Act Three Scene One Juliet?: Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night That runaways? eyes may wink, and Romeo, Leap to these arms, untalk?d of and unseen. Lovers can see to do their amorous rites By their own beauties?; or, if love be blind, It best agrees with night. Viens, nuit solonelle, Matrone aux sombres v?tements, apprends moi ? perdre, en la gagnant, Cette partie qui aura pour enjeu deux virginit?s sans tache. Hood my unmanned blood bating in my cheeks, With thy black mantle, till strange love grown bold Think true love acted simple modesty. ? moi, nuit?! Viens Romeo , viens?! Tu feras le jour de la nuit, plus ?clatant que la neige nouvelle Sur le dos du corbeau. Come gentle night, come loving, black brow?d night Give me my Romeo?; and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine, That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun. Oh, j?ai achet? une domaine d?amour Et je n?en ai pas encore pris possession et celui qui m?a aquise N?a pas encore joui de moi?; so tedious is this day As is the night before some festival To an impatient child that hath new robes And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse, And she brings news, and every tongue that speaks But romeo?s name speaks heavenly eloquence. (enter nurse) Now nurse, what news?? What hast thou there?? the cords That Romeo bid thee fetch?? Nurse?: Ay, ay, the cords. Juliet?: Ay me, what news?? Why dost thou wring thy hands?? Nurse?: Ah, well-a-day?! He?s dead, he?s dead, he?s dead. We are undone, lady, we are undone. 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?! Who ever would have thought it?? Romeo?! Juliet?: What devil art thou that dost torment me thus?? This torture should be roared in dismal hell. Hath Romeo slain himself?? Say thou but ?Ay? And that bare vowel ?I? shall poison more That the death darting eye of cockatrice?: I am not I, if there be such an Ay, Or those eyes shut, that make thee answer ay. If he be slain, say ay, or if not say no?: Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe. Nurse?: I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes- God save the mark?! Here, on his manly breast?: A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse?;` Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub?d in blood, All in gore blood?: I swounded at the sight. Juliet?: O, break my heart?! Poor bankrupt, break at once?: To prison, eyes, ne?er look an liberty?! Vile earth, to earth resign, end motion here, And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier?! Nurse?: O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had?! O courteous Tybalt?! Honest gentleman?! That ever I should live to see thee dead?! Juliet?: What storm is this that blows so contrary?? Is Romeo slaughtered, and is Tybalt dead?? My dear-loved cousin, and my dearer Lord?? Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom?! For who is living, if those two are gone?? Nurse?: Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished?; Romeo that killed him, he is banished. Juliet?: O God?! Did Romeo?s hand shed Tybalt?s blood?? Nurse?: 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?! Dove-feathered raven?! Wolvish ravening lamb?! Despised substance of divinest show?! Just opposite to what thou justly seem?st A damned saint, and honoutable villain?! O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell, When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh?? Was ever book containing such vile matter So fairly bound?? O, that deceit should dwell In such a gorgeous palace?! Nurse?: There?s no trust No faith, no honesty in men?; all perjured, All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers. Ah, where?s my man?? Give me some aqua vitae?: These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old. Shame come to Romeo?! Juliet?: Blister?d 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 honour may be crown?d Sole monarch of the universal earth. O, what a beast was I to chide at him?! Nurse?: Will you speak well of him that kill?d your cousin?? 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?? 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. My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain?; And Tybalt?s dead, that would have slain my husband?: All this is comfort?; wherefore weep I then?? Some word there was, worser that Tybalt?s death, That murder?d me?: I would forget it fain?; But, O, it presses to my memory, Like damned guilty deeds to sinners? minds?: ?Tybalt is dead, and Romeo banished? That ?banished?, that one word ?banished?, Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt?s death Was woe enough, if it had ended there?: Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship, And needly will be rank?d with other griefs, Why followed not, when she said ?Tybalt?s dead? Thy father or thy mother, nay, or both, Which modern lamentation might have moved?? But with a rear-ward following Tybalt?s death ?Romeo is banished??: to speak that word, Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, All slain, all dead. ?Romeo is banished? There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, In that word?s death?; no words can that woe sound. Where is my father, and my mother, nurse?? Nurse?: Weeping and wailing over Tybalt?s corse?: Will you go to them?? I will bring you thither. Juliet?: Wash they his wounds with tears?: mine shall be spent When theirs are dry, for Romeo?s banishment. Take up those cords?: poor ropes, you are beguiled Both you and I, for Romeo is exiled?: He made you for a highway to my bed?; But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed. Come, cords?: Come, nurse?: I?ll to my wedding-bed And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead?! Nurse?: Hie to your chamber?: I?ll find Romeo To comfort you. I wot well where he is. Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night?: I?ll to him, he is hid at Laurence?s cell. Juliet?: O, find him?! Give this ring to my true knight And bid him come to take his last farewell. Scene Two Friar Laurence? cell Romeo?: I bade him bethink How nice the quarrel was, and urged withal High displeasure of the Prince?: all this uttered With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bowed Could not take truce with the unruly spleen Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts With piercing steel at bold Mercutio?s breast Who, all as hot, turns deadly point to point, Abnd with a martial scorn, with one hand beats Cold death aside, and with the other sends It back to tybalt, whose dexterity Retorts it, I cried aloud, ?Hold friends?! Friends part?!? and swifter than my tongue My agile arm beats down their fatal points, And twixt them rushes?; underneath whose arm An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life Of stout Mercutio, then Tybalt fled?; But by and by comes back to me I had but newly entertained revenge, And to?t we went like lightening?; for ere We were parted, was stout Tybalt slain. Friar Laurence?: Romeo, come forth?; come forth thy fearful man?: Affliction is enamour?d of thy parts, And thou art wedd?d to calamity. Romeo?: Father, what news?? What is the Prince?s doom?? What sorrow craves aquaintance at my hand, That yet I know not?? Friar Laurence?: I bring thee tidings of the prince?s doom. Romeo?: What less than dooms-day is the Prince?s doom?? Friar Laurence?: A gentler judgement vanish?d from his lips. Not body?s death, but body?s banishement. Romeo?: Ha, banishement?! Be merciful, say ?death?, For exile hath more terror in his look, Much more than death?: do not say ?banishment?. Friar Laurence?: Here from Verona art thou banished Be patient, for the world is broad and wide. Romeo?: There is no world without Verona walls, But purgatory, torture, hell itself. Hence banished is banished from the world, And world?s exile is death?: then ?banished? Is death mis-termed?: calling death ?banished? Thou cutst my head off with a golden axe, And smilest upon the stroke that murders me. Friar Laurence?: O deadly sin?! O rude unthankfulness?! Thy fault our laws calls death?; 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 seest it not. Romeo?: ?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 But Romeo may not?: more validity More honourable state, more courtship lives In carrion-flies than Romeo they may seize On the white wonder of dear Juliet?s hand And steal immortal blessing from her lips?; Who, even in pure and vestal modesty Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin But Romeo may not?; he is banished This flies may do, but I from this must fly They are free men, but I am banished?: And say?st thou yet, that exile is not death?? Had?st thou no poison mix?d, no sharp-ground knife No sudden means of death, though ne?er so mean, But banish?d to kill me?? ?Banished??? O friar, the damn?d use that word in hell 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 ?banished??? Friar laurence?: Thou fond mad man, hear me but speak a word. Romeo?: O thou wilt speak again of banishment Friar Laurence?: I?ll give thee armour to keep off that word. Adversity?s sweet milk., philosphy, To comfort thee, though thou art banished. Romeo?: Yet ?banished??? Hang up philosophy?! Unless philosophy can make a Juliet Displant a town, reverse a Prince?s doom It helps not, it prevails not, talk no more. Friar Laurence?: O, then I see that madmen have no ears. Romeo?: How should they, when that wise men have no eyes?? Friar Laurence?: Let me dispute with thee of thy estate. Romeo?: Thy canst not speak of that thou dost not feel?: Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love, An hour but married, Tybalt murder?d, Doting like me, and like me banished. Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair And fall upon the ground, as I do now. Taking the measure of an unmade grave. (knocking at the door) Friar Laurence?: Arise, one knocks?; good Romeo, hide thyself. Romeo?: Not I unless the breath of heart-sick groans Mist-like infold me from the search of eyes. Friar Laurence?: Hark, how they knock?! Who?s there?? romeo, arise. Thou wilt be taken. Stay awile?! Stand up ? Run to my study . By and by?! God?s will, What simpleness is this?! I come, I come?! Who knocks so hard?? Whence come you?? What?s your will?? (exit) Nurse (within)?: Let me come in, and you shall know my errand. I come from Lady Juliet. Friar Laurence?:Welcome then. Nurse?: O, holy friar, o tell me holy friar, Where is my lady?s lord, where?s Romeo?? Friar laurence?: there on the ground, with his own tears made drunk. Nurse?: O, he is even in my mistress? case, Just in her case?! Even so lies she, Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering. Stand up, stand up?; stand, an you be a man?: For Juliet?s sake, for her sake, rise and stand?; Why should you fall into so deep an O?? Romeo?: Nurse?! Nurse?: Ah sir, ah sir?! Well, death?s the end of all. Romeo?: Spakest thou of Juliet?? How is it with her?? Doth she not think me an old murderer, Now I have stain?d the childhood of her joy With blood removed but little from her own?? Where is she?? and how doth she?? And what says My conceal?d lady to our cancell?d love?? Nurse?: O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps 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 curs?d hand Murder?d her kinsman. O tell me, tell me, In what vile part of this anatomy Doth my name lodge?? Tell me that I may sack The hateful mansion. Romeo draws his sword. Exit nurse, screaming. Enter Friar Laurence. Friar Laurence?: Hold thy desperate hand?: Art thou a man?? thy form cries out thou art?: Thy tears are womanish. By my holy order I thought thy disposition better tempered. Hast thou slain Tybalt?? Wilt thou slay thyself?? And slay thy lady that in thy life lives, By doing damned hate upon thyself?? Why rail?st 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 would?st lose. Fie, fie, thou sham?st thy shape, thy love, thy wit?; Which like a userer, aboundst in all, And usest none in that true use indeed Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit?; Thy noble shape is but a form of wax, Digressing from the valour of a man?; Thy dear love sworn, but hollow perjury, Killing that love which thou hast vow?d to cherish?; Thy wit is set afire by thine own ignorance, And thou dismember?d with thine own defence. What rouse thee, man?! thy Juliet is alive, For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead?; There art thou happy?: Tybalt would kill thee, But thou slay?st Tybalt?; there are thou happy too. 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 mis-behaved and sullen wench Thou pout?st on thy fortune and thy love?: Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable. Go, get thee to thy love, as was decreed, Ascend her chamber, hence and comfort her?: But look thou stay not till the watch be set, For then thou canst not pass to Mantua?; Where thou shalt live till we can find a time To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends, Beg pardon of the Prince, and call thee back With twenty hundred thousand times more joy Than thou went?st forth in lamentation. Go before, nurse?: commend me to thy lady And bid her hasten all the house to bed, Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto?: Romeo is coming. Go hence, goodnight?; and here stands all your state?:` Either be gone before the watch be set, Or by the break of day disguised from hence?:` Sojourn in Mantua?; I?ll find out your man, And he shall signify from time to time Every good hap to you that chances here?: Give me thy hand?; ?tis late?: farewell, goodnight. Romeo?: But that a joy past calls out on me, It were a grief, so brief to part with thee?:` Farewell. Scene Three Juliet?: Wilt thou be gone ? It is not yet near day: It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear; Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree Believe me, love, it was the nightingale. Romeo: It was the lark, the herald of the morn, No nightingale: Look, love, what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east; Night?s candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops: I must be gone and live, or stay and die. Juliet: Yond light is not daylight, I know it, I, It is some meteor that the sun exhales, To be to thee this night a torch bearer, And light thee on thy way to Mantua Therefore stay yet, thou need?st not to be gone. Romeo: Let me be ta?en, let me be put to death, I am content, so thou wilt have it so. I?ll say yon grey is not the morning?s eye, Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia?s brow; Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat The vaulty heaven so high above our heads I have more care to stay than will to go: Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so. How is?t my soul ? Let?s talk: it is not day. Juliet: It is, it is, hie, hence, be gone away! It is the lark that sings so out of tune,. Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps Some say the lark makes sweet division; This doth not so, for divideth us: Some say the lark and loathed toad changed eyes; O, now I would they had changed voices too! Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray, Hunting thee hence with hunts up to the day. O, now be gone; more light and light it grows. Romeo: More light and light: more dark and dark our woes! (enter Nurse) Nurse: Madam! Juliet: Nurse? Nurse: Your father is coming to your chamber: The day is broke; be wary, look about. Juliet: Then, window, let day in, and let life out. Romeo: Adieu, adieu, un baiser et je descends. Juliet: Te voil? donc parti? Amour, seigneur, ?poux, ami ? Il me faudra de tes nouvelles ? chaque heure du jour car il y a tant de jours dans une minute. A ce comte l?, je serai bien vieille quand je reverrai mon Romeo. Romeo: Adieu. Je ne perdrai pas une occasion, mon amour, de t?envoyer un souvenir. Juliet: O, think?st thou that we shall ever meet again? Romeo: I doubt it not; and all these woes shall serve For sweet discourses in our time to come. Juliet: O God! I have an ill- divining soul. Methinks I see thee, now thou art below, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb: Either my eyesight fails or thou lookst pale. Romeo: And trust me, love, in my eye so do you: Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu! Juliet : O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle: If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him That is renowned for faith? Be fickle, fortune; For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long, But send him back. Capulet: Ho daughter, are you up? Juliet: Who is?t that calls? it is my father. Is he not down so late, or up so early? What unaccustomed cause procures him hither ? enter Capulet Capulet: Why, how now, Juliet! Juliet: I am not well Capulet: Evermore weeping for you cousin?s death? What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears ? An if thou couldst, thou couldst not make him live; Therefore have done: some grief shows much of love, But much of grief shows still some want of wit. Juliet: Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss. Capulet: Well, girl, thou weepst not so much for his death As that the villain lives which slaughtered him. Juliet: (aside) Villain and he be many miles asunder. God pardon him! I do, with all my heart; And yet no man like he doth grieve my heart. Capulet: That is because the traitor murderer lives. Juliet: Ay, sir, from the reach of these my hands: Would none but I might venge my cousin?s death! Capulet: We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not: Then weep no more. I?ll send to one in Mantua, Where that same banished runagate doth live, Shall give him such an unaccustomed dram That he shall soon keep Tybalt company. And then, I hope, thou wilt be satisfied. Juliet: Indeed, I never shall be satisfied With Romeo till I behold him ? dead ? Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vexed. Sir, if you could find out but a man To bear a poison, I would temper it, That Romeo should, upon receipt thereof, Soon sleep in quiet. O, how my heart abhors To hear him named, and cannot come to him, To wreak the love I bore my cousin Upon his body that hath slaughtered him! Capulet: Find thou the means, and I?ll find such a man. But now I?ll tell thee joyful tidings, girl. Juliet: And joy comes well in such a needy time: What are they, I beseech your lordship? Capulet: Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child: One who, to put thee from thy heaviness, Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy, That thou expect?st not, nor I look?d not for. Juliet: In happy time, what day is that? Capulet: Marry my child, early next Thursday morn, The gallant, young and noble gentleman, The county Paris, at Saint Peter?s Church, Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride. Juliet: Now, by Saint Peter?s Church, and Peter too, He shall not make me there a joyful bride. I wonder at this haste; that I must wed Ere he that should be my husband comes to woo. I pray you, my noble lord and father, I will not marry yet; and yet, when I do, I swear, It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, Rather than Paris. these are news indeed! Capulet: How! Will she none? Doth she not give us thanks? Is she not proud? doth she not count her blest? Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought So worthy a gentlman to be her bridegroom? Juliet: Not proud, you have, but thankful you have: Proud can I never be of what I hate; But thankful even for hate that is meant love. Capulet: How how! how, how! Chop logic! What is this? ?Proud? and ?I thank you? and ?I thank you not?; And yet ?not proud?: mistress minion, you, Thank me not thankings, nor proud me no prouds, But fettle your fine joints ?gainst Thursday next, To go with Paris to saint Peter?s Church, Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither. Out, you green-sickness carrion! Out, you baggage! You tallow face! Juliet: Good, I beseech you on my knees, Hear me with patience but to speak a word. Capulet: Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church o?Thursday, Or never after look me in the face: Speak not, reply not, do not answer me; My fingers itch. Wife, we scarce thought us blest That God had lent us but this only child; But now I see this one is one too much, And that we have a curse in having her: Out on her, hilding! God?s bread, it makes me mad; Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play, Alone, in company, still my care hath been To have her match?d: and having now provided A gentleman of noble parentage, Of fair demesnes, youthful and nobly trained Stuff?d as they say with honourable parts, Proportion?d as one?s thought would wish a man; And then to have a wretched puling fool, A whining mammet, in her fortune?s tender, To answer ?I?ll not wed; I cannot love, I am too young, I pray you, pardon me.? But, an you will not wed, I?ll pardon you: Graze where you will, you shall not house with me: Look to?t, think on?t, I do not use to jest. Thusrday is near; lay hand on heart, advise: An you be mine, I?ll give you to my friend; An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, For, by my soul, I?ll ne?er acknowledge thee, Nor what is mine shall never do thee good: Trust to?t, bethink you; I?ll not be forsworn. Juliet: Is there no pity sitting in the clouds, That see into the bottom of my grief? O, sweet my father, cast me not away! Delay this marriage for a month, a week, Or, if you do not, make the bridal bed In that dim monument where Tybalt lies. O God! O nurse! how shall this be prevented? My husband is on earth, Un less that husband send it me from heaven By leaving earth ? Comfort me, counsel me. Nurse: Faith, there it is. Romeo is banished, and all the world to nothing, That he dares ne?er come back to challenge you; Or, if he do, it needs must be by stealth. Then, since the case so stands as now it doth, I think it best you married with the county. O, he?s a lovely gentleman! Romeo?s a dishclout to him: an eagle madam, Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye As Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart, I think you are happy in this second match, For it excels your first: or, if it did not, Your first is dead, or ?twere as good he were As living here and you no use of him. Juliet: Speakest thou from thy heart? Nurse: And from my soul too; Else beshrew them both. Juliet: Amen! Nurse: What? Juliet: Well, thou hast comforted me marvellous much. Go in, and tell my lady I am gone, Having displeased my father, to Laurence?s cell, To make confession and to be absolved. Nurse: Marry, I will, and this is wisely done. Juliet: Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend! It is 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, counsellor! Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain. I?ll to the friar, to know his remedy; If all else fail, myself have power to die. Acte IV ©Daniel Soulier