love it is to me,

That I must love a loathed enemy.

NURSE

What’s this? What’s this?

JULIET

A rhyme I learned just now

150 From one I danced withal.

One calls within “JULIET!”

NURSE

right away

Anon, anon°.

Come, let’s away. The strangers are all gone.

Exit all

1. To not carry coals: to bear no insults ↵

2. Collar might refer to a hangman’s noose. ↵

3. take the wall: There were no sidewalks at this time, so when passing one another on the street one person would “take the wall,” forcing the other to walk in the gutter. ↵

4. slave: meant as an insult to someone’s class. See also note to 1.5.55 ↵

5. Sensitivity Footnote: Thrust...wall is a phrase alluding to sexual assault; in the context of this line, the speaker is saying because women are weak they are "thrust to the wall." This is an example of victim blaming and misogyny. ↵

6. Sensitivity note: Take it is referring to rape in this context. ↵

7. poor-john: fish that was salted or dried because of its inferior quality ↵

8. partisan: a weapon, consisting of a spearhead mounted on a pole ↵

9. bill: a close combat weapon ↵

10. ornaments: articles of dress, decorative ↵

11. abroach: in action or agitation ↵

12. humor: fancy, whim; can also refer to mood ↵

13. Aurora: goddess of the dawn ↵

14. importuned: persistently asked ↵

15. view: in this case, appearance ↵

16. discreet: subtle, wise, prudent ↵

17. Diana: Roman goddess of the hunt, who remained a virgin ↵

18. fennel buds: unopened flowers that appear in springtime ↵

19. sirrah: term of address for a man of lower station ↵

20. yard: possibly referring to “yards” of clothing ↵

21. last: tool involved in shoe-making ↵

22. plantain leaf: thought to have curative powers ↵

23. Sensitivity note: Madman refers to someone who is mentally ill; the term can be traced to the early 14th c. meaning "one who is insane, a lunatic." This is an example of ableist language. ↵

24. God ‘i’ good e’en: “May God give you a good evening.” ↵

25. Lammastide: August 1st ↵

26. Susan: the Nurse’s daughter, who died ↵

27. worm-wood: a bitter plant used in medicine and alcohol ↵

28. When it did taste: Through here, the nurse refers to the infant Juliet as “it.” ↵

29. tetchy: irritably or peevishly sensitive ↵

30. ‘Twas no ned…to bid me trudge: i.e., I didn’t need to be told twice to leave ↵

31. by my holidam: similar oath to “by the rood” ↵

32. cockerel’s stone: a rooster’s testicle ↵

33. man of wax: as perfect as a man fashioned from wax ↵

34. fair without: In this instance, “without” means “on the outside.” ↵

35. endart: to throw or cast like a dart ↵

36. The date is out of such prolixity: i.e., such boring excuses are unfashionable ↵

37. Tartar: ethnic group known for shooting arrows while moving on horseback. Bow of lath: cheap wood used for pretend bows. Benvolio is saying they won’t have someone dressed up as Cupid introducing them to the party while holding this item. Sensitivity note: Tartar is any member of several Turkic-speaking peoples that lived mainly in west-central Russia. But in this line, used as a way to describe Romeo's "unacceptable" appearance. This oppressive language exhibits harmful representation. ↵

38. common bound: a normal jump, which was a popular dance move ↵

39. bound a pitch above dull woe: i.e., muster any feeling but woe ↵

40. Sensitivity note: deformities is used here to mean "flaws." The diction displays ableism, and suggests that disabled folks need "fixing." ↵

41. Beetle-brows: Mercutio’s mask has beetle-brows (thick eyebrows) ↵

42. betake him to his legs: i.e., let’s start dancing ↵

43. wantons light of heart: i.e., carefree partygoers ↵

44. For I am proverbed with a grandsier phrase: i.e., I know an old proverb that applies here ↵

45. The game was never so fair, and I am done: i.e., it’s best to leave when the party is best ↵

46. Mercutio has interpreted “done” as dun: a reference to the game “Dun the horse is in the mire,” in which players would try to lift a large log from the mire (mud). He refers to the phrase “dun’s the mouse” (meaning “quiet as a mouse”), saying this is an appropriate saying for a useless policeman. Basically, he mocks Romeo for being mouselike and a stick-in-the-mud. ↵

47. save your reverence: a phrase used to replace a rude word ↵

48. Sensitivity note: lazy finger of a maid is inherently sexist and undermining to the hardworking women of the time period. ↵

49. Time out o’ mind: for as long as anyone can remember ↵

50. dream on curties straight: immediately dream about curtsies ↵

51. tithe-pig: to pay a tax to their church, people would often choose to pay one pig out of ten ↵

52. benefice: i.e., giving tax to a church ↵

53. healths five-fathoms deep: The soldier would dream of toasts (“healths”) that go on and on; basically, cups of alcohol that never run dry. ↵

54. This is that very Mab…which, once untangled, much misfortune bodes: Mab secretely tangles horses’ manes at night, which bring bad luck when untangled. ↵

55. Sensitivity note: Mercutio's description of Mab plays into the concept of "woman as myth," where men describe women as beings with bad intentions, such as the witch/the seductress/the Medusa. This mythological aura of women is a direct acknowledgement that men do not understand women, and instead of trying to recognize their ignorance they instead portray women as unknowable. ↵

56. marzipan: confection of crushed almonds or almond paste, sugar, and egg whites ↵

57. Susan Grindstone and Nell: his friends ↵

58. makes dainty: coyly refuses ↵

59. By’r Lady: an exclamation derived from the phrase “by our Lady” ↵

60. Sensitivity note: Ethiope is a shortening of "Ethiopian," which in the period written implies a Black person. The word evokes contrast: according to this language, rich jewelry stands out on a Black person's skin, as the moon against the night. This is an example of how language is used in an oppressive way without an overt statement of racism. ↵

61. rapier: a thin, sharp sword ↵

62. Sensitivity note: the word slave was probably meant as an insult to his class or as a way to say rascal. America, specifically the United States, has a very radicalized history of slavery; when this play was first performed, modern ideas of race were starting to develop and England was at the start of a long period of colonization and engagement in the Atlantic slave trade. ↵

63. lordful: lordly. Tybalt is being chastised for his presumptive attitude. ↵

64. the chinks: i.e., lots of money (“chink” being the sound of coins gathered together) ↵

Act 2

PROLOGUE

CHORUS

Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie,

opens

And young affection gapes° to be his heir

That fair for which love groaned for and would die,

With tender Juliet matched, is now not fair.

5Now Romeo is beloved and loves again,

Alike bewitched by the charm of looks,

But to his foe supposed he must complain,

And she steal love’s sweet bait from fearful hooks:

Being held a foe, he may not have access

10To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear;

And she as much in love, her means much less

To meet her new-beloved anywhere:

But passion lends them power, time means, to meet

Tempering extremities with extreme sweet.

❖❖❖

ACT 2, SCENE 1

Mercutio and Benvolio wonder where Romeo has gone, and Mercutio mocks Romeo’s love of Rosaline.

Outside the Capulet orchard wall:

Enter ROMEO alone

ROMEO

Can I go forward when my heart is here?

Turn back dull earth and find thy center out.

Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO

BENVOLIO

Romeo, my cousin, Romeo! Romeo!

MERCUTIO

He is wise, and on my life he hath stolen home to bed.

BENVOLIO

5He ran this way and leapt this orchard wall.

Call, good Mercutio.

MERCUTIO

summon (as in a spirit)

Nay, I’ll conjure° too.

Romeo, Humors, Madman, Passion, Lover,

Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh,

Speak but one rhyme, and I’ll be satisfied:

10Cry out at me, “Aye me,” pronounce but “love” and “dove.”

good friend

Speak to my gossip° Venus one fair word,

blind

One nickname for her pureblind° son and heir,[1]

Young Abraham: Cupid–he that shot so true,

When King Cophetua[2] loved the beggar maid.

15He hears me not, he stirreth not, he moveth not.

The ape is dead, and I must conjure him.

I conjure thee by Rosaline’s bright eyes,

By her high forehead,[3] and her scarlet lip,

By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh,

20And the domains that there adjacent lie,[4]

That in thy likeness, thou appear to us.

BENVOLIO

And if he hears you, that will anger him.

MERCUTIO

This cannot anger him. It would anger him

To raise a spirit in his mistress’s circle,

25Of some strange nature, letting it there stand

Till she had laid it, and conjured it down.

appeal

That were some spite. My invocation°

Is fair and honest, and, his mistress’s name,

I conjure only but to raise him up.

BENVOLIO

30Come, he hath hidden himself among these trees

humid

To be comforted by the humorous° night.

Blind is his love, which best befits the dark.

MERCUTIO

If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark.

Now he will sit under a medlar tree,[5]

35And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit,

As maids call medlars when they laugh alone.

O Romeo, that she were–O that she were

An open arse, and thou a “poperin” pear.[6]

Romeo, goodnight, I’ll go to my trundle bed,

40This field bed is too cold for me to sleep.

Come, shall we go?

BENVOLIO

Go then, for it is in vain

To seek him here that means not to be found.

Exit BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO

ROMEO

He laughs at scars that never felt a wound.

❖❖❖

ACT 2, SCENE 2

Juliet appears in a window above Romeo, and she thinks she’s alone. She talks to herself, lamenting Romeo’s nature as a Montague. She wishes he would abandon his name, or that she could abandon hers, so that they could be together. Upon hearing this, Romeo reveals himself and professes his love to Juliet. Juliet shares the feelings of love, but worries that Romeo’s feelings might be fleeting. The Nurse calls for Juliet, and the couple once again declares their love for each other, Juliet promising to send somebody to him at nine the next morning.

In the Capulet orchard:

Enter JULIET on balcony

ROMEO

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

It is the East, and Juliet is the Sun.

Arise, fair Sun, and kill the envious Moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief

5That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.

Be not her maid, since she is envious,

Her vestal livery[7] is but sick and green,

And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off.

It is my lady, O it is my love, O that she knew she were.

10She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?

communicates

Her eye discourses°; I will answer it.

…I am too bold. ‘Tis not to me she speaks:

Two of the fairest stars in all the Heaven,

Having some business, do entreat her eyes

15To twinkle in their spheres till they return.

What if her eyes were there and they in her head?

The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars

As daylight does a lamp; her eye in Heaven

Would through the airy region stream so bright

20That birds would sing and think it were not night.

See how she leans her cheek upon her hand?

O, that I were a glove upon that hand

That I might touch that cheek!

JULIET

Aye, me.

ROMEO

25She speaks!

O, speak again, bright Angel! For thou art

As glorious to this night, being over my head

As is a winged messenger of Heaven

Unto the white, upturned, wondering eyes

30Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him

straddles

When he bestrides° the lazy, puffing clouds

And sails upon the bosom of the air.

JULIET

why

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore° art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name.

35Or if thou will not, be but sworn my love,

And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

ROMEO

[To himself] Shall I hear more or shall I speak at this?

JULIET

‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy.

Thou art thou self, though, not a Montague.

40What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man.

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

45So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,

Retain that divine perfection which he owes

remove; cast away

Without that title. Romeo, doff° thy name,

And for thy name which is no part of thee,

Take all myself.

ROMEO

50I take thee at thy word,

Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized.

Henceforth, I never will be Romeo.

JULIET

concealed

What man art thou, that thus bescreened° by night,

private thoughts

So stumbles on my counsel°?

ROMEO

55By a name, I know not how to tell thee who I am.

My name, dear Saint, is hateful to myself

Because it is an enemy to thee.

Had I it written, I would tear the word.

JULIET

My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words

60Of thy tongue’s uttering, yet I know the sound.

Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?

ROMEO

Neither, fair Saint, if either thee dislike.

JULIET

How camest thou hither?

Tell me, and wherefore?

65The orchard walls are high and hard to climb

And the place death, considering who thou art,

If any of my kinsmen find thee here.

ROMEO

fly over

With love’s light wings did I o’erperch° these walls,

For stony limits cannot hold love out,

70And what love can do, that dares love attempt,

Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.

JULIET

If they do see thee, they will murder thee.

ROMEO

Alas, there lies more peril in thine eyes

Than twenty of their swords. Look thou but sweet,

hostility

immune

75And I am proof° against their enmity°.

JULIET

I would not for the world they saw thee here.

ROMEO

I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes,

And, but thou love me, let them find me here.

My life were better ended by their hate

80Than death prolonged, wanted of thy love.

JULIET

By whose direction found’st thou out this place?

ROMEO

By love, that first did prompt me to inquire.

He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes.

I am no pilot; yet, were thou as far

85As the vast shore washeth with the farthest sea,

I should adventure for such merchandise.

JULIET

Thou knowest the mask of night on my face,

Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek

For that which thou hast heard me speak tonight.

formalities

gladly

90Fain° would I dwell on form°. Fain, fain deny

good manners

What I have spoke. But farewell complements°!

Dost thou love me? I know thou wilst say “Aye,”

And I will take thy word. Yet, if thou swear’st,

Thou might prove false. At lovers’ perjuries

95They say Jove[8] laughs. O gentle Romeo

If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully.

Or if thou think I am too quickly won,

destruction

I’ll frown and be perverse°, and say thee nay

So thou wilt woo; but else not for the world.

100In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond:

immodest

And therefore thou might think my behavior light°.

But trust me, gentleman, I’ll prove more true

standoffish

Than those who have more cunning to be strange°.

I should have been more strange, I must confess,

105But that thou overheard, ere I was ‘ware,

My true love’s passion. Therefore, pardon me,

And not impute this yielding to light love,

Which the dark night hath so discovered.

ROMEO

Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow,

110That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops—

JULIET

O swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,

That monthly changes in her circled orb,

Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.

ROMEO

What shall I swear by?

JULIET

115Do not swear at all.

Or if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,

worship

Which is the god of my idolatry°,

And I’ll believe thee.

ROMEO

If my heart’s dear love—

JULIET

120Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee,

I have no joy in this contract tonight.

It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden,

Too like the lightning which doth cease to be

Ere one can say, “It lightens.” Sweet, good night.

125This bud of love by summer’s ripening breath

May prove a beauteous flower when we next meet.

Goodnight, goodnight! As sweet repose and rest,

Come to my heart, as that within my breast.

ROMEO

O wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?

JULIET

130What satisfaction can’st thou have tonight?

ROMEO

Th’ exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine.

JULIET

I gave thee mine before thou did’st request it,

And yet I wish it would to give again.

ROMEO

Would’st thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?

JULIET

135But to be frank and give it to thee again,

And yet I wish but for the thing I have.

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

My love as deep; the more I give to thee,

The more I have, for both are infinite.

NURSE calls from within

140I hear some noise within, dear love. Adieu!

[Calls within] Anon, good nurse! [To ROMEO] Sweet Montague, be true.

Stay but a little. I will come again.

Exit JULIET

ROMEO

O blessed, blessed night! I am afraid,

Being in night, all this is but a dream,

145Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.

Enter JULIET again

JULIET

Three words, dear Romeo, And goodnight, indeed.

intentions

If that thy bent° of love be honorable,

Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow,

By one that I’ll procure to come to thee,

150Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite.

And all my fortunes at thy foot I’ll lay

And follow thee, my lord, throughout the world.

NURSE

[From within] Madam!

JULIET

I come, anon! [To ROMEO] But if thou mean not well,

155I do beseech thee—

NURSE

[From within] Madam!

JULIET

By and by, I come!

[To ROMEO] To cease thy strife, and leave me to my grief,

Tomorrow I will send.

ROMEO

160So thrive my soul—

JULIET

A thousand times goodnight!

Exit JULIET

ROMEO

A thousand times the worse to want thy light.

Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from their books,

But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.

ROMEO starts to go

Enter JULIET again

JULIET

165Hush, Romeo! Hush! O, for a falconer’s voice

To lure this tassel-gentle back again.[9]

familial duties

Bondage° is hoarse and may not speak aloud

Else would I tear the cave where Echo[10] lies

And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine

170From repetition of “My Romeo.”

ROMEO

It is my soul that calls upon my name.

How silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues by night,

attentive

Like softest music to attending° ears.

JULIET

Romeo!

ROMEO

175My sweet?

JULIET

What o’clock tomorrow shall I send to thee?

ROMEO

By the hour of nine.

JULIET

I will not fail. Tis twenty years ‘till then.

I have forgot why I did call thee back.

ROMEO

180Let me stand here ‘till thou remember it.

JULIET

I shall forget, to have thee still stand there,

Remembering how I love thy company.

ROMEO

And I’ll still stay to have thee still forget,

Forgetting any other home but this.

JULIET

185‘Tis almost morning. I would have thee gone,

spoiled child’s

And yet no further than a wanton’s° bird

That lets it hop a little from his hand

Like a poor prisoner in twisted cuffs,

And with a silken thread, plucks it back again,

190So loving-jealous of its liberty.

ROMEO

I would I were thy bird.

JULIET

Sweet, so would I,

Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.

Goodnight, goodnight. Parting is such sweet sorrow

195That I shall say goodnight ‘till it be morrow.

Exit JULIET

ROMEO

Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast,

Would I were sleep and peace so sweet to rest.

spiritual

Hence will I to my ghostly° friar’s cell.

good fortune

His help to crave, and my dear hap° to tell.

Exit ROMEO

❖❖❖

ACT 2, SCENE 3

Friar Lawrence carries a basket of herbs and plants as he contemplates the goodness of the earth. Romeo finds the friar. The friar notices that Romeo hasn’t slept, and asks if Romeo slept with Rosaline in sin. Romeo denies it and describes his new love of Juliet. The friar is concerned at how quickly Romeo’s feelings have changed. Romeo convinces the friar to perform a wedding for Romeo and Juliet. The friar hopes that some good may come of it, perhaps even an end to the feud between the Capulets and Montagues.

Friar Lawrence’s cell in Verona; early morning:

Enter FRIAR alone with a basket

FRIAR

The grey-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night,

Checkering the eastern clouds with streaks of light;

And fleckèd darkness like a drunkard reels

From forth day’s path and Titan’s fiery wheels.[11]

5Now ere the sun advance his burning eye,

The day to cheer, and night’s dank dew to dry,

I must fill up this reed basket of ours

With deadly weeds, and precious juiced flowers.

The earth, that’s nature’s mother, is her tomb,

10And is her burying grave, and is her womb.

And from her womb children of diverse kind

We sucking on her natural bosom find.

Many for many virtues excellent,

None but for some, and yet all different.

15O, how great is the powerful grace that lies

In plants, herbs, stones, and their true qualities.

For naught so vile here on the earth doth live

But to the earth some special good doth give.

Nor aught so good but strained from that fair use—

20Used unnaturally—stumbles on abuse.

Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied,

And vice sometimes, by action, dignified.

Enter ROMEO

FRIAR

With the infant rind of this weak flower,

Poison hath residence, and medicine power.

25For this being smelt, with that part cheers our parts,

Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart.

Two such opposèd kings encamp them still,

desire

virtue

In man as well as herbs, grace°, and rude will°.

And where the worser is predominant,

30Full soon, the canker death eats up that plant.

ROMEO

Good morrow, Father.

FRIAR

Benedicte.[12]

What early tongue so sweet salutes me?

troubled

Young son, it argues a distempered° head

35If you so soon bade good morrow to thy bed.

Care keeps his watch in every old man’s eye,

And where care lodges, sleep will never lie.

But where unbruisèd youth with unstuffed brain

Doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign.

40Therefore thy earliness doth me assure

Thou art uproused with some distemperature:

Or if not so, then here I hit it right:

Our Romeo hath not been in bed tonight.

ROMEO

That last is true. The sweeter rest was mine.

FRIAR

45God pardon sin! Wast thou with Rosaline?

ROMEO

With Rosaline, my ghostly Father? No,

I have forgot that name, and that name’s woe.

FRIAR

That’s my good son! But where hast thou been, then?

ROMEO

I’ll tell thee ere thou ask it me again.

50I have been feasting with mine enemy

Where on a sudden one hath wounded me,

And, by me, wounded. Both our remedies

remedy

Within thy help and holy physic° lies.

I bear no hatred, blessed man: for now

benefits

55My intervention likewise steads° my foe.

FRIAR

simple

Be plain, good son, and homely° in thy drift.

absolution

Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift°.

ROMEO

Then plainly know my heart’s dear love is set

On the fair daughter of rich Capulet.

60As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine,

And all combined, save what thou must combine

By holy marriage. Where, and when, and how

We met, we wooed, and made exchange of vow

I’ll tell thee as we pass, but this I pray:

65That thou consent to marry us today.

FRIAR

Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here!

Is Rosaline that thou didst love so dear

So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies

Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.

salt water; tears

Jesus

70Jesu° Maria, what a deal of brine°

Hath washed thy sallow cheeks for Rosaline?

How much salt water thrown away in waste,

To season[13] love, that of it doth not taste.

The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears,

75Thy old groans ring yet in mine ancient ears.

Lo, here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit

Of an old tear that is not washed off yet.

If ever you were you, and these woes thine,

Thou and these woes were all for Rosaline.

80And art thou changed, pronounce this sentence then:

Women may fall[14] when there’s no strength in men.

ROMEO

scolded

Thou chidest° me oft for loving Rosaline.

FRIAR

For doting, not for loving, pupil mine.

ROMEO

advised

And bad’st° me bury love.

FRIAR

85Not in a grave

To lay one in, another out to have.

ROMEO

I pray thee, chide me not. Her I love now

Doth grace for grace and love for love allow.

The other did not so.

FRIAR

90O, she knew well,

Thy love did read by rote,[15] and could not spell.

But come young waverer,[16] come, go with me,

In one respect I’ll thy assistant be,

For this alliance may so happy prove,

95To turn your households’ rancor to pure love.

ROMEO

O, let us hence. I stand on sudden haste.

FRIAR

Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.

Exit all

❖❖❖

ACT 2, SCENE 4

Benvolio and Mercutio wonder where Romeo has been. Benvolio found out from a Montague servant that Romeo never returned home the night before. Benvolio tells Mercutio that Tybalt has challenged Romeo to a duel. Mercutio describes why he hates Tybalt. When Romeo arrives, Mercutio mocks Romeo for being weak because of his love for Rosaline. Romeo neglects to tell them about Juliet. The Nurse enters with a Capulet servant, Peter. Romeo tells her to pass on a message: have Juliet meet him for confessional at Friar Lawrence’s cell that afternoon, where Friar Lawrence will marry them. The Nurse agrees.

Somewhere in Verona; morning:

Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO

MERCUTIO

Where the devil should this Romeo be? Came he not home tonight?

BENVOLIO

Not to his father’s. I spoke with his man.

MERCUTIO

Why, that same pale, hard-hearted wench, that Rosaline, torments

him so, that he will sure run mad.

BENVOLIO

5Tybalt, the kinsman to old Capulet,

Hath sent a letter to his father’s house.

MERCUTIO

A challenge, I would swear.

BENVOLIO

accept

Romeo will answer it°.

MERCUTIO

Any man that can write may answer a letter.

BENVOLIO

10Nay, he will answer the letter’s master, how he dares, being dared.

MERCUTIO

Alas, poor Romeo, he is already dead: stabbed with a white

wench’s black eye; shot through the ear with a love-song; the very

pin[17] of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy’s butt-shaft.[18] And is

he a man to encounter Tybalt?

BENVOLIO

15Why, what is Tybalt?

MERCUTIO

More than the Prince of Cats,[19] I can tell you. O, he’s the

courageous Captain of Compliments. He fights like you sing

pricksong,[20] keeps time, distance and proportion; he rests, his

minim[21] rest, one, two, and the third in your bosom. The very

20butcher of a silk button, a dualist, a dualist; a gentleman of the

very first house,[22] of the first and second cause; ah, the immortal

passado! the punto reverso! the hay![23]

BENVOLIO

The what?

MERCUTIO

The pox[24] of such antic,[25] lisping, affecting fanasticoes, these new

25tuners of accents! By Jesu, a very good blade! A very tall man! A

old man

very good whore! Why, is not this a lamentable thing, grandsire°,

that we should be thus afflicted with these strange flies, these

fashion-mongers, these pardon-me’s, who stand so much on the

new form that they cannot sit at ease on the old bench. O, their

30bones, their bones![26]

Enter ROMEO

BENVOLIO

Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo.

MERCUTIO

Without his roe,[27] like a dried herring. O flesh, flesh, how art thou

verse

fishified! Now is he for the numbers° that Petrarch flowed in.

Laura to his lady was but a kitchen-wench; marry, she had a

35better love to be-rhyme her; Dido, a dowdy;[28] Cleopatra, a gipsy;

good-for-nothings

Helen and Hero, hildings° and harlots; Thisbe,[29] a grey eye or

two, but not worth mention.

[To Romeo] Signior Romeo, bonjour! There’s a French salutation to

baggy pants

your French slop°. You gave us the counterfeit[30] fairly last night.

ROMEO

40Good morrow to you both. What counterfeit

Did I give you?

MERCUTIO

counterfeit coin

The slip, sir, the slip°. Can you not conceive?

ROMEO

Pardon, good Mercutio, my business was vital, and in such a case

as mine a man may strain courtesy.

MERCUTIO

45That’s as much as to say: Such a case as yours constrains a man to

bow in the hams.

ROMEO

Meaning to curtsy.

MERCUTIO

Thou hast most kindly hit it.

ROMEO

A most courteous explanation.

MERCUTIO

perfect example

50Nay, I am the very pink° of courtesy.

ROMEO

Pink for flower.

MERCUTIO

Right.

ROMEO

Why, then is my pump well flowered.[31]

MERCUTIO

Well said. Follow me this jest now, till thou has worn out thy

55pump, that when the single role of it is worn, the jest may remain,

after the wearing, solely singular.

ROMEO

O single-soled jest,[32] solely singular for the singleness.

MERCUTIO

Come between us, good Benvolio. My wits fail.

ROMEO

Swits and spurs, swits and spurs,[33] or I’ll win this match.

MERCUTIO

60Nay, if our wits run the wild goose chase, I am done: for thou

hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits than I am sure I

have in my whole five. Was I with you there for the goose?

ROMEO

Thou wast never with me for anything when thou was not there

sex worker

for the goose°.

MERCUTIO

65I will bite thee by the ear for that jest.

ROMEO

Nay, good goose, bite not.

MERCUTIO

Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting; it is a most sharp sauce.

ROMEO

And is it not, then, well served to a sweet goose?

MERCUTIO

stretchy leather

O, here’s a wit like cheveril° that stretches from an inch narrow

forty-five inches

70to an ell° broad.

ROMEO

fat

I stretch it out for that word “broad”°, which added to the goose,

proves thee far and wide a broad goose.

MERCUTIO

Why, is not this better now than groaning for love? Now art thou

sociable; now art thou Romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art

idiot

75as well as by nature: for this riveling love is like a great natural°,

jester’s baton

loose

that runs lolling° up and down to hide his bauble° in a hole.

BENVOLIO

Stop there, stop there.

MERCUTIO

Thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair.[34]

BENVOLIO

Thou wouldst else have made thy tale large.

MERCUTIO

80O, thou art deceived; I would have made it short: For I was come

to the whole depth of my tale, and meant indeed to occupy the

argument no longer.

Enter NURSE and her man, PETER

ROMEO

Here comes goodly stuff. A sail, a sail!

BENVOLIO

Two, two: a shirt and a smock.[35]

NURSE

85Peter.

PETER

At your service.

NURSE

My fan, Peter.

MERCUTIO

Good Peter, to hide her face, for her fan’s the fairer face.

NURSE

God ye good morrow, gentlemen.

MERCUTIO

90God ye good evening, fair gentlewoman.

NURSE

Is it good evening?

MERCUTIO

indecent

Tis no less, I tell ye, for the bawdy° hand of the dial is now upon

the prick[36] of noon.

NURSE

Out upon you! What kind of man are you?

ROMEO

95One, gentlewoman, that God hath made, for himself to mar.

NURSE

By my troth,[37] well said. “For himself to mar,” quoth he?

Gentlemen, can any of you tell me where I may find

the young Romeo?

ROMEO

I can tell you, but young Romeo will be older when you have

100found him than he was when you sought him.

I am the youngest of that name, for lack of a worse.

NURSE

You speak well.

MERCUTIO

Yea, is the worst well? Very well took, in faith, wisely, wisely.

NURSE

If you be he, sir, I desire some confidence[38] with you.

BENVOLIO

105She will indite[39] him to some supper.

MERCUTIO

A bawd,[40] a bawd, a bawd!

So ho!

ROMEO

What hast thou found?

MERCUTIO

No hare sir, unless it be a hare in Lenten pie,[41] that is somewhat

110stale and hoar[42] ere it be spent.

He walks by them and sings

‘An old hare hoar,

And an old hare hoar

Is very good meat in Lent.

But a hare that is hoar,

115Is too much for a score,[43]

When it hoars ere it be spent.’[44]

Romeo, will you come to your father’s? We’ll dinner thither.

ROMEO

I will follow you.

MERCUTIO

Farwell, ancient lady; farewell, [singing] ‘Lady, Lady, lady.’

Exit BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO

NURSE

con man

120Marry, farewell! I pray you, sir, what saucy merchant° was this

trickery

that was so full of ropery°?

ROMEO

A gentleman, Nurse, that loves to hear himself talk, and will

speak more in a minute, than he will stand to in a month.

NURSE

If he speak anything against me, I’ll take him down, even if he

fellows

energetic

125were lustier° than he is, with twenty such Jacks°; and if I could not,

I’d find those that shall. Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirt-girls,

I am none of his skains-mates.[45]

She turns to PETER

And thou like a knave must stand by, and see every knave use me at his pleasure?

PETER

130I saw no man use you at his pleasure; if I had, my weapon should

quickly have been out, I warrant you. I dare draw as

soon as another man, if I see occasion in a good quarrel and the law on

my side.

NURSE

Now afore God, I am so vexed, that every part about me quivers.

135Scurvy knave! Pray you, sir, a word. And as I told you, my young

lady bid me inquire you out; what she bid me say, I will keep to

myself, but first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her in a fool’s

paradise, as they say, it would be very gross kind of behavior, as

they say.  For the gentlewoman is young, and therefore, if you

double cross

140should deal double° with her, truly it were an ill thing to be offered

poor behavior

to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing°.

ROMEO

Nurse, commend me to thy lady and mistress, I protest[46] unto

thee—

NURSE

Good heart, and in faith, I will tell her as much. Lord, Lord, she

145will be a joyful woman.

ROMEO

What wilt thou tell her Nurse? Thou dost not hear me.

NURSE

I will tell her, sir, that you do protest, which as I take it, is a

gentlemanlike offer.

ROMEO

confession

Bid her devise some means to come to shrift° this afternoon, and

have confession

150there she shall at Friar Lawrence’s cell be shrived° and married.

Here is for thy pains.

ROMEO offers her money.

NURSE

No, truly sir, not a penny.

ROMEO

Go to; I say you shall.

NURSE

This afternoon, sir? Well, she shall be there.

ROMEO

155And stay, good Nurse, behind the abbey wall.

Within this hour my man shall be with thee,

And bring thee cords made like a tackled stair,[47]

Which to the high top-gallant[48] of my joy

Must be my convoy in the secret night.

pay you for

160Farewell, be trusty, and I’ll quit° thy pains.

Farewell. Commend me to thy mistress.

NURSE

Now God in heaven bless thee! Hark you, sir.

ROMEO

What sayest thou, my dear Nurse?

NURSE

Is your man secret? Did you never hear say,

165Two may keep counsel, putting one away?[49]

ROMEO

I warrant thee, my man’s as true as steel.

NURSE

Well, sir, my mistress is the sweetest lady. Lord, Lord, when ‘twas

burbling baby

a little prating thing°. O, there is a nobleman in town, one Paris,

eagerly

that would fain° lay knife aboard.[50] But she, good soul, would

170happily see a toad, a very toad, than him. I anger her sometimes,

and tell her that Paris is the properer man, but I’ll warrant you,

piece of cloth

when I say so, she looks as pale as any clout° in the versall[51]

world. Doth not rosemary[52] and Romeo begin both with a letter?

ROMEO

Aye, Nurse, what of that? Both with an “R.”

NURSE

175Ah, mocker! That’s the dog’s name;[53] R is for the—no, I know it

begins with some other letter—and she hath the prettiest

sententious[54] of it, of you and rosemary, that it would do you good

to hear it.

ROMEO

Commend me to thy lady.

NURSE

180Aye, a thousand times. Peter?

PETER

Anon.

NURSE

quickly

Before and apace°.

Exit all

❖❖❖

ACT 2, SCENE 5

Juliet waits for the Nurse to return. When the Nurse returns, Juliet begs her for information. The Nurse delays, saying she’s too tired and her body is too sore. Juliet pressures her until the Nurse gives in and tells her that Romeo is waiting to marry her at Friar Lawrence’s cell.

Somewhere outside the Capulet estate:

Enter JULIET

JULIET

The clock struck nine when I did send the Nurse.

In half an hour she promised to return.

Perchance she cannot meet him. That’s not so:

O, she is lame![55] Love’s heralds should be thoughts

5Which ten times faster glide than the sun’s beams

Driving back shadows over lowering hills.

Therefore do nimble-pinioned doves draw Love,[56]

And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid[57] wings.

Now is the sun upon the highmost hill

10Of this day’s journey, and from nine till twelve,

Is three long hours, yet she is not come.

Had she affections and warm, youthful blood,

She would be as swift in motion as a ball,

throw

My words would bandy° her to my sweet love,

15And his to me. But old folks,

Many feign as they were dead,

Unwieldy, slow, heavy, and pale as lead.

Enter NURSE and PETER

O God, she comes. O, honey Nurse, what news?

Hast thou met with him? Send thy man away.

NURSE

20Peter, stay at the gate.

Exit PETER

JULIET

Now, good sweet Nurse—

O, Lord, why lookest thou sad?

Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily.

If good, thou shames the music of sweet news

25By playing it to me with so sour a face.

NURSE

O, I am weary. Let me rest awhile.

Fie,[58] how my bones ache! What a jaunt I had!

JULIET

I would thou had’st my bones, and I thy news.

Nay, come, I pray thee, speak. Good, good Nurse, speak.

NURSE

30Jesu, what haste? Can you not wait awhile?

Do you not see that I am out of breath?

JULIET

How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath

To say to me, that thou art out of breath?

The excuse that thou dost make in this delay,

35Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse.

Is thy news good or bad? Answer to that.

Say either, and I’ll stay the circumstance.[59]

Let me be satisfied, is’t good or bad?

NURSE

Well, you have made a foolish choice. You know not how to

40choose a man. Romeo, no, not he, though his face be better than

any man’s; and his leg excels all mens’; and for a hand, and a foot,

and a body, though not much to talk on, yet they are past

compare. He is not the flower of courtesy,[60] but I’ll warrant him as

gentle as a lamb. Go thy ways, wench; serve God. What, have you

45dined at home?

JULIET

No, no. But all this did I know before.

What says he of our marriage? What of that?

NURSE

Lord, how my head aches! What a head have I?

It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces.

at the other

50My back a’ t’ other° side! Oh my back, my back.

curse

Beshrew° your heart for sending me about

To catch my death with jaunting up and down.

JULIET

I’faith, I am sorry that thou art not well.

Sweet, sweet, sweet Nurse, tell me, what says my love?

NURSE

55Your love says, like an honest gentleman,

And a courteous, and a kind, and a handsome,

And I warrant, a virtuous—Where is your mother?

JULIET

Where is my mother?

Why she is within, where should she be?

60How oddly thou repliest.

“Your love says like an honest gentleman:

Where is your mother?”

NURSE

Oh God’s lady dear,[61]

Are you so hot? Marry, come up, I trow.

homemade ointment

65Is this the poultice° for my aching bones?

Henceforward do your messages yourself.

JULIET

What a fuss! Come, what says Romeo?

NURSE

Have you got leave to go to shrift today?

JULIET

I have.

NURSE

hurry

70Then hie° you hence to Friar Lawrence’s cell,

There waits a husband to make you a wife.

Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks;

They turn to scarlet, straight, at any news.

Hie you to church. I must another way

75To fetch a ladder by which your love

Must climb a bird’s nest soon when it is dark,

I am the drudge, and toil in your delight.

But you shall bear the burden soon at night.[62]

Go. I’ll to dinner; hie you to the cell.

JULIET

80Hie to high fortune! Honest Nurse, farewell.

Exit all

❖❖❖

ACT 2, SCENE 6

Romeo and Friar Lawrence wait at the cell. Romeo says his current joy far outweighs any misfortune that may come. Juliet arrives. They all exit and the friar performs the wedding.

Friar Lawrence’s cell in Verona:

Enter FRIAR and ROMEO

FRIAR

So smile the heavens upon this holy act,

That, after hours, with sorrow chide us not!

ROMEO

Amen, amen, but come what sorrows will,

equal

They cannot countervail° the exchange of joy

5That one short minute gives me of her sight.

Do thou but close our hands with holy words,

Then love-devouring death do what he dare,

It is enough I may but call her mine.

FRIAR

These violent delights have violent ends,

gun powder

10And in their triumph die like fire and powder°.

Which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honey

Is loathsome in his own deliciousness

destroys

And is the taste confounds° the appetite.

Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so.

15Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.

Enter JULIET

FRIAR

Here comes the Lady. O, so light a foot

hardships of life

Will never wear out the everlasting flint°.

spider’s web

A lover may bestride the gossamers°,

That idles in the wanton summer air,

20And yet not fall, so light is vanity.

JULIET

Good evening to my ghostly confessor.

FRIAR

Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both.

JULIET

And same to him, else is his thanks too much.

ROMEO

Ah Juliet, if the measure of thy joy

25Be heaped like mine, and since thy skill be more

describe

To blazon° it, then sweeten with thy breath

This neighbor air,[63] and let rich music’s tongue

Unfold the imagined happiness that we

Receive in either, by this dear encounter.

JULIET

Understanding

30Conceit°, more rich in matter than in words,

Brags of his substance, not of ornament.

They are but poor folk that can count their worth,

But my true love is grown to such excess

I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.

FRIAR

35Come, come with me, and we will make short work.

For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone

Till Holy Church incorporate two in one.

Exit all

1. Sensitivity note: Cupid is the Greek god of love, often portrayed as a young winged boy wearing a blindfold and carrying a bow and arrow. This is meant to symbolize the randomness of love and attraction, and is where we find the phrase "Love is blind". ↵

2. King Cophetua: An African king who had no interest in women until he fell in love with a beggar woman outside his palace. ↵

3. high forehead: a sign of female beauty ↵

4. Sensitivity note: In referring to and openly discussing Rosaline's body, Mercutio is being purposefully crude in order to draw out Romeo. This type of bawdy humor was a mark of Shakespeare's comedy, and was often done at the expense of the female characters. ↵

5. Now he will sit…medlar tree: Medlar tree fruit, also called the “open-arse,” was resemble to an anus. ↵

6. poperin pear: pun for male genitalia; “pop her in” ↵

7. vestal livery: clothing worn by the maidens of Diana, the Roman goddess of the moon ↵

8. Jove: Another name for Jupiter, the king of gods in Roman mythology ↵

9. O, for a falc’ner’s voice / To lure this tassel-gentle back again: Juliet wishes she could call back Romeo the way a falconer calls back a male falcon (“tassel-gentle”). ↵

10. Echo: a figure from Greek legend; a woman who wasted away from heartbreak and remains only as the voice that echoes back to you. ↵

11. Titan’s firey wheels: reference to Helios, Greek god of the sun ↵

12. Benedicte: a blessing ↵

13. To season: as in to salt ↵

14. Women may fall: women will fail morally ↵

15. by rote: memorization without understanding ↵

16. young waverer: indecisive young man ↵

17. pin: peg marking the center of a target ↵

18. butt-shaft: arrow with no barb ↵

19. Prince of Cats: a figure from a popular story, Reynard the Fox, who is also called Tybalt ↵

20. Pricksong: or “pricked-song,” is music performed from written notation, instead of from memory or by ear ↵

21. minim: to rest half a note ↵

22. very first house: a prestigious school for fencing ↵

23. the immortal…the hay: Italian fencing terms ↵

24. pox: exclamation of irritation ↵

25. antic: possibly grotesque or “antique,” though due to the era’s spelling and the context “antic” is likely ↵

26. their bones: pun on French “bon” ↵

27. roe: fish eggs, or the “ro” in Romeo ↵

28. dowdy: unattractively dressed woman ↵

29. Laura…Thisbe: classical figures who killed themselves for love ↵

30. You gave us the counterfeit: i.e., you ditched us ↵

31. my pump well flowered: i.e., my feet are tired from dancing ↵

32. single-soled jest: weak joke ↵

33. Swits and spurs: i.e., make your horse go faster ↵

34. against the hair: against the grain ↵

35. a shirt and a smock: meaning, a man and a woman ↵

36. prick: clock point; male genitalia ↵

37. By my troth: Upon my word ↵

38. confidence: The Nurse fumbles on the word “conference.” ↵

39. indite: Benvolio mocks the nurse by purposefully fumbling the word “invite.” ↵

40. bawd: a hare; a go-between for prostitutes ↵

41. Lenten pie: pie with no meat ↵

42. hoar: moldy; pun on the word “whore” ↵

43. for a score: to pay for ↵

44. An old…be spent: If the Nurse were a whore, she would be like old bread that is only eaten as a last resort. ↵

45. skains-mates: friends who carry knives ↵

46. protest: The Nurse mistakes the word “protest” for “propose” in the subsequent lines. ↵

47. cords made like a tackled stair: a rope ladder ↵

48. top-gallant: the top of the mast of a ship ↵

49. Proverb meaning two can only keep a secret if one is far away or dead ↵

50. lay knife aboard: lay to claim Juliet ↵

51. versall: the Nurse fumbles on the word “universal” ↵

52. rosemary: In Hamlet, it is said that rosemary is “for remembrance” of the dead. ↵

53. dog’s name: “R” sounds like a dog’s growl ↵

54. sententious: the Nurse fumbles on the word “sentence” ↵

55. Sensitivity note: "Lame," as used here, means feeble or slow. Though "lame" is primarily used to describe someone who is disabled in their leg or foot, it has evolved to mean "uninspiring" or "slow." It is important to be conscious of using words related to disability in a derogatory manner, as it can contribute to a negative connotation surrounding words that are still primarily used to objectively describe differently-abled individuals. ↵

56. nimble-pinioned doves draw Love: as doves pull Venus in her chariot ↵

57. Cupid: son of Venus and god of desire, affection, and love ↵

58. Fie: Here, an exclamation, like “oh!” ↵

59. stay the circumstance: wait for details ↵

60. not the flower of courtesy: not very courteous ↵

61. Oh God’s lady dear: Holy Mary, mother of God ↵

62. The Nurse is enduring pain so that Juliet may find happiness. However, she suggests that Juliet will soon be the one enduring pain for the pleasure of another when she consummates her marriage with Romeo. The implication is that it will be Juliet's burden as a wife to please her husband. This fits the comedic albeit insensitive tone typical of the Nurse. ↵

63. This neighbor air: this air we share ↵

Act 3

ACT 3, SCENE 1

Benvolio urges Mercutio to come away with him and avoid the Capulets in the streets. Mercutio brushes him off. Tybalt and other Capulets arrive, whom Mercutio taunts. Benvolio tries to move the conflict somewhere private, but Romeo interrupts with his arrival. Tybalt challenges him to fight, citing prior grievances; Romeo refuses and attempts to de-escalate the situation. Mercutio goads Tybalt into a duel, which Romeo tries and fails to stop. Tybalt stabs Mercutio, who in his dying moments curses both the Montague and Capulet houses. Benvolio informs Romeo that Mercutio is dead; upon re-encountering Tybalt, Romeo fights and kills him. Benvolio convinces Romeo to flee before passersby arrive. The Prince and both families then arrive to the scene. Benvolio explains what happened, but Lady Capulet, observing Benvolio to be biased, urges the Prince to punish the Montague family by executing Romeo. The Prince chooses instead to banish Romeo from the city.

On a street somewhere in Verona:

Enter MERCUTIO and BENVOLIO

BENVOLIO

I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire,

The day is hot, the Capulets are abroad,

And if we meet we shall not ‘scape a brawl,

For these hot days is the mad blood stirring.

MERCUTIO

5 Thou art like one of these fellows who, when he enters the

confines of a tavern, claps down his sword upon the table and

says “God send me no need of thee,” but under the influence

bartender

of the second cup, draws it on the drawer°, when indeed there is no

need.

BENVOLIO

10 Am I like such a fellow?

MERCUTIO

Come, come, thou art such a Jack in thy moods as any in Italy,

and as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be

moved.

BENVOLIO

And what to?[1]

MERCUTIO

15 Nay, an there were two such, we should have none shortly, for

one would kill the other. Thou—why, thou wilt quarrel with a

man who hath a hair more or a hair less in his beard than thou

hazelnuts

hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts°, having no

other reason than that thou hast hazel eyes. What eye but such

20 an eye would spy out such a quarrel? Thy head is as full of

quarrels as an egg is full of meat, and yet thy head has been

beaten

beaten as addled° as an egg from quarrelling. Thou once

quarreled with a man for coughing in the street because he hath

wakened thy dog that had lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not

jacket

25 fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet° before Easter?

With another for tying his new shoes with old ribbons? And

thou wilt tutor[2] me from quarrelling?

BENVOLIO

An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should buy the

ownership

fee-simple° of my life for an hour and a quarter.

MERCUTIO

30 The fee-simple? O, simple!

Enter TYBALT and his company

BENVOLIO

By my head, here come the Capulets.

MERCUTIO

By my heel, I care not.

TYBALT

[To his company] Follow me close, for I will speak to them.

good afternoon

Gentlemen, good den°. A word with one of you.

MERCUTIO

35 Only one word with one of us? Couple it with something. Make it

a word and a blow.

TYBALT

You shall find me apt enough to that sir, if you will give me

occasion.

MERCUTIO

Could you not take some occasion if not given?

TYBALT

40 Mercutio, thou consortest with Romeo.

MERCUTIO

Consort! What, dost thou make us minstrels?[3] An thou make

ugly noise

minstrels of us, you will hear nothing but discords°. Here’s my

sword

fiddlestick°; here’s that shall make you dance—zounds,[4]

“Consort!”

BENVOLIO

45 We talk here in the public haunt[5] of men.

Either withdraw unto some private place,

Or reason coldly[6] of your grievances,

Or else depart. Here all eyes gaze on us.

MERCUTIO

Men’s eyes were made to look, and let them gaze.

50 I will not budge for no man’s pleasure, I.

Enter ROMEO

TYBALT

Well, peace be with you, sir. Here comes my man.[7]

MERCUTIO

servant’s uniforms

But I’ll be hanged, sir, if he wear your livery°. Marry, go before

dueling-place

into the field°, and he may be your follower; Your Worship in

that sense may call him “man.”

TYBALT

55 Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford

No better term than this: thou art a villain.

ROMEO

Tybalt, a reason which I have to love thee

Doth much excuse the appertaining rage[8]

To such a greeting. Villain am I none—

60 Therefore farewell. I see thou knowest me not.

TYBALT

Boy, that shall not excuse the injuries

That thou hast done me—therefore, turn and draw.

ROMEO

I do protest I never injured thee,

But love thee better than thou canst devise

65 Til thou shalt know the reason of my love.

And so, good Capulet—whose name I value

As dearly as mine own—be satisfied.

MERCUTIO

O, calm, dishonorable, vile submission!

Alla stoccatta carries it away.[9]

He draws.

70 Tybalt, you Ratcatcher, will you walk?[10]

TYBALT

What wouldst thou have with me?

MERCUTIO

Good King of Cats, nothing but one of your nine lives that I

mean to make bold withal, and, as you shall use me hereafter,

dry-beat[11] the rest of the eight. Therefore, come, draw your rapier

75out of your scabbard, lest mine be about your ears ere you be

aware.

TYBALT

I am for you.

ROMEO

Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up—

MERCUTIO

Come, sir, your passado!

TYBALT and MERCUTIO fight

ROMEO

80Draw, Benvolio! Beat down their weapons!

Gentlemen, for shame! Forbear this outrage.

Tybalt, Mercutio, the Prince expressly hath

Forbid this bandying in Verona streets.

ROMEO steps in between them

Hold, Tybalt! Good Mercutio!

TYLBALT under ROMEO’s arm stabs MERCUTIO, and leaves with his company

MERCUTIO

85I am hurt.

done for

A plague o’ both houses! I am sped°.

no wounds

Is he gone and hath nothing°?

BENVOLIO

What, art thou hurt?

MERCUTIO

Aye, aye, a scratch. Marry, ‘tis enough.

90Where is my page?—

Go, villain, fetch a surgeon.

Exit PAGE

ROMEO

Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much.

MERCUTIO

No—’tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but

‘tis enough, ‘twill serve. Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find

done for

95me a grave man.[12] I am peppered°, I warrant, for this world. A

plague o’ both your houses! Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat to

scratch a man to death! A braggart, a rogue, a villain that fights by

the book of arithmetic![13] Why the devil came you between us? I

was hurt under your arm.

ROMEO

100I thought all for the best.

MERCUTIO

Help me into some house, Benvolio,

Or I shall faint. A plague o’ both your houses!

They have made worm’s meat of me.

I have it, and soundly too. Your houses!

Exit MERCUTIO and BENVOLIO

ROMEO

close relative

105This gentleman, the Prince’s near ally°,

My very friend, hath got this mortal hurt

In my behalf. My reputation stained

With Tybalt’s slander; Tybalt, that an hour

Hath been my cousin! O sweet Juliet,

womanish; unmanly

110Thy beauty hath made me effeminate°,

And in my temper softened valor’s steel.

Enter BENVOLIO

BENVOLIO

O Romeo, Romeo! Brave Mercutio is dead!

gone up towards

That gallant spirit hath aspired° the clouds,

Which too untimely here did scorn the earth.

ROMEO

115This day’s black fate on more days doth depend.[14]

This but begins the woe others must end.

Enter TYBALT

BENVOLIO

Here comes the furious Tybalt back again.

ROMEO

Alive in triumph, and Mercutio slain!

Away to Heaven, respective leniency,

120And fire and fury be my conduct now.

Now, Tybalt, take the “villain” back again

That late thou gavest me, for Mercutio’s soul

Is but a little way above our heads,

Staying for thine to keep him company.

125Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.

TYBALT

Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here

Shalt with him hence.

ROMEO

This shall determine that.

They fight; TYBALT falls and dies

BENVOLIO

Romeo, away, begone!

130The Citizens are up,[15] and Tybalt slain.

Stand not amazed. The Prince will doom thee dead

If thou art taken. Hence, begone! Away!

ROMEO

O, I am fortune’s fool!

BENVOLIO

Why dost thou stay?

Exit ROMEO

Enter CITIZENS

CITIZEN

135Which way ran he that killed Mercutio?

Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he?

BENVOLIO

There lies that Tybalt.

CITIZEN

[To TYBALT] Up, sir, go with me.

I charge thee, in the Prince’s name, obey.

Enter PRINCE ESKALES, MONTAGUE, LADY MONTAGUE, CAPULET, and LADY CAPULET

PRINCE

140Where are the vile beginners of this fray?

BENVOLIO

O noble Prince, I can reveal all

The unlucky manage of this fateful brawl.

There lies the man, slain by young Romeo,

That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio.

LADY CAPULET

145Tybalt, my cousin! O my brother’s child!

O Prince! O cousin! Husband! O, the blood is spilled

Of my dear kinsman! Prince, as thou art true,

For blood of ours, shed blood of Montague.

O cousin, cousin –

PRINCE

150Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?

BENVOLIO

Tybalt here slain, whom Romeo’s hand did slay.

with civility

Romeo that spoke him fair°, bade him bethink

unimportant

How nice° the quarrel was, and urged withal

Your high displeasure. All this—uttered

155With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bowed—

bad temper

Could not make truce with the unruly spleen°

Of Tybalt, deaf to peace, who straightway tilts

With piercing steel at bold Mercutio’s breast,

Who, just as hot, turned deadly point to point,

solider-like

160And, with a martial° scorn, with one hand beat

Cold death aside, and with the other sends

It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity

Retorts it. Romeo, he cried aloud:

“Hold friends! Friends, part!” and, swifter than his tongue,

165His agile arm beats down their fatal points,

And ‘twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm

malicious

An envious° thrust from Tybalt hit the life

Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled.

But, by and by, came back to Romeo,

170Who had but newly entertained revenge,

And to’t they went like lightning, for ere I

Could draw to part them was stout Tybalt slain.

And, as he fell, did Romeo turn and flee.

This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.

LADY CAPULET

175He is a kinsman of the Montagues.

Affection makes him false; he speaks not true—

Some twenty of them fought in this black strife,

And all those twenty could but kill one life.

I beg for justice which thou, Prince, must give:

180Romeo slew Tybalt; Romeo must not live.

PRINCE

Romeo slew him; he slew Mercutio.

Who now the price of his dear blood[16] doth owe?

MONTAGUE

Not Romeo, Prince. He was Mercutio’s friend.

His fault concludes that which the law should end:

185The life of Tybalt.

PRINCE

And for that offense

Immediately we do exile him hence.

I have an interest in your hearts’ proceeding—-

My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding.

punish

190But I’ll amerce° you with so strong a fine

That you shall all repent the loss of mine.

I will be deaf to pleading and excuses.

No tears, no prayers, shall bribe away abuses.

Therefore use none. Let Romeo hence in haste;

195Else, when he is found, that hour is his last.

Bear hence this body and obey our will.

Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.

Exit all

❖❖❖

ACT 3, SCENE 2

Juliet impatiently waits to be with Romeo again. The Nurse returns and is evasive about what happened before finally explaining that Romeo killed Tybalt and was subsequently banished. In shock, Juliet defends Romeo to the nurse and tries to feel relief that her husband survived rather than the other way around. She despairs at Romeo’s banishment. The Nurse offers to bring Romeo to her for one final night before he leaves; Juliet agrees and sends the Nurse with the token of a ring.

Somewhere within the Capulet estate:

Enter JULIET alone

JULIET

Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,

Towards Phoebus’ lodging.[17] Such a wagoner

As Phaeton[18] would whip you to the west

And bring in cloudy night immediately.

concealing

5 Spread thy close° curtain, love-performing night,

shut

That runaway’s eyes may wink°, and Romeo

Leap to these arms, untalked of and unseen.

Lovers can see to do their amorous rights

By their own beauties, or, if love be blind,

10 It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,

Thou sober-footed matron all in black,[19]

And learn me how to lose a winning match

virginities

Played for a pair of stainless maidenhoods°.

Hood my unmanned blood bating in my cheeks[20]

unfamiliar

cloak

15 With thy black mantle°, till strange° love grow bold,

Think true love acted simple modesty—[21]

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.

20 Come, gentle night; come, loving black-browed night,

Give me my Romeo. And when I 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

25 And pay no worship to the garish sun.

O, I have bought the mansion of a love

But not possessed it; and though I am sold,

Not yet enjoyed. So tedious is this day,

As is the night before some festival

30 To an impatient child that hath new robes

And may not wear them. O, here comes my Nurse.

Enter NURSE with cords of rope

And she brings news, and every tongue that speaks

But Romeo’s name speaks heavenly eloquence—

Now, Nurse, what news? What hast thou there,

35 The cords that Romeo bid thee fetch?

NURSE

Aye, aye. The cords.

Throws down the rope ladder

JULIET

Aye me, what news?

Why dost thou wring thy hands?

NURSE

(expression of woe)

Ah, welladay°! He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead!

40 We are undone, lady, we are undone.

(expression of grief)

Alack° the day—he’s gone, he’s killed, he’s dead.

JULIET

Can heaven be so envious?

NURSE

Romeo can,

Though heaven cannot. O Romeo, Romeo!

45 Whoever would have thought it? Romeo!

JULIET

What devil art thou that dost torment me thus?

used

This torture should be roared° in dismal hell.

Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but “Aye,”

And that bare vowel “I” shall poison more

50 than the death-darting eye of cockatrice.[22]

I am not I, if there be such an “I,”

Or those eyes[23] shut that makes thee answer “Aye.”

If he be slain, say “Aye,” or if not, “No.”

happiness

Brief sounds determine of my weal° and woe.

NURSE

55 I saw the wound; I saw it with mine eyes—

God save the mark![24]—here on his manly breast.

A piteous corpse, a bloodied piteous corpse,

smeared

Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaubed° in blood,

clotted

All in gore° blood. I swooned at the sight.

JULIET

60 O, break my heart! Poor bankrupt, break at once!

To prison, eyes; ne’er look at liberty.

return

Vile earth,[25] to earth resign°, end motion here:

And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier.[26]

NURSE

O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had!

65 O courteous Tybalt, honest gentleman,

That ever I should live to see thee dead!

JULIET

What storm is this that blows so contrary?

Is Romeo slaughtered? And is Tybalt dead?

My dearest cousin and my dearer lord?

70 Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom,[27]

For who is living if those two are gone?

NURSE

Tybalt is gone and Romeo banished.

Romeo that killed him: he is banished.

JULIET

O God, did Romeo’s hand shed Tybalt’s blood?

NURSE

75 It did, it did. Alas the day, it did.

JULIET

O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face.

Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?

Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical!

Ravenous dove-feathered raven,

80 Wolfish-ravening lamb!

appearance

Despisèd substance of divinest show°!

Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st,

A damned Saint, an honorable villain.

O Nature! What had’st thou to do in hell

gives sanctuary

85 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

90 There’s no trust, no faith, no honesty in men.

liars

evil

All perjured, all forsworne, all naught°, all dissemblers°.

liquor

Ah, where’s my man?—Give me some aqua-vitae°.—

These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.

Shame come to Romeo!

JULIET

95 Blistered be thy tongue

for such a wish! He was not born to shame.

Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit

For ‘tis a throne where honor may be crowned

Sole monarch of the universal earth.

100 O, what a beast was I to chide him!

NURSE

Will you speak well of him that killed your cousin?

JULIET

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?

105 But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?

That villain cousin would have killed my husband—

Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring;

Your tributary drops belong to woe,

Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy—

110 My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain,

And Tybalt’s dead, that would have slain my husband.

All this comfort, wherefore weep I then?

Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,

gladly

That murdered me. I would forget it fain°,

115 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

120 Was woe enough if it had ended there;

Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship

necessarily

And needly° will be ranked with other griefs,

Why followed not when she said, ‘Tybalt’s dead,”

“Thy father” or “thy mother,” nay, or both

provoked

ordinary

125 Which modern° lamentation might have moved°.

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.”

130 There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,

In that word’s death. No words can that woe sound.[28]

Where is my father and my mother, Nurse?

NURSE

Weeping and wailing over Tybalt’s corpse.

Will you go to them? I will bring you thither.

JULIET

135 Wash they his wounds with tears? Mine shall go on

When theirs are dry, for Romeo is banished.

deceived

Take up those cords. Poor ropes, you are beguiled°,

Both you and I, for Romeo is exiled.

He made you for a highway to my bed,

140 But I, a maid, die maiden-widowèd.

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

know

To comfort you. I wot° well where he is.

listen

145 Hark° you, your Romeo will be here at night.

I’ll to him—he is hid at Lawrence’s cell.

JULIET hands NURSE a ring

JULIET

O, find him! Give this ring to my true knight

And bid him come, to take his last farewell.

Exit all

❖❖❖

ACT 3, SCENE 3

Friar Lawrence returns to Romeo, who was hiding in his quarters. He tells Romeo he has been banished. Romeo says he’d prefer execution to exile. Lawrence tries to make Romeo understand the Prince’s mercy, but he refuses to be consoled. The Nurse arrives and tells Romeo of Juliet’s grief. In despair, Romeo draws his dagger to kill himself, but the Friar stops him and chastises him for being willing to abandon his wife in death. He urges Romeo to flee to Mantua until the issue can be settled, and he and Juliet can be reunited. The Nurse leaves to prepare for Romeo’s arrival that evening, leaving Juliet’s ring with him. The Friar warns Romeo to leave for Mantua by dawn to escape capture.

Friar Lawrence’s cell in Verona:

Enter FRIAR LAWRENCE

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Romeo, come forth; come forth, thou fearful man.

qualities

disaster

Affliction° is enamored of thy parts°;

And thou art wedded to calamity.

Enter ROMEO

ROMEO

Father, what news? What is the Prince’s doom?

5 What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand

That I yet know not?

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Too familiar

Is my dear son with such sorry company.

I bring thee tidings of the Prince’s doom.

ROMEO

10 What less than Doomsday is the Prince’s doom?

FRIAR LAWRENCE

A gentler judgment vanished from his lips.

Not body’s death, but body’s banishment.

ROMEO

Ha! Banishment? Be merciful, say “death,”

For exile hath more terror in his look,

15 Much more than death. Do not say “banishment.”

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Here from Verona are thou banished;

Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.

ROMEO

There is no world without Verona walls,

But purgatory, torture, hell itself.

20 Hence banishèd, is banished from the world.

And world’s exile is death. Then banishèd,

Is death, mistermed. Calling death “banished,”

Thou cut’st my head off with a golden axe,

And smiles upon the stroke that murders me.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

25 O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness!

Thy fault our law calls death,[29] but the kind Prince,

Taking thy part, hath rushed aside the law,

And turned that black word “death” to “banishment.”

This is dear mercy, and thou seeth it not.

ROMEO

30 Tis torture and not mercy. Heaven is here

Where Juliet lives, and every cat and dog,

And little mouse, every unworthy thing,

Live here in heaven and may look on her.

value

But Romeo may not. More validity°,

35 More honorable state, more courtship lives

rotting meat

In carrion° flies than Romeo. They may seize

On the white wonder of dear Juliet’s hand,

And steal immortal blessing from her lips,

virginal

Who even in pure and vestal° modesty

40 Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin.

This may flies do, when I from this must fly,

And says thou yet, that exile is not death?

But Romeo may not, he is banished.

Flies may do this, but I from this must fly;

45 They are free men, but I am banished.

Hadst thou no poison mixed, no sharp-ground knife,

No sudden means of death—though ne’er so mean—

But “banishèd,” to kill me? “Banishèd?”

O Friar, the damned use that word in hell:

50 Howling attends it. How hast thou the heart,

Being a divine, a ghostly confessor,

A sin absolver, and my friend professed,

To mangle me with that word “banishèd?”

FRIAR LAWRENCE

foolish

Then, fond° mad man, hear me a little speak—

ROMEO

55 O, thou wilt speak again of banishment!

FRIAR LAWRENCE

I’ll give thee armor to keep off that word.

Adversity’s sweet milk, philosophy,

To comfort thee though thou art banishèd.

ROMEO

Still “banishèd?” Hang up philosophy,

60 Unless philosophy can make a Juliet,

displace

Displant° a town, reverse a Prince’s doom,

It helps not, it prevails not.[30] Talk no more.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

O, then I see that mad men have no ears.

ROMEO

How should they, when that wise men have no eyes?

FRIAR LAWRENCE

65 Let me dispute with thee of thy estate.[31]

ROMEO

Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel.

Were thou as young as I, Juliet they love,

An hour but married, Tybalt murderèd,

lovesick

Doting° like me, and like me banishèd,

70 Then mightest thou speak,

Then mightest thou tear thy hair

And fall upon the ground, as I do now,

Taking the measure of an unmade grave.[32]

There is a knock from within

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Arise; one knocks. Good Romeo, hide thyself.

ROMEO

75 Not I, unless the breath of heartsick groans,

Mist-like, conceal me from the search of eyes.

Continuous knocking

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Hark! How they knock.—Who’s there?—Romeo, arise!

Thou wilt be taken.—Stay awhile!—Stand up.

Knock

Run to my study.—By and by![33]—God’s will,

nonsense

80 What simpleness° is this?—I come, I come.

Knock

Who knocks so hard? Whence come you? What’s your will?

NURSE

[From within] Let me come in, and you shall know my errand: I come from Lady Juliet.

Enter NURSE

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Welcome then.

NURSE

85 O holy Friar! O tell me, holy Friar, where’s my lady’s lord?

Where’s Romeo?

FRIAR LAWRENCE

There on the ground,

With his own tears made drunk.

NURSE

O, he is even in my mistress’ case,[34]

90 Just in her case. O woeful sympathy!

Piteous predicament! Even so lies she,

Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering.—

Stand up, stand up. Stand and you be a man!

For Juliet’s sake, for her sake, rise and stand.

95 Why should you fall into so deep an O?[35]

ROMEO

Nurse.

NURSE

Ah sir, ah sir, death’s the end of all.

ROMEO

Spaketh thou of Juliet? How is it with her?

Doth not she think of me an old murderer,

100 Now I have stained the childhood of our joy

With blood removed but little from her own?

Where is she? and how doth she? and what says

My concealed Lady to our canceled love?

NURSE

Oh she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps,

105 And now falls on her bed, and then starts up,

And “Tybalt” calls, and then on “Romeo” cries,

And then down falls again.

ROMEO

As if that name, shot from the deadly level of a gun,

Did murder her; as that name’s cursed hand

110 Murdered her kinsman.—O, tell me Friar, tell me,

In what vile part of this anatomy

destroy

Doth my name lodge? Tell me that I may sack°

The hateful mansion.

He offers to stab himself, and the Nurse snatches the dagger away

FRIAR

Hold thy desperate hand!

115 Art though a man? Thy form cries out thou art.

Thy tears are womanly, thy wild acts denote

The unreasonable fury of a beast.

Unseemly woman in a seeming man,

unnatural

And ill-beseeming° beast in seeming both!

120 Thou hast amazed me. By my holy order,

I thought thy disposition better tempered.

Hast thou slain Tybalt? Wilt thou slay thy self?

And slay thy Lady, that in thy life lives,

By doing damned hate upon thyself?

complains

125 Why rails° thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth?

Since birth and heaven and earth, all three do meet

In thee at once, which thou at once wouldst lose?

(expression of disgust)

Fie, fie°, thou shames thy shape, thy love, thy wit,

Which, like a usurer[36] abound’st in all

130 And uses none in that true use indeed

decorate

Which should bedeck° thy shape, thy love, thy wit.

Thy noble shape is but a form of wax

Digressing from[37] the valor of a man.

Thy dear love sworn but hollow perjury,

135 Killing that love which thou hast vowed to cherish.

body

Thy wit, that ornament to shape° and love,

Misshapen in the conduct of them both,

Like powder in a skill-less soldier’s flask,

Is set afire by thine own ignorance,

140 And thou dismembered with thine own defense.[38]

What, rouse thee, man! Thy Juliet is alive,

For whose dear sake thou was but lately dead.

fortunate

There art thou happy°. Tybalt would kill thee,

But thou slewest Tybalt; there art thou happy.

145 The law that threatened death becomes thy friend

And turns it to exile; there art thou happy.

A pack of blessings lights upon thy back;

Happiness courts thee in her best array;

But like a missbehaved and sullen wench,

150 Thou pouts upon thy fortune and thy love.

Take heed, take heed; such men die miserable.

Go, get thee to thy love as was decreed,

Ascend her chamber, hence, and comfort her.

be careful

But look° thou stay not till the watch be set,[39]

155 For then thou canst not pass to Mantua,

Where thou shalt live till we can find a time

publicize

To blaze° your marriage, reconcile your friends,

Beg pardon of the Prince, and call thee back

With twenty hundred thousand times more joy

160 Then when thou went forth in lamentation.—

Go before, Nurse; commend me to thy Lady,

And bid her hasten all the house to bed,

Which heavy sorry makes them apt to do.

Romeo is coming.

NURSE

165 O Lord, I could have stayed here all the night,

To hear such good council. O, what learning is!—

My lord, I’ll tell my lady you will come.

ROMEO

scold

Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide°.

NURSE

Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir.

She hands ROMEO a ring

170 Hie you! Make haste, for it grows very late.

Exit NURSE

ROMEO

How well my comfort is revived by this.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Go hence, goodnight; and here stands all your state:[40]

Either be gone before the watch be set,

Or at the break of day, disguised, go hence.

stay awhile

175 Sojourn° in Mantua. I’ll seek out your man,

And he shall let you know from time to time

happening

Every good hap° to you that happens here.

Give me thy hand. ‘Tis late; farewell, goodnight.

ROMEO

But that a joy past joy calls out to me,

180 It were a grief so brief to part with thee.

Farewell.

Exit all

❖❖❖

ACT 3, SCENE 4

Lord and Lady Capulet explain to Paris that Juliet will not see him tonight due to her grieving for Tybalt. They agree to marry Juliet to Paris in a respectfully humble ceremony on Thursday. Lord Capulet commands Lady Capulet to break the news to their daughter.

Somewhere within the Capulet estate:

Enter CAPULET, LADY CAPULET and PARIS

CAPULET

Things have fallen out, sir, so unluckily,

That we have had no time to move our daughter.[41]

Look you, she loved her kinsman Tybalt dearly,

And so did I. Well, we were born to die.

5 Tis very late. She’ll not come down tonight.

I promise you, but for your company,

I would have been a-bed an hour ago,

PARIS

These times of woe afford no times to woo.

Madam, goodnight. Commend me to your daughter.

LADY CAPULET

(will know)

10 I will, and know° her mind early tomorrow,

Tonight she’s mewed up to her heaviness.[42]

CAPULET

risky offer

Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender°

Of my child’s love. I think she will be ruled,

In all respects, by me. Surely; I doubt it not.—

15 Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed.

Acquaint her here of my son Paris’s love,

And bid her—Mark you me?—on Wednesday next—

wait

But soft°! What day is this?

PARIS

Monday, my lord.

CAPULET

20 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.

25 For hark you, Tybalt being slain so late,

without care

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.[43] But what say you to Thursday?

PARIS

30 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!—

35 Afore me,[44] it is so very late that we may call it early by and by.—

Goodnight.

Exit all

❖❖❖

ACT 3, SCENE 5

In her chambers, Juliet and Romeo go back and forth on whether Romeo needs to leave yet or whether he can stay longer. The Nurse enters to warn them that Lady Capulet is approaching. Romeo departs in secret. Lady Capulet enters to talk to Juliet. Juliet pretends to hate Romeo while telling the audience that she forgives him completely. Lady Capulet tells Juliet that she is set to be married to Paris next Thursday. Juliet protests that it is far too soon. Her father enters, just as surprised as his wife that Juliet is still grieving. He expects Juliet to be pleased at the news of the marriage; when she begs him to change their plans, he flies into a rage, silencing the Nurse who jumps to Juliet’s defense. He threatens to disown Juliet if she refuses to marry and then leaves. Juliet asks her mother for help; she refuses and also exits. Juliet then goes to the Nurse for comfort, who tells her that she should marry Paris and be happy since Romeo is as good as dead in exile. Juliet decides to find Friar Lawrence for help, resolving to kill herself if he will not help her.

Juliet’s chambers within the Capulet estate, near a window overlooking the 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,[45]

anxious

That pierced the fearful° hollow of thine ear.

Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree.

5 Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.

ROMEO

It was the lark, the herald of the morn,

No nightingale. Look, love: what envious streaks

parting

Do lace the severing° clouds in yonder east;

cheerful

Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund° day

10 Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.

I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

JULIET

Yond light is not daylight—I know it. Aye:

It is some meteor that the sun exhales,

To be to thee this night a torch-bearer

15 And light thee on thy way to Mantua.

Therefore stay yet; thou needst not to be gone.

ROMEO

taken

Let me be ta’en°. Let me be put to death.

I am content, if thou wilt have it so.

I’ll say yon gray is not the morning’s eye.

20 ‘Tis but the pale reflect of Cynthia’s[46] 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—

25 How is my soul? Let’s talk; ’tis not yet day.

JULIET

It is, it is! Begone fly hence away!

It is the lark that sings so out of tune,

Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps.

melody

Some say the lark makes sweet division°:

30 This is not so, for she divideth us.

Some say the lark and loathèd toad change eyes.[47]

O, now I would they had changed voices too,

tear apart

Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray°,

Hunting thee hence with hunt’s-up[48] to the day.

35 O, now begone! 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.

40 The day is broke. Be wary, look about.

Exit NURSE

JULIET

Then, window, let day in, and let life out.

ROMEO

Farewell, farewell! One kiss and I’ll descend.

They kiss, and ROMEO begins to climb down

JULIET

Art thou gone so, my love, my lord, my husband, my friend?

I must hear from thee every day in the hour,

45 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

50 That may convey my greetings, love, to thee.

JULIET

O, thinkst 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.[49]

55 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.[50] Adieu, adieu!

Exit ROMEO

JULIET

60O Fortune, Fortune,[51] all men call thee fickle.

If thou art fickle, what doest thou with him

faithfulness; steadiness

That is renowned for faith°? Be fickle, Fortune,

For then I hope thou wilt not keep him long,

But send him back.

LADY CAPULET

65[From within] Ho, daughter. Are you up?

JULIET

Who is’t that calls? It is my lady mother.

in bed

Is she not down° so late or up so early?

sends

What unaccustomed cause procures° her hither?

Enter LADY CAPULET

LADY CAPULET

Why, how now, Juliet?

JULIET

70Madam, I am not well.

LADY CAPULET

Evermore weeping for your cousin’s death?

What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?

And if thou could’st, thou could’st not make him live.

Therefore, be done. Some grief shows much of love,

75But much of grief shows some want of wit.

JULIET

devastating

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,

80I 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

apart

85[Hushed] Villain and he be many miles asunder°.

[To LADY CAPULET] God pardon him. I do, with all my heart

And yet, no man like he doth grieve my heart.

LADY CAPULET

That is because the traitor lives.

JULIET

Aye, madam, from the reach of these, my hands

90Would 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 runaway doth live,

Shall give him such an unaccustomed drink

95That he shall soon keep Tybalt company.

And then I hope thou wilt be satisfied.

JULIET

Indeed, I never shall be satisfied

With Romeo, ‘til I behold him. Dead

distressed; frustrated

Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vexed°.

100Madam, if you could find out but a man

mix, or dilute

To bear a poison, I would temper° it;

That Romeo should, upon receipt thereof,

hates

Soon sleep in quiet. O, how my heart abhors°

To hear him named, and cannot come to him

105To wreak the love I bore my cousin

Upon the 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.

beg

110What are they, beseech° your ladyship?

LADY CAPULET

Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child,

sadness

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

115Madam, 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

120Now, 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,

125I 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!

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

130When the sun sets, the earth doth drizzle dew,

death

But for the sunset° of my brother’s son

fountain

It rains downright. How now? A conduit°, girl? What, still in tears?

Evermore showring in one little body?

sailboat

Thou counterfeit’st a bark°, a sea, a wind.

135For 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,[52] will overset

140Thy tempest-tossed body.—How now, wife?

Have you delivered to her our decree?

LADY CAPULET

Aye, sir, but she will none. She gives you thanks.[53]

I would the fool were married to her grave!

CAPULET

Soft, take me with you, take me with you,[54] wife.

145How will she none? Doth she not give us thanks?

Is she not proud? Doth she not count her blessed,

Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought

So worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?

JULIET

Not proud you have, but thankful that you have!

150Proud can I never be of what I hate,

But thankful even for hate that is meant love.[55]

CAPULET

How, now? How, now? Chopped logic. What is this?

Proud, and I thank you, and I thank you not?

And yet not proud? Mistress minion[56] you,

155Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds,

prepare

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[57] thither.

useless woman

rotting meat

Out, you green-sickness[58] carrion°! Out, you baggage°!

pale

160You tallow° face!

LADY CAPULET

Fie, fie! What, are you mad?

JULIET kneels

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.

165I tell thee what: get thee to church on Thursday,

Or never after look me in the face.

Speak not, reply not, do not answer me.

My fingers itch![59] Wife, we scarce thought us blessed

That God had lent us but this only child;

170But now I see this one is one too much,

And that we have a curse in having her.

worthless person

Out on her, hilding°!

NURSE

God in heaven, bless her!

You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.

CAPULET

175And why, my Lady Wisdom? Hold your tongue,

Good Prudence. Smatter with your gossips, go.

NURSE

I speak no treason.

CAPULET

O, God ‘I’ good e’en.

NURSE

May not one speak?

CAPULET

180Peace, you mumbling fool.

“serious” things

Utter your gravity° o’er a gossip’s drink,

For here we need it not.

LADY CAPULET

You are too hot!

CAPULET

God’s bread,[60] it makes me mad!

185Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play,

Alone, in company: still my goal hath been

To have her matched! And having now provided

A gentleman of noble parentage,

lands owned

Of fair demesnes°, youthful, and nobly-allied,

190Stuffed, as they say, with honorable parts,

Proportioned as one’s thought would wish a man—

whimpering

And then to have a wretchèd puling° fool,

doll

A whining mammet°, to her fortune’s tender

Answer, “I’ll not wed, I cannot love;

195I am too young, I pray you, pardon me.”

But if 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 often jest.

Thursday is near. Lay hand on heart, advise.

200If you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend.

If you be not? Hang, drown, starve, beg, die in the streets,

For by my soul, I’ll ne’er acknowledge thee,

Nor what is mine shall never do thee good.

go back on my word

think hard

Trust to’t; bethink° you. I’ll not be forsworn°.

Exit CAPULET

JULIET

205Is there no pity sitting in the clouds

That sees into the bottom of my grief?—

O, sweet, my mother, cast me not away!

Delay this marriage for a month, a week,

Or if you do not, make the bridal bed

210In that dim monument where Tybalt lies!

LADY CAPULET

Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word.

Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.

Exit LADY CAPULET

JULIET rises

JULIET

O God, O Nurse, how shall this be prevented?

My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven.

215How shall that faith return again to earth,

Unless that husband send it me from heaven

By leaving earth? Comfort me, counsel me!

play tricks

Alack, alack, that heaven should practice stratagems°

Upon so soft a subject as myself.

220What sayst 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[61]

claim

That he dares ne’er come back to challenge° you.

Or, if he do, it needs must be by stealth.

225Then 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 is but a dish cloth in respect of him. An eagle, madam,

Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye

230As 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,

Not living here, and you no use of him.

JULIET

235Speakst 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.

240Go in, and tell my lady I am gone,

Having displeased my father, to Lawrence’s cell,

To make confession, and to be absolved.

NURSE

Marry, I will; and this is wisely done.

Exit NURSE

JULIET

Ancient damnation! O, most wicked fiend!

245Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn,

Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue

Which she hath praised him with above compare

So many thousand times? Go, counselor.

Thou and my bosom[62] henceforth shall be twain.

250I’ll to the friar to know his remedy.

If all else fail, myself have power to die.

Exit JULIET

1. what to?: Mercutio deliberately misconstrues “to” as “two.” ↵

2. tutor: scold ↵

3. minstrels: musicians, thought of as homeless wanderers ↵

4. zounds: an exclamation or swearword ↵

5. public haunt: frequent gathering place ↵

6. coldly: calmly ↵

7. Here comes my man: the man I want to fight; Mercutio deliberately misconstrues Tybalt’s “my man,” as “my servant.” ↵

8. appertaining rage: appropriately angry reaction ↵

9. Alla stoccatta carries it away: the first thrust wins the fight ↵

10. will you walk?: i.e., will you fight me? ↵

11. dry-beat: beat with a sword ↵

12. grave: serious; dead ↵

13. A dog… by the book of arithmetic: all referring to Tybalt ↵

14. This day’s black fate on more days doth depend: This day will affect future days ↵

15. The Citizens are up: meaning, up in arms ↵

16. dear blood: beloved ↵

17. Gallop apace…Towards Phoebus’ loding: Juliet wants night to come; in Classical mythology Phoebus’ horses pulled the chariot of the sun across the sky. ↵

18. Phaeton: Phaeton, the sun god’s son, was allowed to drive the chariot of the sun, but lost control and had to be killed by Zeus. ↵

19. sober-footed matron all in black: like a widow dressed in black ↵

20. Hood (cover with a hood), unmanned (untamed), and bating (fluttering) are all terms used in falconry. ↵

21. Think true love acted simple modesty: to think of sex (“true love acted”) as modest ↵

22. cockatrice: a mythical beast that can kill with a look ↵

23. Or those eyes: i.e., if those eyes are Romeo’s ↵

24. God save the mark: i.e., God avert the ill omen ↵

25. Vile earth: here Juliet seems to be referring to her own body ↵

26. And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier: meaning, my body and Romeo’s will share a coffin ↵

27. dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom: A biblical reference to the “last trump,” which announces Judgment Day ↵

28. No words can that woe sound: no words can express that woe ↵

29. Thy fault our law calls death: i.e., your crime is punishable by death ↵

30. prevails not: has no effect ↵

31. dispute with thee of they estate: i.e., discuss your state of affairs ↵

32. Taking the measure of an unmade grave: taking the measurements of a grave not yet dug ↵

33. By and by: just a moment ↵

34. he is even in my mistress case: i.e., he is just like my mistress ↵

35. so deep an O: moaning fit ↵

36. usurer: someone who makes a profit by lending money and being repaid with interest. This was considered greedy, immoral, and a misuse of wealth. ↵

37. Digressing from: lacking of ↵

38. thou dismembered by thine own defense: i.e., harmed by what was intended to defend ↵

39. the watch be set: when the night watchmen take their positions, usually at dusk ↵

40. here stands all your state: i.e., everything depends on this ↵

41. we have had no time to move our daughter: i.e., we haven’t had time to convince Juliet ↵

42. mewed up to: shut up with ↵

43. there an end: that’s it ↵

44. Afore me: a mild swear ↵

45. It was the nightingale, and not the lark: The nightingale sings at night; the lark sings in the morning ↵

46. Cynthia: another name for the goddess of the moon. ↵

47. the lark and loathèd toad change eyes: Juliet is referring to the tale that the lark traded its pretty eyes for the toad’s ugly ones ↵

48. hunts-up: a song to wake huntsmen ↵

49. ill-divining soul: i.e., a bad feeling ↵

50. Dry sorrow drinks our blood: It was thought that sorrow dried up the blood, drop by drop ↵

51. Fortune: Fortuna, the goddess of chance, was thought to control peoples’ fates, but did so in a very fickle and unpredictable manner ↵

52. without a sudden calm: i.e., unless you calm down ↵

53. She gives you thanks: i.e., she says no thanks ↵

54. take me with you: catch me up ↵

55. that is meant love: that is meant with love ↵

56. Mistress minion: spoiled brat ↵

57. hurdle: used to drag criminals to their executions ↵

58. green-sickness: anemia, associated with the paleness of young virgins ↵

59. My fingers itch: i.e., his fingers itch to hit someone ↵

60. God’s bread: a strong swear ↵

61. all the world to nothing: I’d bet anything ↵

62. my bosom: in this context, “bosom” means trust. ↵

Act 4

ACT 4, SCENE 1

Paris meets with Friar Lawrence, informing him that the wedding will be held on Thursday in a supposed attempt to soothe Juliet’s grief over murdered Tybalt. Juliet arrives for confession, and Paris attempts to pressure her into confessing her love for him. After Paris leaves, Juliet tells the Friar she is resolved to kill herself if he can offer no solution out of the impending marriage. The Friar offers her a plan: agree to the marriage, but drink a poison the night before that will make her appear dead while in reality leaving her asleep. The Friar will then send word to Romeo, who will return and rescue Juliet once she awakes in the family tomb. Juliet accepts.

Friar Lawrence’s cell in Verona:

Enter Friar Lawrence and County Paris

FRIAR LAWRENCE

On Thursday, sir? The time is very soon.

PARIS

My father Capulet will have it so,

And I am nothing slow to stall his haste.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

You say you do not know the Lady’s mind?

5Uneven is the course. I like it not.

PARIS

Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt’s death,

And therefore have I little talk of love,

For Venus[1] smiles not in a house of tears.

Now, sir, her father counts it dangerous

10That she doth give her sorrow so much sway;

And in his wisdom hastes our marriage[2]

overflowing abundance

To stop the inundation° of her tears,

Which, too much minded by herself alone,

May be put from her by society.[3]

15Now you do know the reason of this haste.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

[To himself] I would I knew not why it should be slowed.[4]

[To PARIS] Look, sir, here comes the lady towards my cell.

Enter Juliet

PARIS

Happily met, my lady and my wife.

JULIET

That may be, sir, when I may be a wife.

PARIS

20That “may be” must be, love, on Thursday next.

JULIET

What must be shall be.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

truth

That’s a certain text°.

PARIS

Come you to make confession to this father?[5]

JULIET

To answer that, I would confess to you.

PARIS

25Do not deny to him that you love me.

JULIET

I will confess to you that I love him.[6]

PARIS

So will ye – I am sure that you love me.

JULIET

If I do so, it will be of more worth

Being spoke behind your back than to your face.

PARIS

30Poor soul, thy face is much abused with tears.

JULIET

not much

The tears have got small° victory by that,

For it was bad enough before their spite.[7]

PARIS

Thou wrong’st it more than tears, with that report.

JULIET

That is no slander, sir, when it’s a truth,

35And what I said, I said it to my face.

PARIS

Thy face is mine, and thou hast slandered it.

JULIET

It may be so, for it is not mine own. —

Are you at leisure, Holy Father, now,

Or shall I come to you at evening Mass?

FRIAR LAWRENCE

40My leisure serves me, somber daughter, now.

My lord, we must ask for this time alone.

PARIS

God shield I should disturb devotion!

Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouse you.

Till then, adieu, and keep this holy kiss.

He kisses her

Exit Paris

JULIET

45O, shut the door! And when thou hast done so,

Come weep with me – past hope, past care, past help.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

O Juliet, I already know thy grief;

It strains me past the compass of my wits.

I hear thou must – and nothing may postpone it –

50On Thursday next be married to the County.

JULIET

Tell me not, Friar, that thou hearest of this,

Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it:

If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help,

Do thou but call my resolution wise,

55And with this knife I’ll help it presently.

God joined my heart and Romeo’s, thou our hands.

And ere this hand – by thee to Romeo sealed –

Shall be the label to another deed,[8]

Or my true heart with treacherous revolt

60Turn to another, this shall slay them both.

Therefore out of thy long-experienced time,

Give me some present counsel, or, behold,

‘Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife

Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that,

65Which the commission of thy years and art[9]

Could not to this issue true honor bring.

Be not so long to speak; I long to die

If what thou speak’st speak not of remedy.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Hold, daughter! I do spy a kind of hope

70Which craves as desperate an execution

As that is desperate which we would prevent.[10]

If rather than to marry County Paris

Thou hast the strength or will to slay thyself,

Then it is likely thou wilt undertake

75A thing like death to chide away this shame,

That copes with Death himself to ‘scape from it;

And, if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy.

JULIET

O bid me leap – rather than marry Paris –

From off the battlements of any tower,

80Or walk in thievish ways, or bid me lurk

Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears

Or hide me nightly in a charnel house,[11]

entirely

O’ercovered quite° with dead men’s rattling bones,

With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls;[12]

85Or bid me go into a new-made grave

And hide me with a dead man in his tomb;

Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble,

And I will do it without fear or doubt

To keep myself a faithful unstained wife

90To my dear lord, my dearest Romeo.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Hold then: go home, be merry, give consent

To marry Paris. Wednesday is tomorrow.

Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber.

And when thou art alone, take thou this vial,

95And this distilling liquor drink thou off,

When presently through all thy veins shall run

A cold and drowsy humor; for no pulse

cease

Shall keep his native rhythm but surcease°.

No warmth, no breath shall testify thou livest;

100The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade

To many ashes. Thy eyes’ windows fall

Like Death when he shuts up the day of life;

Each part, deprived of supple government

Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death,

105And in this borrowed likeness of shrunk death

Thou shalt continue two and forty hours

And then awake, as from a pleasant sleep.

Now when the bridegroom in the morning comes

To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead;

110Then, as the manner of our country is,[13]

coffin

In thy best robes uncovered on the bier°

Be borne to burial in thy kindred’s grave;

Thou shall be borne to that same ancient vault

Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.

115In the meantime, by then thou shalt awake,

Shall Romeo by my letters know our plan,

And hither shall he come, and he and I

Will watch thy waking, and that very night

Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.

120And this shall free thee from this present shame,

If no inconstant toy nor womanish fear

lessen

Abate° thy valor in the acting it.

JULIET

Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!

He gives her the vial

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Hold! Get you gone, be strong and prosperous

125In this resolve. I’ll send a Friar with speed

To Mantua with my letters to thy lord.[14]

JULIET

Love give me strength, and strength shall help afford.

Farewell, dear Father.

Exit all

❖❖❖

ACT 4, SCENE 2

Juliet returns to find her family preparing for the wedding. Repentant, she asks for forgiveness and agrees to marry Paris. Lord Capulet, in his excitement, decides to advance the ceremony from Thursday to Wednesday (tomorrow). Ignoring his wife’s protests, he instructs her to be with Juliet while he finishes preparations and sends word to Paris of the changed itinerary.

Somewhere within the Capulet estate:

Enter Capulet, Lady capulet, Nurse, and Servingmen

CAPULET

So many guests invite as here are writ.

Gives a list to a SERVANT, who then exits.

Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks.

SERVINGMAN

unskilled

You shall have none ill°, sir, for I’ll test if they will lick their fingers.[15]

CAPULET

How canst thou test them so?

SERVINGMAN

5Marry sir, ‘tis an ill cook that will not lick his own fingers:

Therefore he that will not lick his fingers goes not with me.

CAPULET

Go, be gone.

Exit Servingman

unprepared

We shall be much unfurnished° for this time.

What, is my daughter gone to Friar Lawrence?

NURSE

10Aye, forsooth.

CAPULET

Well he may chance to do some good on her.

unprincipled behavior

A peevish, self-willed harlotry° it is.

Enter Juliet

LADY CAPULET

See, here she commeth from confession.

CAPULET

How now, my headstrong?

wandering

15Where have you been gadding°?

JULIET

Where I have learnt me to repent the sin

Of disobedient opposition

compelled

To you and your behests, and am enjoined°

By holy Lawrence to fall prostrate here [Juliet kneels]

20To beg your pardon. Pardon, I beseech you!

Henceforward I am ever ruled by you.

CAPULET

Now before God, this holy reverend Friar,

indebted

All our whole city is much bound° to him!

Send for the County. Go tell him of this.

25I’ll have this knot knit up tomorrow morning.[16]

JULIET

I met the youthful lord at Lawrence’s cell,

And gave him what becomed love I might,

Not stepping o’er the bounds of modesty.

CAPULET

Why, I am glad on’t. This is well. Stand up.

30This is as’t should be. Let me see the County.

Aye, marry, go I say, and fetch him hither.

JULIET rises

JULIET

Nurse, will you go with me into my closet

To help me sort such needful ornaments

As you think fit to furnish me tomorrow?

LADY CAPULET

35No, not till Thursday. There’s time enough.

CAPULET

Go, Nurse, go with her.

We’ll to church tomorrow.

Exit Juliet and Nurse

LADY CAPULET

Methinks on Thursday would be time enough.

CAPULET

I say I will have this dispatched tomorrow.

LADY CAPULET

40I pray, my Lord, let it be Thursday.

CAPULET

I say tomorrow while she’s in the mood.

LADY CAPULET

food and drink

We shall be short in our provision°.

‘Tis now near night.

CAPULET

Tush, I will stir about.

45And all things shall be well, I warrant thee, wife.

dress

Go thou to Juliet, help to deck° her up.

I’ll not to bed tonight. Let me alone;

I’ll play the housewife [17] for this once.— [calls servants] What ho?

gone

They are all forth°.— Well, I will walk myself

50To County Paris, to prepare up him

Against tomorrow. My heart is wondrous light

Since this same wayward girl is so reclaimed.

Exit all

❖❖❖

ACT 4, SCENE 3

Juliet sends the nurse and Lady Capulet from her bedroom on the pretext of getting rest. She then experiences a series of doubts about the plan: what if the poison doesn’t work? What if the Friar actually intends to kill her to preserve the sanctity of her first marriage? What if she wakes up too early and suffocates? What if waking in the tomb will drive her insane? She rebuts most of these fears and drinks the poison, falling into a death-like trance.

Juliet’s chambers within the Capulet estate:

Enter JULIET and NURSE

JULIET

Aye, those attires are best; but gentle Nurse

I pray thee leave me to myself tonight

prayers

For I have need of many orisons°

To move the heavens to smile upon my state,

5Which, well thou know’st, is cross and full of sin.

Enter LADY CAPULET

LADY CAPULET

What, are you busy – do you need my help?

JULIET

selected

No, madam, we have culled° such necessaries

necessary

As are behooveful° for our state tomorrow.

So please you, let me now be left alone;

10And let the Nurse this night sit up with you,

For I am sure you have your hands full all

In this so sudden business.

LADY CAPULET

Goodnight.

Get thee to bed and rest, for thou hast need.

Exit NURSE and LADY CAPULET

JULIET

15Farewell:

God knows when we shall meet again.

I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins,

That almost freezes up the heat of life.

I’ll call them back again to comfort me.—

20Nurse!—[18] What should she do here?

My dismal scene I needs must act alone.

Come, vial.

Takes out vial.

What if this mixture should not work at all?

Shall I be married then tomorrow morning?

25No, no, this shall forbid it.

Takes out knife.

Lie thou there.

What if it be a poison, which the Friar

Subtly hath ministered to have me dead,

Lest in this marriage he should be dishonored,

Because he married me before to Romeo?

30I fear it is. And yet methinks it should not,

For he hath still been tried a holy man.

How, if when I am laid into the tomb,

I wake before the time that Romeo

Comes to redeem me? There’s a fearful point:

suffocated

35Shall I not then be stifled° in the vault,

To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in,

And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?

likely

Or, if I live, is it not very like°

notion; idea

The horrible conceit° of death and night,

40Together with the terror of the place—

As in the vault, an ancient receptacle

Where for these many hundred years the bones

Of all my buried ancestors are packed:

Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth,[19]

45Lies festering in his shroud; where, as they say,

haunt

At some hours in the night spirits resort°.

Alack, alack, is it not like that I

In early waking, what with loathsome smells,

And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth,[20]

50That living mortals hearing them run mad—

O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,

surrounded; buried

Environed° with all these hideous fears,

And madly play with my forefathers’ joints?

And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud?

55And, in this rage, with some great kinsman’s bone,

As with a club, dash out my desperate brains?

O look, methinks I see my cousin’s ghost,

impale

Seeking out Romeo that did spit° his body

Upon a rapier’s point. Stay, Tybalt, stay!

60Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink; I drink to thee.[21]

She drinks and falls upon her bed within the curtains.

❖❖❖

ACT 4, SCENE 4

The Capulets work through the night in preparation. Hearing Paris’ arrival, Lord Capulet tells the Nurse to wake Juliet.

Somewhere within the Capulet estate:

Enter LADY CAPULET and NURSE

LADY CAPULET

Hold, take these keys and fetch more spices, Nurse.

NURSE

fruit

They call for dates and quinces° in the pastry.[22]

Enter CAPULET

CAPULET

Come, stir, stir, stir! The second cock hath crowed;[23]

The curfew bell hath rung. ‘Tis three o’clock:

5Look to the baked meats, good Angelica,[24]

Spare not for cost.

NURSE

Go, you cotquean,[25] go,

Get you to bed. Faith, you’ll be sick tomorrow

For this night’s watching.

CAPULET

10No, not a whit. What! I have watched ere now

All night for lesser cause, and ne’er been sick.

LADY CAPULET

a ladies’ man

Aye, you have been a mousehunt° in your time,

But I will watch you from such watching now.

Exit LADY CAPULET and NURSE

CAPULET

A jealous-hood, a jealous-hood! Now, fellow, what is there?

Enter three or four SERVINGMEN with spits, logs, and baskets

FELLOW

15Things for the cook, sir, but I know not what.

CAPULET

Make haste, make haste, sirrah! Fetch drier logs.

Call Peter; he will show thee where they are.

FELLOW

I have a head sir, that will find out logs,

And never trouble Peter for the matter.

CAPULET

20Mass,[26] and well said. A merry whoreson,[27] ha!

Thou shalt be loggerhead.[28]—Good Father, ‘tis day.

Play music

The County will be here with music soon,

For so he said he would. I hear him near.

Nurse! Wife! What ho! What, Nurse, I say!

Enter NURSE

25Go waken Juliet, go trim her up,

I’ll go and chat with Paris. Hie, make haste,

Make haste. The bridegroom: he is come already.

Make haste, I say!

Exit all but NURSE

❖❖❖

ACT 4, SCENE 5

The Nurse enters Juliet’s bedroom, assuming her to be asleep, but then discovers her to be (apparently) dead. Lady Capulet, Lord Capulet, Paris, and Friar Lawrence arrive consecutively and grieve at seeing Juliet in her current state. The Friar reassures the family that Juliet is surely well in heaven and urges them to bring her to church to begin the funeral rites. After they leave, musicians hired for the wedding linger, and, unconcerned by the day’s events, joke and banter about music before making their exit.

Juliet’s chambers within the Capulet estate:

Enter NURSE

NURSE

fast asleep

Mistress? What, mistress? Juliet? Fast°, I warrant her, she.

sleepyhead

Why, lamb! Why, lady! Fie, you slugabed°!

Why, love, I say! Madam, sweetheart! Why, bride!

money’s worth

What, not a word? You take your pennyworths° now,

5Sleep for a week, for the next night I warrant

The County Paris hath set up his rest[29]

That you shall rest but little.—God forgive me.

Marry and Amen! How sound is she asleep.

I must needs wake her.—Madam, madam, madam!

10Aye, let the County take you in your bed;

He’ll fright you up, i’faith. Will it not be?

What, dressed and in your clothes and down again?

I must needs wake you. Lady, lady, lady!

Alas, alas! Help, help! My lady’s dead!

woe the day

15O welladay° that ever I was born!

Some aqua-vitae, ho! My lord, my lady!

Enter LADY CAPULET

LADY CAPULET

What noise is here?

NURSE

O lamentable day!

LADY CAPULET

What is the matter?

NURSE

20Look, look! O heavy day!

LADY CAPULET

O me, O me! My child, my only life!

Revive, look up, or I will die with thee!

Help, help! Call help!

Enter CAPULET

CAPULET

For shame, bring Juliet forth. Her Lord is come.

NURSE

25She’s dead, deceased, she’s dead. Alack the day!

LADY CAPULET

Alack the day! She’s dead, she’s dead, she’s dead.

CAPULET

Ha! Let me see her. Out, alas—she’s cold!

Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff;

Life and these lips have long been separated.

30Death lies on her like an untimely frost

Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.

NURSE

O lamentable day!

LADY CAPULET

O woeful time!

CAPULET

Death, that hath ta’en her hence to make me wail,

35Ties up my tongue and will not let me speak.

Enter FRIAR LAWRENCE and PARIS with MUSICIANS

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Come, is the bride ready to go to church?

CAPULET

Ready to go, but never to return.

O son, the night before thy wedding day

Hath Death lain with thy wife. There she lies,

40Flower as she was, deflowered by him.

Death is my son-in-law; Death is my heir.

My daughter he hath wedded. I will die

And leave him all life living. All is Death’s.

PARIS

Have I thought long to see this morning’s face,

45And doth it give me such a sight as this?

LADY CAPULET

Accursed, unhappy, wretched, hateful day!

Most miserable hour that e’er time saw

In lasting labor of his pilgrimage.[30]

But one, poor one, one poor and loving child,

50But one thing to rejoice and solace in,

And cruel Death hath catched it from my sight.

NURSE

O woe, O woeful, woeful, woeful day!

Most lamentable day, most woeful day

That ever, ever I did yet behold.

55O day, O day, O day, O hateful day,

Never was seen so black a day as this:

O woeful day, O woeful day!

PARIS

Beguiled, divorcèd, wrongèd, spited, slain!

Most detestable Death, by thee beguiled,

60By cruel, cruel thee quite overthrown.

O love, O life; not life, but love in death.

CAPULET

Despised, distressèd, hated, martyred, killed!

Uncomfortable time, why cam’st thou now

To murder, murder our solemnity?

65O child, O child, my soul and not my child!

Dead art thou! Alack, my child is dead,

And with my child, my joys are burièd.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Peace, ho! For shame! Confusion’s cares lives not

yelling; commotion

In these confusions°. Heaven and yourself

70Had part in this fair maid.[31] Now heaven hath all,

And all the better it is for the maid.

Your part in her, you could not keep from Death,

But heaven keeps his part in eternal life.

The most you sought was her promotion,

75For ‘twas your heaven she should be advanced.

And weep ye now, seeing she is advanced

Above the clouds, as high as heaven itself?

O in this love, you love your child so ill

That you run mad seeing that she is well.

80She’s not well married that lives married long,

But she’s best married that dies married young.

Dry up your tears and stick your rosemary[32]

On this fair corpse, and, as the custom is,

attire

In all her best array° bear her to Church.

85For though some nature bids us all lament,

Yet nature’s tears are reason’s merriment.

CAPULET

All things that we ordained festival

Turn from their office to black funeral.

Our instruments to melancholy bells,

90Our wedding cheer to sad burial feast,

songs of lamentation

Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges° change,

Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corpse,

And all things change them to the contrary.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Sir, go you in, and madam, go with him;

95And go, sir Paris. Every one prepare

To follow this fair corpse unto her grave.

The heavens do frown upon you for some ill;

Move them no more, by crossing their high will.

Exit all but NURSE and MUSICIANS

FIRST MUSICIAN

Faith, we may put up our pipes[33] and be gone.

NURSE

100Honest good fellows, ah, put up, put up!

For well you know, this is a pitiful case.

FIRST MUSICIAN

Aye, by my troth, the case may be amended.[34]

Exit NURSE

Enter PETER

PETER

Musicians, O musicians! “Heart’s Ease,” “Heart’s Ease.”[35]

O, and you will have me live, play “Heart’s Ease.”

FIRST MUSICIAN

105Why “Heart’s Ease?”

PETER

O musicians, because my heart itself plays “My heart is full of

sad song

woe.” O play me some merry dump° to comfort me.

FIRST MUSICIAN

Not a dump, no—’tis no time to play now.

PETER

You will not then?

FIRST MUSICIAN

110No.

PETER

I will then give it to you soundly.

FIRST MUSICIAN

What will you give us?

PETER

name

insult

No money, on my faith, but the gleek°. I will give° you the

minstrel.[36]

FIRST MUSICIAN

115Then will I give you the serving-creature.[37]

PETER

head

Then will I lay the serving-creature’s daggers on your pate°. I will

a musical note

carry no crochets°; I’ll re you, I’ll fa you.[38] Do you note me?

FIRST MUSICIAN

If you re us and you fa us, you’ll note us.

SECOND MUSICIAN

Pray you put up your dagger, and put out your wit. Then have at

120you with my wit.

PETER

thrash

I will dry-beat° you with an iron wit and put up my iron dagger.

Answer me like men:

[Sings] When griping griefs the heart doth wound,

And doleful dumps the mind oppress,

125  Then music with her silver sound—

Why “silver sound?” Why “music with her silver sound?”

What say you, Simon Catling?[39]

FIRST MUSICIAN

Marry, sir, because silver hath a sweet sound.

PETER

a stupid answer

Prates°! What say you, Hugh Rebeck?[40]

SECOND MUSICIAN

130I say “silver sound” because musicians sound for silver.[41]

PETER

Prates too! What say you, James Sound-Post?[42]

THIRD MUSICIAN

Faith, I know not what to say.

PETER

O, I cry you mercy![43] You are the singer. I will say for you: It is

“music with her silver sound” because musicians have no gold for

135sounding.

[Sings] Then Music with her silver sound

relief

With speedy help doth lend redress°.

Farewell, fiddlers! Farewell!

Exit PETER

FIRST MUSICIAN

What a pestilent knave is this man!

SECOND MUSICIAN

140Hang him,[44] Jack. Come, we’ll be in here, tarry for the mourners, and

stay dinner.[45]

Exit all

1. Venus: a mythical goddess often representing love ↵

2. Hastes our marriage: To move quickly with the wedding ↵

3. May be put from her by society: Paris is saying that with company, she might cry less ↵

4. I would I knew not what it should be slowed: Friar Lawrence wants to be heard by the audience, not Paris, and is saying that he wishes he didn't know what was to come. ↵

5. Come you to make confession to this father?: Paris is asking Juliet if she has come to confess to the Friar. Confession is a common practice in the Catholic religion. ↵

6. I will confess to you that I love him: Juliet is using tricky and playful language to confuse Paris and keep him under the impression that she does love him. In fact, she is actually saying that she will confess that she loves Romeo. ↵

7. For it was bad enough before their spite: Her face was abused and dirty enough before the tears. She is trying to get Paris to leave her alone. ↵

8. Shall be the label to another deed: That Juliet should be married to both Romeo and Paris. ↵

9. the commission of thy years and art: the authority of your age and skills ↵

10. Which craves as...which we would prevent: the friar is saying that his plan is as difficult as their current situation, but that it could work. ↵

11. charnel house: structure that stores burial remains ↵

12. reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls: smelly bones and jawless skulls ↵

13. As the manner of our country is: it was common to bury families all in the same tomb or cemetery. ↵

14. thy lord: Romeo ↵

15. lick their fingers: The servingman speaks with a dialect of the lower class. Licking their fingers is a sign that a cook likes their own cooking, so they must be a good hire. ↵

16. this knot knit up tomorrow morning: this means Juliet will be married in the morning, a day earlier than planned. ↵

17. Sensitivity note: housewife in this context represents another example of Shakespeare's assumed gender roles. Keep in mind that though this may have been a common phrase in his time, it does not mean it was an accurate or respectful statement. ↵

18. Nurse: Juliet is breaking her soliloquy to call out for the nurse before quickly coming to her senses and thinking to herself again. ↵

19. yet but green in earth: freshly buried ↵

20. mandrakes: plants whose roots grow in a humanlike shape and, according to legend, shriek when torn from the ground. ↵

21. O look, methinks...I drink to thee: This rambling from Juliet conveys her confusion and fear in this moment. These fears of death and what could be in the vial fill her head until she settles on drinking it. ↵

22. pastry: pastry-making room ↵

23. The second cock hath crowed: tradition had it that the cock crows first at midnight, then at 3AM, and then an hour before the sun rises ↵

24. Angelica: a plant used for flavoring, baking, and candies. ↵

25. cotquean: here, a man doing women’s work or displaying womanish tendencies. ↵

26. Mass: word used to agree with someone else ↵

27. A merry whoreson: i.e., he’s a funny son of a sex worker ↵

28. loggerhead: could mean blockhead; could also mean having a big head (out of proportion to the body) ↵

29. hath set up his rest: has resolved ↵

30. lasting labor of his pilgrimage:  i.e., in all his days ↵

31. had part in this fair maid: i.e., were alive in her ↵

32. rosemary: the herb was sometimes used in funeral ceremonies ↵

33. put upour pipes: pipe instruments were traditionally used at weddings; “put up” here means “put away.” ↵

34. the case may be amended: referring to either the case of Juliet’s death, or his instrument case ↵

35. “Heart’s Ease”: a popular song at the time. ↵

36. the minstrel: insulting term for “musician” ↵

37. the serving-creature: insulting term for “servant” ↵

38. I’ll re you, I’ll fa you: re and fa are both names of musical notes ↵

39. Catling: a string used for instruments ↵

40. Rebeck: a bowed instrument ↵

41. sound for silver: i.e., make sound for money ↵

42. Sound-Post: a small component used in violins and other similar instruments. ↵

43. cry you mercy: beg your pardon ↵

44. Hang him: phrase used to disregard or ignore someone ↵

45. stay dinner: wait for dinner ↵

Act 5

ACT 5, SCENE 1

Balthasar, a friend of Romeo’s, brings him news that Juliet is dead and lies in the Capulet tomb. Resolved to find her and join her in death, Romeo first visits an apothecary and bribes him to obtain an illegal (and lethal) poison.

Trigger warning: Act 5 contains material discussing and portraying suicide.

A market street in Mantua:

Enter ROMEO

ROMEO

If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep

foreshadow

My dreams presage° some joyful news at hand.

My bosom’s lord[1] sits lightly in his throne:

And all this day an unaccustomed spirit

5Lifts 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.

10Ah me, how sweet is love itself possessed,[2]

dreams

When but love’s shadows° are so rich in joy!

Enter ROMEO’s man BALTHASAR

News from Verona! How now, Balthasar?

Dost thou not bring me letters from the Friar?

How doth my lady? Is my father well?

15How doth my lady Juliet? That I ask again,

If she is well, then nothing can be ill.

BALTHASAR

Then nothing can be ill, for she is well!

Her body sleeps in Capel’s monument,

And her immortal part with angels lives.

20I saw her laid low in her kindred’s vault,

And presently took post to tell it you.

O, pardon me for bringing this ill news,

duty

Since you did leave it for my office°, sir.

ROMEO

Is it even so? Then I deny you, stars!

25Thou knowest my lodging. Get me ink and paper,

And hire post horses.[3] I will hence tonight.

BALTHASAR

I do beseech you sir, have patience.

imply

Your looks are pale and wild,[4] and do import°

accident, or failed attempt

Some misadventure°.

ROMEO

30Tush, 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.

35And hire those horses. I’ll be with thee straight.

Exit BALTHASAR

Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight.

Let’s see for means.[5] O mischief, thou art swift

To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!

I do remember an apothecary—

40And hereabouts he dwells—which late I noted

clothes

In tattered cloths with overwhelming brows,

herbs

Culling of simples°. Meager were his looks.

Sharp misery had worn him to the bones.

And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,

45An alligator stuffed, and other skins

Of ill-shaped fishes. And about his shelves,

small

A beggarly° amount of empty boxes,

Green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds,

Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of roses

50Were thinly scattered to make up a show.

extreme poverty

Noting this penury°, to myself I said,

“An if a man did need a poison now—

Whose sale is present death in Mantua—

miserable; vile

Here lives a caitiff° wretch would sell it him.”

55O, 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

60Who calls so loud?

ROMEO

Come hither, man. I see that thou art poor.

gold coins

Hold, there is forty ducats°. Let me have

small drink

A dram° of poison, such soon-speeding stuff

As will disperse itself through all the veins

65That life-weary taker may fall dead,

chest

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

70Is death to any he that utters them!

ROMEO

Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness

And fearest to die? Famine is in thy cheeks,

Need and oppression starveth in thy eyes,

Contempt and beggary hangs upon thy back!

75The 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 pray thy poverty and not thy will.[6]

APOTHECARY gives him the poison

APOTHECARY

80Put 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

There is thy gold: worse poison to men’s souls,

Doing more murder in this loathsome world

85Than those poor compounds that thou must not sell.

I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none.

Farewell, buy food, and get thyself in flesh.[7]

Exit APOTHECARY

medicinal drink

Come, cordial° and not poison, go with me

To Juliet’s grave, for there must I use thee.

Exit ROMEO

❖❖❖

ACT 5, SCENE 2

Friar John returns to Friar Lawrence, informing him that his letter could not be delivered to Romeo due to an outbreak of sickness. Aware that Juliet will soon awake, Friar Lawrence heads to the Capulet tomb to retrieve Juliet and keep her safe until Romeo can return.

Friar Lawrence’s cell in Verona:

Enter FRIAR JOHN

FRIAR JOHN

Holy Franciscan Friar, brother, ho?

Enter FRIAR LAWRENCE

FRIAR LAWRENCE

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

another friar

5I went to find a barefoot brother° out,

One of our order, to accompany me,

Who was in this city visiting the sick,

And, finding him, the searchers of the town

Suspected that we both were in a house

10Where the infectious pestilence did reign,

Sealed up the doors and would not let us forth,[8]

So that my speed to Mantua there was stayed.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Who bare my letter then to Romeo?!

FRIAR JOHN

I could not send it—here it is again—

15Nor get a messenger to bring it thee,

So fearful were they of infection.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Unhappy fortune!  By my Brotherhood,

The letter was not nice but full of charge[9]

Of dear import, and the neglecting it

20May do much danger.  Friar John, go hence,

Get me an iron crow[10] and bring it straight

Unto my cell!

FRIAR JOHN

Brother, I’ll go and bring it thee!

Exit FRIAR JOHN

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Capulet family tomb

Now must I to the Monument° alone.

25Within 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 ‘til Romeo come.

30Poor living corpse, closed in a dead man’s Tomb.

Exit FRIAR LAWRENCE

❖❖❖

ACT 5, SCENE 3

Paris mourns at the Capulet tomb, but hides when he hears someone (Romeo) approaching. As he reaches the tomb, Romeo commands Balthasar to leave; Balthasar leaves but decides to linger secretly. Paris confronts Romeo as he attempts to open the tomb. They fight, and Romeo kills Paris. Romeo enters the tomb and lays Paris inside it. Approaching Juliet, Romeo grieves for her death and the luster of her still-lively beauty. He drinks the poison and dies. Friar Lawrence arrives and witnesses the scene as Juliet wakes, offering to hide her away among a convent of nuns. She refuses. Hearing guards approaching, Juliet kills herself with Romeo’s dagger. The Prince, the Capulets, and the Montagues are summoned by the guards. Friar Lawrence summarizes the events leading to this point and is corroborated by Balthasar and Romeo’s letter to his father. In remorse, lords Capulet and Montague make peace.

The Churchyard, outside the Capulet Tomb, later moving within the tomb:

Enter PARIS and his PAGE

PARIS

at a distance

Give me thy torch, boy. Hence, and stand aloof°.

Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.

Under those young trees, lay thee all along,[11]

Holding thy ear close to the hollow ground.

5So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread,

Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves,

But thou shalt hear it. Whistle then to me

As signal that thou hearest something approach.

Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee; go!

PAGE

10I am almost afraid to stand alone

Here in the churchyard, yet I will adventure.

PARIS

Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew—

O woe, thy canopy is dust and stones!

Which with sweet water nightly I will dew,

15Or, lacking that, with tears distilled by moans.

The obsequies that I for thee will keep,[12]

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,

20To cross my obsequies and true love’s right?

What, with a torch?  Muffle me, night, a while.

Enter ROMEO and BALTHASAR

ROMEO

crowbar

pickaxe

Give me the mattock° and the wrenching iron°.

And take this letter early in the morning.

See thou deliver it to my lord and father.

25Give me the light. Upon thy life I charge thee,

Whatever 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,

30But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger

A precious ring, a ring that I must use,

In dear employment;[13] therefore hence, be gone.

curious

But if thou, jealous°, dost return to pry,

In what I farther shall intend to do,

35By 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

40I will be gone, sir, and not trouble ye.

ROMEO

In this thou shows me friendship. [hands BALTHASAR money] Take thou that.

Live and be prosperous, and farewell, good fellow!

BALTHASAR and ROMEO part

BALTHASAR

For all this same, I’ll hide me hereabout.

His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt.

ROMEO

mouth

45Thou detestable maw°, thou womb of death,

Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth,

Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open,

spite

And in despite°, I’ll cram thee with more food!

PARIS

arrogant

[To himself] This is that banished haughty° Montague

50That 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.

[To ROMEO] Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile Montague!

55Can vengeance be pursued further than death?

Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee!

Obey and go with me, for thou must die!

ROMEO

I must indeed, and therefore I came hither.

Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man,

60Fly hence and leave me. Think upon these gone;

Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth,

Put not another sin upon my head

By urging me to fury. [14] O, begone!

By heaven, I love thee better than myself,

65For I come hither armed against myself.

Stay not: be gone, live, and hereafter say,

A madman’s mercy bid thee run away.

PARIS

I do defy thy commiseration,

And apprehend thee for a felon here.

ROMEO

70Wilt thou provoke me?  Then have at thee, boy!

ROMEO and PARIS fight

PAGE

O Lord, they fight!  I will go call the Watch.

Exit PAGE

PARIS

O, I am slain!  If thou be merciful,

Open the tomb; lay me with Juliet.

PARIS dies

ROMEO

examine

In faith, I will. Let me peruse° this face.

75Mercutio’s kinsman, noble County Paris!

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?

80Or 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 lantern, slaughtered youth,

85For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes

This vault a feasting presence full of light!

ROMEO arranges PARIS in the Capulet tomb

Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interred.

How oft when men are at the point of death

Have they felt merry, which their keepers call

90A lightning before death. O, how may I

Call this a lightning? O my love! My wife!

Death that has sucked the honey of thy breath

Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.

banner

Thou art not conquered. Beauty’s ensign° yet

95Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,

And death’s pale flag is not advanced there.

Tybalt, lie you there in that bloody sheet?

O, what more favor can I do to thee

in half

Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain°

cut off

100To sunder° his that was thine enemy?

Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet,

Why are thou yet so fair? I will believe—

Shall I believe—that unsubstantial Death is amorous,[15]

And that the lean abhorrèd monster[16] keeps

lover

105Thee 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.[17] O, here

110Will 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

115A dateless bargain to engrossing death!

He kisses JULIET

Come, bitter conduct!  Come, unsavory guide!

Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on

The dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark!

honest

Here’s to my love! O true° apothecary,

120Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss, I die.

ROMEO drinks the poison and dies

Enter FRIAR LAWRENCE with a lantern, crowbar and a spade

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Saint Francis[18] be my speed! How oft tonight

Have my old feet tripped on gravestones.—Who’s there?

BALTHASAR

Here’s one, a friend, and one that knows you well.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Bliss be upon you!  Tell me, good my friend,

125What torch is yond that vainly lends his light

To grubs and eyeless skulls?  As I discern,

It burns in the Capulets’ monument.

BALTHASAR

It does so, holy sir,

And there’s my master, one that you love.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

130Who is it?

BALTHASAR

Romeo.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

How long hath he been there?

BALTHASAR

Full half an hour.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Go with me to the vault.

BALTHASAR

135I 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 LAWRENCE

Stay then, I’ll go alone.  Fear comes upon me.

unfortunate

140O, much I fear some ill unthrifty° thing.

BALTHASAR

As I did sleep under this young tree here,

I dreamt my master and another fought

And that my master slew him.

Exit BALTHASAR

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Romeo!

145Alas! Alas!  What blood is this which stains

burial place

The stony entrance of this sepulcher°?

What mean these masterless and gory swords

To lie discolored by this place of peace?

Romeo! O, pale. Who else? What, Paris too?

150And steeped in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour

Is guilty of this lamentable chance?

The lady stirs.

JULIET

O comfortable Friar! Where is my lord?

I do remember well where I should be.

155And there I am. Where is my Romeo?

FRIAR LAWRENCE

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,

160Thy 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.

Exit FRIAR LAWRENCE

JULIET

165Go get thee hence, for I will not away.

What’s here? A cup closed in my true love’s hand?

Poison I see has been his timeless end!

selfish person

O churl°! Drank all and left no friendly drop

To help me after? I will kiss thy lips.

170Happ’ly some poison yet doth hang on them,

To make me die with a restorative.

She kisses ROMEO

Thy lips are warm!

Enter PAGE and WATCH

WATCHMAN 1

Lead, boy! Which way?

JULIET

Yea, noise?  Then I’ll be brief.  O happy dagger,

175This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die.

JULIET stabs herself and dies

PAGE

This is the place, there where the torch doth burn.

CHIEF WATCHMAN

The ground is bloody!  Search about the churchyard.

Go, some of you; whoe’er you find, arrest.

Pitiful sight!  Here lies the County slain,

180And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead,

Who here hath lain these two days burièd.

Go tell the Prince. Run to the Capulets.

Raise up the Montagues. Some others search.

We see the ground whereon these woes do lie,

185But the true ground of all these piteous woes

decipher

We cannot without circumstance descry°.

Enter 2nd WATCHMAN escorting BALTHASAR

2nd WATCHMAN

Here’s Romeo’s man; we found him in the churchyard.

CHIEF WATCHMAN

Hold him in safety ‘til the Prince comes hither.

Enter 3rd WATCHMAN escorting FRIAR LAWRENCE

3rd WATCHMAN

Here is a Friar that trembles, sighs, and weeps.

190We took this mattock and spade from him

As he was coming from this churchyard’s side.

CHIEF WATCHMAN

A great suspicion! Stay the Friar too.

Enter PRINCE

PRINCE

What misadventure is so early up

That calls our person from our morning rest?

Enter CAPULET and LADY CAPULET

CAPULET

195What could it be that they so shrieked abroad?

LADY CAPULET

O, the people in the street cry “Romeo,”

Some “Juliet,” and some “Paris,” and all run

With open outcry toward our monument.

PRINCE

What fear is this which startles in our ears?

CHIEF WATCHMAN

200Sovereign, here lies the County Paris slain,

And Romeo dead, and Juliet, dead before,

Warm and new killed.

PRINCE

Search, seek, and know how this foul murder comes.

CHIEF WATCHMAN

Here is a Friar, and slaughtered Romeo’s man,

205With instruments upon them fit to open

These dead men’s tombs.

CAPULET

O heavens!  O wife, look how our daughter bleeds!

This dagger hath mista’en, for lo, his house[19]

Is empty on the back of Montague

210And is mis-sheathed in my daughter’s bosom.

LADY CAPULET

O me, this sight of death is as a bell

That warns my old age to a sepulcher.[20]

Enter MONTAGUE

PRINCE

Come, Montague, for thou art early up

To see thy son and heir, now early down.

MONTAGUE

215Alas, my liege, my wife is dead tonight!

Grief of my son’s exile hath stopped her breath.[21]

What further woe conspires against mine age?

PRINCE

Look and thou shalt see.

MONTAGUE

rude

[To ROMEO] Oh, thou untaught°! What manners is this

hurry

220To press° before thy father to a grave?

PRINCE

Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while,

‘Til we can clear these ambiguities

source

And know their spring°, their head, their true descent;

And then will I be general of your woes

225And lead you even to death.[22] Meantime, forebear,

And let mischance be slave to patience.[23]

Bring forth the parties of suspicion.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

I am the greatest, able to do least,

Yet most suspected as the time and place

230Doth make[24] against me of this direful murder.

And here I stand, both to impeach and purge,

Myself condemned and myself excused.

PRINCE

Then say at once what thou dost know in this!

FRIAR LAWRENCE

I will be brief, for my short date of breath

235Is not so long as is this tedious tale.

Romeo there, dead, was husband to that Juliet,

And she, there dead, that’s Romeo’s faithful wife.

I married them, and their stol’n marriage day

Was Tybalt’s doomsday, whose untimely death

240Banished the new-made bridegroom from this city,

For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined.[25]

You, to remove that siege of grief from her

by force

Betrothed and would have married her perforce°

To County Paris.  Then comes she to me,

245And with wild looks bid me devise some means

To rid her from this second marriage,

Or in my cell there would she kill herself.

Then gave I her, so tutored by my art,

A sleeping potion, which so took effect,

250As I intended, for it wrought on her

The form of death. Meantime I wrote to Romeo

That he should hither come as this dire night

To help to take her from the borrowed grave

Being the time the potion’s force should cease.

255But he which bore my letter, Friar John,

Was stayed by accident, and yesternight

Returned my letter back. Then all alone

At the prefixed hour of her waking

Came I to take her from her kindred’s vault,

260Meaning to keep her closely at my cell,

‘Til I conveniently could send to Romeo.

But when I came some minute ere the time

Of her awakening, here untimely lay

The noble Paris, and true Romeo, dead.

265She wakes, and I entreated her come forth

And bear this work of heaven[26] with patience.

But then a noise did scare me from the tomb,

And she, too desperate, would not go with me

But as it seems, did violence on herself.

270All this I know, and to the marriage her Nurse is privy.

And if aught in this miscarried by my fault,[27]

Let my old life be sacrificed some hour before his time

Unto the rigor of severest law.

PRINCE

We still have known thee for a holy man.

275Where’s Romeo’s man? What can he say to this?

BALTHASAR

I brought my master news of Juliet’s death,

by horseback

And then in post° he came from Mantua,

To this same place, to this same monument.

This letter he early bid me give his father,

280And threatened me with death, going in the vault,

If I departed not, and left him there.

PRINCE

Give me the letter; I will look on it.

Where is the County’s page that raised the Watch?

Sirrah, what made your master[28] in this place?

PAGE

285He came with flowers to strew his lady’s grave,

And bid me stand aloof, and so I did.

Anon comes one with light to open the tomb,

And, by and by, my master drew on him,

And then I ran away to call the Watch.

PRINCE

290[reading letter] This letter doth make good the Friar’s words.

Their course of love, the tidings of her death;

And here he writes that he did buy a poison

Of a poor apothecary, and there with it

Came to this vault to die and lie with Juliet.

295Where be these enemies? Capulet? Montague?

See what a scourge is laid upon your hate

That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!

And I, for winking at your discords,[29] too

Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished.

CAPULET

300O brother Montague, give me thy hand.

dowry

This is my daughter’s jointure°, for no more

Can I demand.

MONTAGUE

But I can give thee more,

For I will raise her statue in pure gold

305That whiles Verona by that name is known,[30]

praised

There shall be no figure at such rate be set°

As that of true and faithful Juliet.

CAPULET

As rich shall Romeo’s[31] by his lady’s lie,

Poor sacrifices for our enmity.

PRINCE

310A glooming peace this morning with it brings.

The sun for sorrow shall not show his head.

Go hence to have more talk of these sad things.

Some shall be pardoned, and some punishèd.

For never was a story of more woe

315Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

Exit all

1. My bosom’s lord: my heart ↵

2. love itself possessed: i.e., love in real life ↵

3. post horses: horses for rent, which were kept at inns ↵

4. Your looks are pale and wild: Balthasar acknowledges the mania in Romeo's actions ↵

5. Let’s see for means: i.e., how can I do this? ↵

6. I pray thy...thy will: He will pay for the poison because the Friar is poor, not because he wills it. ↵

7. get thyself in flesh: meaning, “get some meat on your bones” ↵

8. “Here in…let us forth”: he was quarantined because the searchers suspected him of having the plague ↵

9. not nice but full of charge: not trivial, but full of important instructions ↵

10. iron crow: an iron rod used as a lever ↵

11. all along: flat ↵

12. The obsequies that I for thee will keep: i.e., the funeral rites that I will perform for you ↵

13. In dear employment: i.e., for important reasons ↵

14. Put not another sin upon my head: Do not make me kill again. ↵

15. unsubstantial Death is amorous: i.e., death is in love with Juliet ↵

16. lean abhorrèd monster: i.e. Death characterized as thin and detestable. ↵

17. With worms that are thy chambermaids: i.e. Worms are characterized as servants to Juliet, tending to her grave. ↵

18. Saint Francis: the patron saint of Italy ↵

19. his house: the dagger’s sheath ↵

20. That warns my old age to a sepulcher: i.e., makes her feel old ↵

21. Grief of my son's exile hath stopped her breath: i.e., Montague's wife died due to the emotional weight of losing her son. ↵

22. And lead you even to death: i.e., be your leader in grief ↵

23. let mischance be slave to patience: i.e., let patience guide your misfortune ↵

24. make: give evidence ↵

25. For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined: i.e., Friar implies Juliet only care about Romeo and cares nothing for Tybalt. ↵

26. this work of heaven: i.e., this tragedy ↵

27. if aught in this miscarried by my fault: i.e., if anything in this was my fault ↵

28. what made your master: i.e., what was he doing? ↵

29. winking at your discords: looking the other way ↵

30. whiles Verona by that name is known: while Verona is called Verona ↵

31. Romeo’s: meaning Romeo’s statue ↵

The following materials were created by Oregon State Students in the Fall of 2020. The undergraduate team has created an annotated bibliography of accessible resources, all selected for their potential usefulness to instructors and/or students, and specifically those who want to explore the play’s representation of race, disability, and class.

Racism

Erickson, Peter, Hall, Kim F. “‘A New Scholarly Song:’ Rereading Early Modern Race.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 67, no. 1, 2016, pp. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1353/shq.2016.0002.

In their scholarly article, Erickson and Hall call for a recentering of race when discussing Shakespeare’s works, arguing that “ignoring […] race will not make it go away as a question for our–or Shakespeare’s–time” (3). Race in Shakespeare’s works should not be ignored solely because understandings of race during his time were different than those now. Nor should conversations surrounding race be shut down by over-emphasizing Shakespeare’s universality (i.e., his works’ importance or relevance to modern audiences). Rather, discussions in the classroom should be open and accepting of diversity in backgrounds, dissenting opinions, and general worldviews. Teachers can find suggestions on how to further promote diversity in the article’s exploration of different sources and media that might be used to analyze race in Shakespeare.

Huang, Alexa. “Romeo and Juliet, Allegory, and the Ethnic Vocabularies of History.” Shakespeare Studies, vol. 46, 2008, 6-19, https://mla.hcommons.org/deposits/download/hc:15744/CONTENT/joubin_romeojuliet_history.pdf/.

This study of the role of ethnicity and culture in Shakespearean works acts as an exemplary model for students in using an allegorical perspective to extend the themes and issues within Romeo and Juliet into cultures outside Italian Verona, seen through an Elizabethan perspective. Students may be influenced or guided by the procedural re-contextualization of Shakespearean topics to incorporate the setting and discussions regarding Romeo and Juliet into their own or outside cultures in order to develop a more worldly understanding of the play’s central themes. Furthermore, it provides an indepth and insightful alternative perspective that broadens the appeal and meaning of the famous tale through the historical and cultural lens of Taiwanese Ethnic history to encourage students to engage in a more well-rounded critical perspective towards the play in newly presented, or unrealized, contexts.

Karim-Cooper, Farah. “Anti-racist Shakespeare.” Shakespeare’s Globe, 26 May 2020, https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/discover/blogs-and-features/2020/05/26/anti-racistshakespeare/. Accessed 20 November 2020.

Professor Karin-Cooper’s article speaks on the historical significance of the polarity of light and dark, including the placement of light over dark in terms of beauty and behavior. It dives deeper into the purity aspect of light and dark by speaking on the Christianity and monarchy that was happening in Shakespeare’s time. Using poetry, paintings and some of Shakespeare’s own work, the article does an effective job of describing the racism happening in Shakespeare’s work without it actually being said outright.

Radel, Nicholas F. “The ethiop’s ear: race, sexuality, and Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet.” The Upstart Crow, vol. 28, 2009, p. 17+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A219520117/AONEu=s8405248&sid=AONE&xid=f18618f9. Accessed 20 Nov. 2020.

This essay highlights the phrase “Ethiop’s ear” used in Romeo’s speech in Act 1, scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet. Although this essay examines Luhrmann’s 1996 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, it is still important to recognize racism in Shakespeare’s text. Many teachers have their students watch this film, pointing to the importance of including this source. Visual media can often help students have a better understanding of the material. Since this film is different in some respects, it is important to have your students watch out for differences they may see. Even though light and dark metaphors can be seen in many pieces of literature across history, there is no excuse to extend such a metaphor into a racial context. When teaching or reading this play it is important to recognize the racial implications of the play. The term “Ethiop’s ear” is one of the most racially motivated terms used in Romeo and Juliet, making it a great learning opportunity for students.

Ableism

Cheyne, Ria. Disability, Literature, Genre: Representation and Affect in Contemporary Fiction. Liverpool University Press, 2019. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvsn3pp7.

Throughout the play of Romeo and Juliet, the love language between the two star-crossed lovers is oftentimes depicted through metaphors of disability to convey and evoke an emotive response to the volatility of the characters’ emotional state. In this open access resource, Cheyne highlights the effect that associating a central romantic protagonist, especially in tragedies, with disability has on audience reception to an author’s attempt to achieve a sense of emotional justice, or reader satisfaction, through social perceptions towards disability. In Romeo and Juliet, much of this language is expressed by or in reference to Romeo and the metaphorical blindness or madness his love inflicts upon him. In her work, Cheyne provides an analysis on why the implications of disability would play a more prominent role on the male protagonist in a romance and its suggestion towards the undesirability of the shared romantic future between the romantic protagonists.

Lapointe, Grace. “Finding Alternatives to Ableist Language.” Medium, 5 December 2019, https://gracelapointe.medium.com/finding-alternatives-to-ableist-language-627f8680810. Accessed 20 November 2020.

This blog post is an easy to understand explanation of what ableist language is and how it is often used unknowingly or in a metaphor. The author specifically mentions Shakespeare in her blog post when speaking on clichés that have ableist language. Sensory metaphors (mostly blind ones) are scattered throughout his work, especially when speaking about love or decision making. The blog post also uses modern examples of ableist language to help relate to students more effectively. This is a great way to introduce the concept of unnecessary ableism and even get discussions started on other ways Shakespeare could have written the line without it.

Schor, Naomi. “Blindness as Metaphor.” differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, vol. 11 no. 2, 1999, p. 76-105. Project MUSE https://muse.jhu.edu/article/9603.

Throughout Romeo and Juliet, there are frequent nods to blindness. However, it is attributed as a metaphor rather than an actual disability. When using the term “blind” rather than, for example, “ignore,” ableist language is being used. By equating blindness to a conscious decision to ignore a problem, Shakespeare is participating in the social prejudice against people who are blind. This essay goes into how harmful ableist language is to people who are blind. Although it does not directly cite Shakespeare’s work, it is easily applicable to his plays as he frequently uses the term “blind.”

Wood, David Houston. “Shakespeare and Disability Studies.” Literature Compass, vol. 8, no. 5, 2011, pp. 316-326. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1741-4113.2011.00803.x.

Wood’s scholarly article details three representations of disability that can be identified in Shakespeare’s works: demonstrable forms of disability (e.g., limping), covert forms of disability (e.g., chronic pain), and performance-histories of disability (e.g., staging decisions). Exploration of disability representations allows for larger conversations surrounding stigma, oppression, and otherness within Shakespeare’s writing. While the Shakespearean works pointed to in this article do not include Romeo and Juliet, students can attempt to identify examples of Wood’s representations of disability in the play. In doing so, students will be able to have conversations centered around such topics as desirability that are innate to the romantic tragedy.

Classism

Gillings, Matthew. “Shakespeare and Social Status.” Encyclopedia of Shakespeare’s Language, 5 June 2017, http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/shakespearelang/2017/06/05/shakespeare-and-socialstatus/.

This website is host to a plethora of blogs about Shakespeare. Gilling’s blog in particular explains the importance of class in Shakespeare’s work. Although this source does not particularly discuss classism, it specifies the parameters of class in the early modern time period. This source can serve as a great starting point for the discussion of class in Shakespeare’s time period. Not only could this blog bemused by teachers, but teachers would be able to give it to their students to read as it is easily approachable for high schoolers.

Hoffman, T. J. “Talk of Peace with Swords Drawn: Romeo and Juliet as a Cautionary Tale of Hierarchy and Sacrifice.” no date. Florida State University, 2004, https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A182205/.

In this free to access thesis, Hoffman examines the function of René Girard’s sacrificial crisis theory in Romeo and Juliet’s social order in relations to the cultural perceptions and restrictions of gender, marriage, and class. Hoffman presents an interpretive argument to broaden the mind of the audience into considering the importance of the family feud and its consequential violence as a social commentary upon the danger of adhering to the rigid, factionalized, hierarchy and reflecting upon the culture that would appropriate such violence in the supposedly civilized Elizabethan society. The mediums of cultural violence and gendered perspectives of this violence that Hoffman analyzes are the rites of festivity, marriage, and sacrificial justice in the context of patriarchal capitalism.

Moisan, Thomas. “‘Knock me here soundly’: Comic Misprision and Class Consciousness in Shakespeare.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 42, no. 3, 1991, pp. 276-290. https://doi.org/10.2307/2870844.

Moisan’s scholarly article explores the ways in which moments between members of superior and inferior social class standings work to accomplish a kind of comedy in Shakespeare’s works. Although Moisan does not explicitly inspect Romeo and Juliet, instances of class differences can readily be identified in the play. Therefore, having students analyze features of classism in Romeo and Juliet can provide opportunities to ponder such questions as how creative works can effectively perpetuate or challenge various social realities. Additional implications of Shakespeare’s representation of class can be found in the article for teachers to pursue in class.

Rambler. “Gender and Class in Romeo and Juliet.” Literary Ramblings, 5 June 2013, https://www.literaryramblings.com/1000-books-in-10-years-vol-242-romeo-and-julietattributed-to-william-shakespeare/. Accessed 20 November 2020.

This text uses sexism and classism to explain some of the characters in Romeo and Juliet. The character of the Nurse and the Apothecary bring to light the classism happening in the play. Explaining the force that the upper class (i.e., the Capulets and Montagues) bring to the table that make lower class people bend to their will and leave behind their morals. It also plays with the difference of the Nurse and the Apothecary with their relationships to the upper class in terms of what they can and cannot get away with when disobeying the upper class.

Contextualization

Innes, Paul. Class and Society in Shakespeare: a Dictionary. Continuum, 2007. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/osu/detail.action?docID=1751059.

This online text is free to view and provides an extensive list of historical and cultural terms utilized through the works of Shakespeare. For students interested in examining the language through its Elizabethan influences, this resource provides in-depth descriptions and contexts for outdated terminology of everyday society, roles, titles, objects, conduct, and other aspects of language and life in Shakespeare’s time. If the footnotes are not adequate to satisfy student curiosity towards the former meaning or contextualized meaning behind old language, then this text may provide them a more rounded perspective on the usage and history of that term.

The following materials were created by Oregon State Students in the Fall of 2020. The graduate team offers complete and carefully scaffolded lesson plans suitable for secondary education and informed by up-to-date scholarship for each act of the play, complete with suggestions for further reading.

Romeo and Juliet Teaching Guide

This selection of materials is designed to deepen students’ engagement with the Oregon State University open source edition of Romeo and Juliet. However, these lesson plans can be adapted to any edition of Romeo and Juliet engaged in the classroom.

The structure and pacing of reading the play is up to the teacher. These supplemental lessons are designed to 1). Lead students towards a deeper understanding of the play’s content, and 2). Engage students in critical thinking about the play’s cultural context, as well as the connections students can make to their own modern experiences.

These supplemental lessons can be peppered in throughout the reading or incorporated at the end of each act. There are extensions partnered with the lesson plans that can point more rigorous or higher-level classes towards additional literary connections, academic readings, and modern references to themes that the lesson plans address.

Act I Focus: Family Dynamics and Misogynistic Language in the Early Modern Period

Learning objective: Students will understand the role family dynamics play in the context of Romeo and Juliet and the wider context of Early Modernism. Through a close read and hands-on activity, students will critically examine the misogynistic language that is present in Shakespeare and in the Early Modern period.

Lesson: “Depicting Character Relationships Through Scene Tableaus”

1. Have two different colored sticky pads or two sets of different colored paper available. One color will be used to represent characters within the Montague household. The other color will represent characters within the Capulet household.

2. Put students into groups of three and give each group one of the following passages (if needed, more than one group can be assigned the same passage):

- Scene 1 lines 35-59 Samson and Gregory fight with Abram and Balthasar

- Scene 1 lines 178-213 Romeo explains his heartache to Benvolio

- Scene 3 lines 68-108 Romeo and Benvolio read the letter from the servant and decide to attend the ball

- Scene 5 from stage directions after line 16- 35 Dancers appear and Capulet gives a speech

- Scene 5 lines 102-118 Romeo and Juliet meet

3. Have students reread their assigned passages. Explain that each group will create a tableau or a “still image” that represents the action in their assigned passage. All students must be a part of the tableau, even if they are just representing setting. Students will wear the color (either a colored sticky note or the taped piece of colored paper) that is associated with the family they are representing.

4. After students have had time to craft their tableau, have everyone spread out around the room.

5. Have all groups who are NOT depicting their tableau close their eyes until the tableau is set. Once the presenting group indicates they are ready, the teacher can instruct student viewers to open their eyes.

6. The teacher or a student in the presenting group can offer a brief overview of the actions of the scene. Students will then take a moment to observe the tableau.

7. After each group has presented, discuss these questions:

- What is an image that stood out to you?

- What did the visuals show us about the relationships between the Montagues and the Capulets?

- What did the visuals show us about Romeo as a character?

- How was the tableau of Romeo and Juliet meeting different from the others?

Lesson: “Close Reading Misogynistic Language in Sampson and Gregory’s Exchange”

1. Divide students into groups of two or three, or ask students to return to their groups from the “Depicting Character Relationships Through Scene Tableaus” activity above.

2. Provide groups with a printed copy of Sampson and Gregory’s exchange from Act I, Scene I (lines 1-27). The text’s corresponding footnotes should be printed at the bottom of the page or readily available to students on a separate sheet of paper.

3. Ask each group to read through the passage slowly—referring to the footnotes when directed by the text—and circle or highlight any words, phrases, or lines that they believe are referring to gender. Remind students that it can take a few readings to get used to the cadence and terminology of Shakespeare. If they are not sure whether a word, phrase, or line references gender, ask them to highlight it in a different color or make a note on the side of the page.

4. Read the passage out loud to students, inviting them to identify any words, phrases, or lines related to gender that they may have missed on the first read-through.

5. Now, ask groups to consider how gender is referenced in this passage, guided by their highlighted observations and the questions below:

- What specific terms does Sampson use to describe the women of the Montague household?

- What distinction does Sampson make between how he prefers to treat the women of the Montague household and how he prefers to treat the men?

- In line 16, Gregory reminds Sampson: “The quarrel is between our masters and us their men.” What does this line tell us about the role of women within family politics during the Early Modern period?

6. Inform students that the Oxford English Dictionary defines misogyny as “Hatred or dislike of, or prejudice against women.”*

7. Ask students to further consider:

- In what ways are Gregory and Sampson’s jokes misogynistic?

- What does this tell us about how women were viewed during the Early Modern period?

8. Ask each group to share some of their observations with the class. Once all groups have shared, ask the class to collectively consider:

- How do these senses of misogynistic language in the Early Modern period help us understand the expectations placed on Romeo and Juliet as a young man and woman during this period?

- How do the moments when we are first introduced to Romeo and Juliet (respectively) seem to reflect some of the gender stereotypes that we have identified in Samson and Gregory’s misogynistic joking?

Final objective: Students should consider how Romeo and Juliet’s behavior is restricted by certain gender stereotypes of the Early Modern period. This will give students a foundation to understand decisions the characters make later in the play, as well as their interactions and responses to characters of the same and opposite sex throughout.

* “Misogyny.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, 2020, https://www-oed com.ezproxy.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/view/Entry/119829?redirectedFrom=misogyny#eid. Accessed 24 Nov. 2020.

Act I Lesson Extension

Both chapters below come from the same text: The Youth of Early Modern Women.

The first article, by Eleanor Hubbard, could easily meet the needs of this lesson guide’s thematic concerns for Acts I-III. This source provides useful context for the balcony scene in Act II by exploring early modern youth culture and courtship norms. This can help us contextualize Juliet’s motivations in the play, her disdain towards marrying Paris, and her ability to consent, refuse, or otherwise manage Romeo’s advances and patriarchal authorities.

The article also provides space for thinking about the dangers and uses the night provided to different genders and to different members of social classes. Additionally, this article provides a deeper consideration of how setting contributes to the agency of the characters. Recommended grade levels: 10-12.

Hubbard, Eleanor. “A Room of Their Own: Young Women, Courtship, and the Night in Early Modern England.” The Youth of Early Modern Women, edited by Elizabeth S. Cohen and Margaret Reeves, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2018, pp. 297–314. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv8pzd5z.17. Accessed 20 Nov. 2020.

The below source uses court documents from two ecclesiastical courts in England and uses testimonials dated to the 16th and 17th century to explore child marriage in the Early Modern period in England. This source allows students to gain a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of this practice and the means by which marriages could be resisted, challenged, and dissolved due to unsatisfactory or illegitimate pairings. Most crucially, this source means we do not have to treat the marriage plot of Romeo and Juliet in a vacuum. Rather, we can appreciate Juliet’s initial disdain for marriage and her resistance to Paris as operating within, and part of, a complicated and nuanced social practice which may now seem totally foreign to American students.

McNabb, Jennifer. “‘She Is but a Girl’: Talk of Young Women as Daughters, Wives, and Mothers in the Records of the English Consistory Courts, 1550–1650.” The Youth of Early Modern Women, edited by Elizabeth S. Cohen and Margaret Reeves, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2018, pp. 77–96. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv8pzd5z.6. Accessed 20 Nov. 2020.

Act II Focus: Representation of Class Through Language

Learning objective: Through scene illustration and close reading, students will examine the relationship between class and language alive within Shakespeare’s plays and the wider context of Early Modern England.

Lesson: “Drawing Language Into a Scene”

1. Divide students into groups of three. Each group should have one blank piece of paper and colored pencils or markers.

2. Give each group one of the following passages (if needed, more than one group can be assigned the same passage):

- Act 2, Scene 2 lines 27-55 Romeo arrives at Juliet’s home

- Act 2, Scene 2 lines 171-213 Romeo and Juliet say goodbye

- Act 2, Scene 4 lines 150-175 The nurse talks to Peter, the servant

- Act 2, Scene 5 lines 33-70 Juliet asks the nurse about Romeo’s message

3. Explain to students that one student in each group will draw the action of the passage, one student in each group will draw the setting of the passage, and one student in each group will add a line of text that they believe best exemplifies the scene. Invite students to take a moment to choose roles.

4. Give students time to complete the tasks assigned to their chosen role, with all members of the group working on the same piece of paper. Once each group has finished, create a gallery walk, hanging the images around the classroom.

5. As students observe the images, they should consider and/or write down comments addressing the following:

- What immediately catches your eye in the images?

- Are the settings similar? If yes, how? If not, how are they different?

- Is the language that the Nurse and Peter use different from the language Romeo and Juliet use when addressing each other?

6. Encourage students to discuss their findings as a class.

Final objective: Students should begin to consider that the language preferred by upper class characters incorporates more complex diction and syntax than the language preferred by the working class characters. They should also be encouraged to notice that the content addressed by upper class characters is different than the content addressed by working class characters (for example: courtly love versus dirty jokes).

Lesson: “Close Reading Class”

1. Now that students have considered the language variances across characters of different classes, they will contrast these speech and language patterns more deeply through a close read.

2. To begin, ask students to reflect on what they already understand about the class distinctions between characters (as developed in the “Drawing Language Into a Scene” lesson above). Remind students of these distinctions by encouraging them to consider:

- How would you describe Romeo and Juliet’s class?

- Does the Nurse belong to a similar class? A different one?

3. Divide students into groups of three to four. Provide each group with a printed copy of two passages:

- Act 2, Scene 2 lines 1-36 Balcony scene

- Act 2, Scene lines 124-141 Nurse addresses Peter

4. Ask groups to carefully read both passages, designating one group member who will read the passages out loud so that the group can hear the dialogue spoken.

5. Encourage students to begin by coming to a consensus on the action of the passage. Invite them to consider:

- What is being discussed between the characters in the scenes?

- Who are the major characters in the passage and what do we know about them so far?

6. Instruct students to set the passages side-by-side on their tables. Ask them to begin by circling any words or phrases that are repeated in the passage between Romeo and Juliet that do not appear in the exchange between the Nurse and Peter.

7. Next, ask students to put a box around any figurative language that they notice in either passage.

8. Finally, ask students to reflect on repetition and sentence structure. Invite them to take a careful look at both passages individually, noticing any repeated phrases, repeated themes, favored sentence structures, or breaks from iambic pentameter. They should take notes on their observations.

9. As a group, ask them to reflect on the effect that this language variance has on their sense of the characters represented in the scene. Students should answer:

- Does one passage feel easier to follow or understand?

- Does one feel more poetic, or more easily visualized?

10. Come back together as a full class and invite groups to share their reflections.

Final objective: Students should consider how variances of language work to establish Romeo and Juliet as a different class than characters like the Nurse and Peter, with a different level of education. Students should also begin to reflect on how Shakespeare’s representation of these class differences affects the clarity and imagery of different passages in the play.

Act II Lesson Extension

The below source presents a means for thinking through filmic representations of Romeo and Juliet and the different approaches directors have taken with the story over the years. Engaging with film allows students to think critically about the mass media they consume while practicing skills that critique, analyze, and question the directorial choices that create/communicate the characters’ actions and intentions. This could also be used in Act V, wherein we think about adaptations and how students could adapt characters, worldviews, or plot occurrences to be more representative of their lives and circumstances. Recommended for students in 9-12 grades.

Martin, Jennifer L. “Tights vs. Tattoos: Filmic Interpretations of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’” The English Journal, vol. 92, no. 1, 2002, pp. 41–46. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/821945. Accessed 19 Nov. 2020.

Act III Focus: Gender Dynamics and Storyline

Learning objective: Students will examine and analyze how gender dynamics in the Early Modern period inform both the action and language of Romeo and Juliet.

Lesson: “Exploring Character Interactions Through Physicalization”

1. Divide the class into groups of four.

2. Give each group one of the following passages:

- Act 3, Scene 1 lines 35-57 Benvolio and Mercutio encounter Tybalt

- Act 3, Scene 1 lines 57-86 Mercutio antagonizes Tybalt

- Act 3, Scene 1 lines 89- 100 Romeo tries to break it up, Tybalt stabs Mercutio

- Act 2, Scene 1 lines 129-145 Romeo fights Tybalt and kills him

3. Ask students to reread their assigned passage with their group members. Each student will choose a role: two or three students will choose a character from the scene and will be physicalizing it, and one or two students will be reading lines during the physicalization.

4. In their groups, ask students to make decisions about how they want to physically portray the action of their assigned passage. Ask each group to also select a key excerpt that they believe exemplifies the action of their assigned passage. This excerpt will be the one read out loud by group members during the group’s physicalization.

5. Groups will present their physicalization and line reading in chronological order, physicalizing the scene while the key lines are being read. The rest of the class will observe each group.

6. After each group presents, check that the class has a grasp on what is being portrayed in the scene.

7. After each group presents, have students write responses to the following questions or discuss as a full class (students might want to refer to the text as they answer):

- What is the mood of this scene? What contributes to the mood? Specifically, what key words contribute to the mood?

- How is both the action and language different than other key parts of the play (say, scenes with Romeo and Juliet)?

- What could this scene possibly tell us about gender dynamics (especially between men) in this time period?

- How is this scene similar or different from contemporary scenes in movies or TV involving only men? Provide specific examples.

Lesson: “Contrasting Representations of Gender”

1. Spend a few moments asking the class to reflect on gender within the acts of Romeo and Juliet that they have read so far. This can be done in a think-pair-share format or included as a full class discussion. If the class participated in the Act I lesson “Close Reading Misogynistic Language in Sampson and Gregory’s Exchange,” remind them of the gender stereotypes they noticed during that activity.

2. Tell the class that they will be building on these initial thoughts to consider how gender directs the play’s physical action and storyline.

3. Ask the class to get into groups of two to four. Give each group one of the following passages:

- Scene 1, lines 1-30 Mercutio comments on Benvolio’s temper

- Scene 1, lines 68-79 Mercutio and Tybalt begin the fight

- Scene 1, lines 112-128 Romeo and Tybalt fight

- Scene 2, lines 37-45 The Nurse tells Juliet about the fight

- Scene 2, lines 46-63 Juliet’s confusion

- Scene 2, lines 74-94 Juliet mourns Romeo’s role in the fight

4. Invite each group to read through their assigned passage slowly, then answer the following questions:

- What is happening in the scene?

- How would you classify the emotions of each character in the scene?

- If you were going to act this passage out, what kind of body language would you choose for each character?

4. Ask students to read their assigned passage once more as a group, highlighting or circling any words or phrases that refine their sense of the characters’ emotions and motivations in the scene. Give groups a few minutes to further discuss their findings.

5. Invite representatives from each group to physicalize their passage in front of the class, incorporating the emotion and body language that their group believes reflects each character. Alternatively, ask each group to summarize their findings for the class and write these findings on the board.

6. Once all the groups present, ask the class to identify contrasts they are noticing between the motivations and emotions of characters in Scene I and Scene II. Ask students to draw on specific examples from the text as they consider:

- How do the men in Scene I talk about fighting? How are these attitudes similar or different from the way Juliet and The Nurse discuss fighting?

- How do both sets of characters (men and women, respectively) respond to grief?

- How active or passive is the role of the characters (both the men and the women) in the events that unfold?

7. Close out this activity by asking students to consider the events of the play that they have encountered so far. Ask the class to consider:

- Are the differences between the gender they observe in this scene reflective of what we see elsewhere in the play?

Final objective: Encourage students to reference specific previous events or dialogue in the play to consider how these gender differences have functioned elsewhere. This should lead students to reflect on the level of agency of young men and young women during the Early Modern period, as well as how the events of Romeo and Juliet express these levels of agency.

Act III Lesson Extension

The below source is recommended reading for teachers who want to learn more about the historical context of the play; it would require careful framing for classroom use even in higher education. Specifically, the piece resurrects concerns over sexual violence that the story of Romeo and Juliet often tapers over, especially through the play’s prestige as one of the greatest love stories in English. In this reading, Romeo becomes a source of concern and confusion to Juliet, who must manage his romantic and sexual advances while preserving her own safety and reputation. The article focuses on the allusions to sexual violence from classical antiquity in the play as communicating a culture and society wherein sexual violence is always a threat. The article also recasts the Act III sword fights as examples of missplaced sexual violence. The “Tereu” of the title is a reference to a figure who sexually assaults and mutilates his sister-in-law in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Watson, Robert N, and Stephen Dickey. “Wherefore Art Thou Tereu? Juliet and the Legacy of Rape.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 58, no. 1, 2005, pp. 127–156. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1353/ren.2008.0677. Accessed 19 Nov. 2020.

Act IV Focus: Language Variance Across Editions

Learning objective: Students will examine the language variance within the different versions of Shakespeare’s texts by comparing their edition to the quartos and folio. They will also play with contemporary language by portraying Romeo and Juliet in “Twitter posts.”

Lesson: “Comparing and Editing Editions of Romeo and Juliet”

1. If students have not already been introduced to the textual variance of different editions of Romeo and Juliet, inform students that Oregon State University’s edition is part of a long history of editors adding their own voice(s) and editing preferences to Shakespeare’s plays. Offer a brief overview of the dialogue differences that students might encounter as they move between editions of Shakespeare, all of which are inspired by variances in the quartos and folios. Tell students that they will become editors themselves today.

2. To begin, have the class read Juliet’s speech in Act IV, Scene III of Oregon State University’s edition out loud. If possible, encourage every student to read a line so that they can get a feel for the speech’s subject and cadence, stopping at each punctuation mark.

3. Divide students into groups of three to four. Provide each group with a printed copy of Juliet’s speech. Inform students that the full speech in Oregon State University’s edition is 45 lines.

4. Ask students to work together in groups to edit Juliet’s speech into 25 lines or fewer while retaining a coherent scene. Tell them that this editing work will require careful close reading. In groups, they should look at every line of the speech and consider:

- What is the line’s effect in the speech (as a way of furthering action or exposing Juliet’s mental state)?

- Is the line as effective as other lines in the speech?

- Should the line be edited out during this activity?

5. Once the class has had time to edit Juliet’s speech down to 25 lines or fewer, ask one representative from each group to read their edited version to the class.

6. As a class, discuss the differences and similarities that students are noticing across groups. Have the class consider:

- Which lines (if any) did most or all groups choose to keep?

- Which lines (if any) did most or all groups choose to edit out?

- Did any of these editing decisions affect our sense of Juliet’s emotions as a speaker? How so?

- Did any of these editing decisions affect our sense of the scene’s action? How so?

7. Now, provide each group with printed copies of Juliet’s speech in Act IV, Scene III as published in both Q1 and F. Ask students to closely read through Juliet’s speech in both of these editions.

8. First, ask the class:

- Which edition did Oregon State University’s editors follow most closely when editing Juliet’s speech?

9. Then, invite the class to compare the four editions before them—Q1, F, Oregon State University’s edition, and their own edition—in their groups. Ask each group to compare the effects of each edition and make a decision about which they prefer as readers.

10. Have each group report their findings to the class.

Lesson: “Recapping Romeo and Juliet Through Twitter Posts”

1. Students will work independently or with partners for this activity.

2. Recap how the class has been examining the different versions of Shakespeare’s texts. Remind students that Shakespeare’s stories are actually fluid and that the language and the presentation of the play can be adapted by the editors to reflect the audience and mode (as explored in the “Comparing and Editing Editions of Romeo and Juliet” activity above). Students should keep this in mind for the following activity.

3. Inform students that for each of these scenes, they will create a Twitter post from the point of view of a character in the play. This can be done in a document, on a sheet of paper, or through a worksheet. Each “post” should:

- Include a maximum of 140 characters

- Include a recap of the main action of the play

- Be only from one character’s “Twitter” perspective (each post can be a different character’s perspective or students can repeat characters)

- Be reflective of the tone and voice that the character would use in contemporary times. Students do not have to use Elizabethan English — the language should reflect contemporary English.

Students will create a post from a character in each of the following scenes:

- Act 1, Scene 1

- Act 1, Scene 2

- Act 1, Scene 5

- Act 2, Scene 2

- Act 2, Scene 5

- Act 2, Scene 6

- Act 3, Scene 1

- Act 3, Scene 5

- Act 4, Scene 1

- Act 4, Scene 5

4. To close, discuss how creating these Twitter posts can be similar to editor and editor making decisions depending on their audience and mode they are utilizing. As students of Shakespeare, they also have agency to make adaptations for their own audience and mode.

Act IV Lesson Extension

Engaging variations of Romeo and Juliet should also alert students to the various audiences that the play might reach. To that end, the below sources are provided to challenge assumptions that the play can only profit white, cisgendered, heternonormative, middle to upper-class identities.

Ressler uses instances in Romeo and Juliet wherein the dialogue becomes queer to provide readings of sexual and gender inclusivity in a play often characterized as entirely heteronormative. She goes over practices and a workshop framework she uses in her own classroom to get students to engage with the text and consider the boundaries that Romeo and Juliet crosses. Such reading practices can also lead to more comfortable discussions of gender, fluidity, class boundaries, and sexual orientations as students bodily conceptualize being in the positions Romeo and Juliet inhabit. This source might be of more use to the instructor as a way of working through the text than a text worth exploring in class. Recommended grade level is 8-12.

Ressler, Paula. “Challenging Normative Sexual and Gender Identity Beliefs through ‘Romeo and Juliet.’” The English Journal, vol. 95, no. 1, 2005, pp. 52–57. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30047398. Accessed 24 Nov. 2020.

Straughan’s article is admittedly dated and short, but chronicles one ESL teacher’s strategies for reading Romeo and Juliet in their classroom. Such an article, again, allows us to think about non-white populations that this play may reach and diverse audiences it might interest. Straughan provides an overview of the information and texts that helped her to craft an engagement with the play and the different modalities that allowed her students to be successful in understanding both Shakespeare’s language and the overall plot and characters present. Again, this might be of more use when crafting lesson plans than being incorporated as a source students examine within the classroom. Recommended grade level is 8-12.

Straughan, June. “‘Romeo and Juliet’ and the ESL Classroom.” The English Journal, vol. 85, no. 8, 1996, pp. 52–54. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/820042. Accessed 21 Nov. 2020.

Act V Focus: The Narrative of Shakespeare

Learning objective: Students will set themselves in close conversation with Shakespeare by close reading a scene and reframing the narrative into a modern context. Through this activity, students will see how Romeo and Juliet—despite its lofty status as an educational right of passage—incorporates themes, storylines, and relationship dynamics that are relevant to their everyday environments and experiences.

Lesson: “Writing Ourselves Into the Narrative of Shakespeare, Part I”

1. Have students break up into groups of three or four.

2. Write “Shakespeare” on the board and ask students to spend a few minutes thinking in their group about what immediately comes to mind when they see or hear this word. Ask each group to come up with between 3-4 associations that they will be comfortable sharing with the class. Tell them that thinking about the names of Shakespeare’s plays or their most famous characters could be a good starting point, but that these should not be included as one of the groups’ associations.

3. Once they have had some time to think, invite groups to come to the board and write out their associations.

4. When all groups have had time to write on the board, prepare the class to discuss “the story of Shakespeare” that they have collectively built. Circle any terms that are identical, and then ask students to identify any common themes, synonyms, or clear dissimilarities that they observe.

5. After the class has had time to identify and discuss patterns, clearly write these patterns out on the board and tell the class that this is “the narrative of Shakespeare” that they are identifying now (for instance, students might identify terms like “old,” “historical,” “theatre,” “romantic,” or “academic”).

6. Now, assign each group a scene from Romeo and Juliet or ask each group to spend a few minutes choosing a scene (at least 100 lines in length) that they would like to explore further.

7. Ask each student to read through their chosen scene once, circling or highlighting any moments in the scene that stick out to them. You might ask students to consider:

- What moments made them feel emotionally invested in the scene or the characters?

- What moments made them laugh?

- What moments felt the most poetic or stylistically interesting?

- What moments might have been confusing?

8. Give each group time for students to talk through their observations. Ask each group to take note of any lines where students had similar reactions.

9. Then, ask each group to summarize the actions and environment of the scene. Have each group identify:

- Where are the characters?

- What major actions are taking place?

- What is the emotional tone of the scene?

Lesson: “Writing Ourselves Into the Narrative of Shakespeare, Part II”

(This can also be engaged as a larger, multi-day project)
1. Reinforce the idea that the relationships, themes, and storylines found in Romeo and Juliet and other works by Shakespeare are universal and relevant to students’ everyday experiences.

2. Students will work individually with the scene they chose for Part I of this lesson. Explain that they will be writing themselves into the narrative. They will do this by rewriting the scene’s dialogue into modern speech, incorporating senses of their own language preferences and the language preferences of people in their own life. Inform students that the guidelines are as follows:

- The original scene should be at least 100 lines in length

- The new scene should reflect the action of the original scene (However, it does not have to be exactly the same. For instance, instead of a sword fight that results in a death, the scene could depict an argument between friend groups.)

- The new scene can either be something that has truly happened to the student, or something they imagine could happen in their life

- The student should write themselves into the scene, representing themselves speaking some of the dialogue

- Other people in the student’s life should be speaking the remaining dialogue

- The new text does not need to be in line format or meter

- The new text should reflect modern speech patterns

- Students will type their modernized scene

3. After students have completed their scene adaptation, discuss the following reflective questions:

- Was it difficult to write yourself into Shakespeare? Why or why not?

- What themes or relationships reminded you of your own narrative?

- Did this activity change your understanding of Romeo and Juliet? How so?

Act V Lesson Extension

The below source may not be as accessible to instructors as those on JSTOR, but it provides some interesting questions regarding where an edition ends and an adaptation begins. Quite possibly our distinction between the two is not even productive. Fischlin analyzes the commodification which creates and reinforces Shakespeare—his works, courses devoted to him, filmic and written adaptations, and long-lasting intellectual and authorial debates—as a brand and object of market value. Such a work is useful in discussions of class, labor, and commodification. Recommended grades are 11-12.

Fischlin, Daniel. “Upcycling Shakespeare: Creating Cultural Capital,” OuterSpeares : Shakespeare, Intermedia, and the Limits of Adaptation. University of Toronto Press, 2014.

The below link allows students to consider the ways in which a given story can be expressed through multiple mediums in an effort to gain greater popularity and commercial success. It uses the Star Trek franchise, for instance, to articulate how failure or middling success in on genre (i.e., TV for the original series), does not necessarily mean that the same story will fail in a different genre (comics and novels, in this instance, after the end of the original series). We can easily connect this to Romeo and Juliet by considering the ways that the story has been adapted, changed, rewritten, and used as raw material for other love stories from West Side Story to High School Musical.

https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/mediatheory/keywords/adaptation/

1

Glossary

A’ t’ other

at the other

Abate

lessen

Abhors

hates

Addled

beaten

Affliction

disaster

Affray

tear apart

Alack

(expression of grief)

Alderman

councilman

Aloof

at a distance

Ambling

dancing

Ambuscados

ambushes

Amerce

punish

Anon

right away

Answer it

accept

Apace

quickly

Aqua-vitae

liquor

Array

attire

Aspired

gone up towards

Asunder

apart

Atomies

miniscule creatures

Attending

attentive

Bad’st

advised

Baggage

useless woman

Bandy

throw

Bark

sailboat

Bauble

jester’s baton

Bawdy

indecent

Be forsworn

go back on my word

Be perverse

play hard-to-get

Be shrived

have confession

Bedaubed

smeared

Bedeck

decorate

Beggarly

small

Beguiled

deceived

Behooveful

necessary

Bent

intentions

Bescreened

concealed

Beseech

beg

Beshrew

curse

Bestrides

straddles

Bethink

think hard

Bier

coffin

Blaze

publicize

Blazon

describe

Bliss

heaven

Bondage

familial duties

Bosom

breast

Bound

indebted

Bower

give sanctuary

Brine

salt water; tears

Broad

fat

Caitiff

miserable; vile

Cankered

infested

Carelessly

without care

Carrion

rotting meat

Challenge

claim

Cheveril

stretchy leather

Chide

scold

Chidest

scolded

Choler

anger

Churl

selfish person

Close

concealing

Clout

piece of cloth

Collar

part of a harness

Colliers

coal miners

Complements

good manners

Conduit

fountain

Confounds

destroys

Confusions

yelling; commotion

Conjure

summon (as in a spirit)

Cordial

medicinal drink

Corns

foot calluses

Counsel

private thoughts

Countervail

equal

Crochet

a musical note

Crow-keeper

scarecrow

Culled

selected

Deal double

double cross

Deck

dress

Demesnes

lands owned

Descry

decipher

Desperate tender

risky offer

Despite

spite

Dirges

songs of lamentation

Discords

ugly noise

Discourses

communicates

Displant

displace

Dissemblers

liars

Distempered

troubled

Division

melody

Doff

remove, cast away

Doting

lovesick

Doublet

jacket

Down

in bed

Dram

small drink

Drawer

bartender

Dry-beat

thrash

Ducats

gold coins

Dug

breast

Dump

sad song

Effeminate

womanish; unmanly

Ell

forty-five inches

Enjoined

compelled

Enmity

hostility

Ensign

banner

Envious

malicious

Environed

surrounded; buried

Ere

before

Ethiop’s

Ethiopian’s

Fain

gladly

Fair

with civility

Faith

faithfulness; steadiness

Fast

fast asleep

Fearful

anxious

Fee-simple

ownership

Feeling

devastating

Fettle

prepare

Fiddlestick

sword

Fie

(expression of disgust)

Field

dueling-place

Flint

hardships of life

Fond

foolish

Form

formalities

Forsooth

truly

Forswear

swear off

Forth

gone

Fortnight

two weeks

Gadding

wandering

Gall

bitterness, bile

Gapes

opens

Ghostly

spiritual

Give

name

Gleek

insult

Good den

good afternoon

Good meaning

good intentions

Goose

sex worker

Gore

clotted

Gossamers

spider’s webs

Gossip

good friend

Grace

virtue

Grandsire

old man

Gravity

“serious” things

Hap

happening

Happy

fortunate

Hark

listen

Harlotry

unprincipled behavior

Haughty

arrogant

Heaviness

sadness

Hie

hurry

Hilding

worthless person

Hinds

peasants; servants

Ho

now

Homely

simple

Humorous

humid

Idolatry

worship

Ill

unskilled

Ill-beseeming

unnatural

Import

imply

In faith

truly

In post

by horseback

In twain

in half

Inundation

overflowing abundance

Invocation

appeal

Jack

fellow

Jealous

curious

Jesu

Jesus

Jocund

cheerful

Joiner

carpenter

Jointure

dowry

Knaves

fools

Like

likely

Livery

servant’s uniform

Lolling

loose

Look

be careful

Lustier

energetic

Maidenheads

virginities

Maidenhoods

virginities

Mammet

doll

Mantle

cloak

Marry

really

Martial

soldier-like

Masque

masquerade

Mattock

pickaxe

Maw

mouth

Misadventure

accident, or failed attempt

Modern

ordinary

Monument

Capulet family tomb

Mousehunt

a ladies’ man

Moved

provoked

Naught

evil

Near ally

close relative

Needly

necessarily

Nice

unimportant

Nothing

no wounds

Numbers

verse

Nuptial

wedding

Nuts

hazelnuts

O’erperch

fly over

Office

duty

Ope

open

Orisons

prayers

Overthrows

destruction

Paramour

lover

Parts

qualities

Pate

head

Pennyworths

money’s worth

Penury

extreme poverty

Peppered

done for

Perforce

by force

Peruse

examine

Philome

Film; fine thread

Physic

remedy

Poor

modest

Portentous

of a warning

Posterity

future children

Poultice

homemade ointment

Powder

gunpowder

Practice stratagems

play tricks

Prates

a stupid answer

Prating thing

burbling baby

Presage

foreshadow

Press

hurry

Procures

sends

Proof

immune

Provision

food and drink

Puling

whimpering

Pureblind

blind

Quince

fruit

Quit

pay you for

Quite

entirely

Rails

complains

Redress

relief

Resign

return

Resort

haunt

Roared

used

Rood

cross

Ropery

trickery

Rude will

desire

Rushes

the floor

Sack

destroy

Saucy merchant

con man

Scant

hardly

Sepulcher

burial place

Set

praised

Severing

parting

Shadows

dreams

Shape

body

Show

appearance

Shrift

absolution, confession

Simpleness

nonsense

Simples

herbs

Slip

counterfeit coin

Slugabed

sleepyhead

Small

not much

Soft

wait

Sojourn

stay awhile

Sped

done for

Spinners’ legs

spider legs

Spit

impale

Spring

source

Steads

benefits

Stifled

suffocated

Stock

breeding; pedigree

Sunder

cut off

Surcease

cease

Sweetmeats

candy

Ta'en

taken

Tallow

pale

Teen

misery

Temper

mix, or dilute

Thither

there

Traces

reins

True

honest

Trunk

chest

Tut

(expresses disapproval)

Unattainted

impartial

Unfurnished

unprepared

Unruly spleen

bad temper

Untaught

rude

Unthrifty

unfortunate

Validity

value

Vestal

virginal

Vexed

distressed; frustrated

Visage

face; expression

Visor

mask

Wanton

child or careless person

Ward

a child

Weak dealing

poor behavior

Weal

happiness

Weeds

clothes

Welladay

woe the day

Wherefore

why

Whither

where

Wink

shut

Wot

know

Wrenching iron

crowbar

2

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3

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Version 1.0 may be found at https://open.oregonstate.education/romeoandjulietOE/

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Acknowledgements

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Introduction

2.0

04/06/2021

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Added Educational Resources for Teachers

Educational Resources for Teachers

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