Act iii scene i romeo and juliet

Act III, Scene 1

• Benvolio. I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire:
  The day is hot, the Capulets abroad, 1500
  And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl;
  For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.

• Mercutio. Thou art like one of those fellows that when he
  enters the confines of a tavern claps me his sword
  upon the table and says 'God send me no need of 1505
  thee!' and by the operation of the second cup draws
  it on the drawer, when indeed there is no need.

• Benvolio. Am I like such a fellow?

• Mercutio. Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as
  any in Italy, and as soon moved to be moody, and as 1510
  soon moody to be moved.

• Benvolio. And what to?

• Mercutio. 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 that hath a hair more, 1515
  or a hair less, in his beard, than thou hast: thou
  wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no
  other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes: what
  eye but such an eye would spy out such a quarrel?
  Thy head is as fun of quarrels as an egg is full of 1520
  meat, and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as
  an egg for quarrelling: thou hast quarrelled with a
  man for coughing in the street, because he hath
  wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun:
  didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing 1525
  his new doublet before Easter? with another, for
  tying his new shoes with old riband? and yet thou
  wilt tutor me from quarrelling!

• Benvolio. An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man
  should buy the fee-simple of my life for an hour and a quarter. 1530

• Mercutio. The fee-simple! O simple!

• Benvolio. By my head, here come the Capulets.

• Mercutio. By my heel, I care not.

• Tybalt. Follow me close, for I will speak to them. 1535
  Gentlemen, good den: a word with one of you.

• Mercutio. And but 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, an you
  will give me occasion. 1540

• Mercutio. Could you not take some occasion without giving?

• Tybalt. Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo,—

• Mercutio. Consort! what, dost thou make us minstrels? an
  thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but
  discords: here's my fiddlestick; here's that shall 1545
  make you dance. 'Zounds, consort!

• Benvolio. We talk here in the public haunt of men:
  Either withdraw unto some private place,
  And reason coldly of your grievances,
  Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us. 1550

• Mercutio. Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze;
  I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I.

• Tybalt. Well, peace be with you, sir: here comes my man.

• Mercutio. But I'll be hanged, sir, if he wear your livery: 1555
  Marry, go before to field, he'll be your follower;
  Your worship in that sense may call him 'man.'

• Tybalt. Romeo, the hate I bear thee can afford
  No better term than this,—thou art a villain.

• Romeo. Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee 1560
  Doth much excuse the appertaining rage
  To such a greeting: villain am I none;
  Therefore farewell; I see thou know'st me not.

• Tybalt. Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries
  That thou hast done me; therefore turn and draw. 1565

• Romeo. I do protest, I never injured thee,
  But love thee better than thou canst devise,
  Till thou shalt know the reason of my love:
  And so, good Capulet,—which name I tender
  As dearly as my own,—be satisfied. 1570

• Mercutio. O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!
  Alla stoccata carries it away.
  [Draws]
  Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?

• Tybalt. What wouldst thou have with me? 1575

• 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, drybeat the rest of the
  eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pitcher
  by the ears? make haste, lest mine be about your 1580
  ears ere it be out.

• Tybalt. I am for you.

• Romeo. Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up.

• Mercutio. Come, sir, your passado. 1585

• Romeo. Draw, Benvolio; beat down their weapons.
  Gentlemen, for shame, forbear this outrage!
  Tybalt, Mercutio, the prince expressly hath
  Forbidden bandying in Verona streets: 1590
  Hold, Tybalt! good Mercutio!

• Mercutio. I am hurt.
  A plague o' both your houses! I am sped.
  Is he gone, and hath nothing? 1595

• Benvolio. What, art thou hurt?

• Mercutio. Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis enough.
  Where is my page? Go, villain, fetch a surgeon.

• Romeo. Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. 1600

• Mercutio. No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a
  church-door; but 'tis enough,'twill serve: ask for
  me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I
  am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o'
  both your houses! 'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a 1605
  cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a
  rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of
  arithmetic! Why the devil came you between us? I
  was hurt under your arm.

• Romeo. I thought all for the best. 1610

• Mercutio. Help me into some house, Benvolio,
  Or I shall faint. A plague o' both your houses!
  They have made worms' meat of me: I have it,
  And soundly too: your houses!

• Romeo. This gentleman, the prince's near ally,
  My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt
  In my behalf; my reputation stain'd
  With Tybalt's slander,—Tybalt, that an hour
  Hath been my kinsman! O sweet Juliet, 1620
  Thy beauty hath made me effeminate
  And in my temper soften'd valour's steel!

• Benvolio. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead!
  That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds, 1625
  Which too untimely here did scorn the earth.

• Romeo. This day's black fate on more days doth depend;
  This but begins the woe, others must end.

• Benvolio. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again.

• Romeo. Alive, in triumph! and Mercutio slain! 1630
  Away to heaven, respective lenity,
  And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!
  [Re-enter TYBALT]
  Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again,
  That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio's soul 1635
  Is but a little way above our heads,
  Staying for thine to keep him company:
  Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him.

• Tybalt. Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here,
  Shalt with him hence. 1640

• Romeo. This shall determine that.

• Benvolio. Romeo, away, be gone!
  The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain.
  Stand not amazed: the prince will doom thee death, 1645
  If thou art taken: hence, be gone, away!

• Romeo. O, I am fortune's fool!

• Benvolio. Why dost thou stay?

• First Citizen. Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio?
  Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he?

• Benvolio. There lies that Tybalt.

• First Citizen. Up, sir, go with me;
  I charge thee in the princes name, obey. 1655
  [Enter Prince, attended; MONTAGUE, CAPULET, their]
  Wives, and others]

• Prince Escalus. Where are the vile beginners of this fray?

• Benvolio. O noble prince, I can discover all
  The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl: 1660
  There lies the man, slain by young Romeo,
  That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio.

• Lady Capulet. Tybalt, my cousin! O my brother's child!
  O prince! O cousin! husband! O, the blood is spilt
  O my dear kinsman! Prince, as thou art true, 1665
  For blood of ours, shed blood of Montague.
  O cousin, cousin!

• Prince Escalus. Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?

• Benvolio. Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay;
  Romeo that spoke him fair, bade him bethink 1670
  How nice the quarrel was, and urged withal
  Your high displeasure: all this uttered
  With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd,
  Could not take truce with the unruly spleen
  Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts 1675
  With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast,
  Who all as hot, turns deadly point to point,
  And, with a martial scorn, with one hand beats
  Cold death aside, and with the other sends
  It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity, 1680
  Retorts it: Romeo he cries aloud,
  'Hold, friends! friends, part!' and, swifter than
  his tongue,
  His agile arm beats down their fatal points,
  And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm 1685
  An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life
  Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled;
  But by and by comes back to Romeo,
  Who had but newly entertain'd revenge,
  And to 't they go like lightning, for, ere I 1690
  Could draw to part them, was stout Tybalt slain.
  And, as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly.
  This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.

• Lady Capulet. He is a kinsman to the Montague;
  Affection makes him false; he speaks not true: 1695
  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;
  Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live.

• Prince Escalus. Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio; 1700
  Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?

• Montague. Not Romeo, prince, he was Mercutio's friend;
  His fault concludes but what the law should end,
  The life of Tybalt.

• Prince Escalus. And for that offence 1705
  Immediately we do exile him hence:
  I have an interest in your hate's proceeding,
  My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding;
  But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine
  That you shall all repent the loss of mine: 1710
  I will be deaf to pleading and excuses;
  Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses:
  Therefore use none: let Romeo hence in haste,
  Else, when he's found, that hour is his last.
  Bear hence this body and attend our will: 1715
  Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.

Act III, Scene 2

• Juliet. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
  Towards Phoebus' lodging: such a wagoner 1720
  As Phaethon would whip you to the west,
  And bring in cloudy night immediately.
  Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
  That runaway's eyes may wink and Romeo
  Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen. 1725
  Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
  By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,
  It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,
  Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
  And learn me how to lose a winning match, 1730
  Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods:
  Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks,
  With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold,
  Think true love acted simple modesty.
  Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night; 1735
  For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
  Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.
  Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night,
  Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
  Take him and cut him out in little stars, 1740
  And he will make the face of heaven so fine
  That all the world will be in love with night
  And pay no worship to the garish sun.
  O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
  But not possess'd it, and, though I am sold, 1745
  Not yet enjoy'd: so tedious is this day
  As is the night before some festival
  To an impatient child that hath new robes
  And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse,
  And she brings news; and every tongue that speaks 1750
  But Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence.
  [Enter Nurse, with cords]
  Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there? the cords
  That Romeo bid thee fetch?

• Nurse. Ay, ay, the cords. 1755

• 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 kill'd, he's dead! 1760

• 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? 1765
  This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell.
  Hath Romeo slain himself? say thou but 'I,'
  And that bare vowel 'I' shall poison more
  Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice:
  I am not I, if there be such an I; 1770
  Or those eyes shut, that make thee answer 'I.'
  If he be slain, say 'I'; or if not, no:
  Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe.

• Nurse. I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,—
  God save the mark!—here on his manly breast: 1775
  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 on liberty! 1780
  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! 1785

• Juliet. What storm is this that blows so contrary?
  Is Romeo slaughter'd, 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? 1790

• Nurse. Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished;
  Romeo that kill'd 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! 1795
  Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
  Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!
  Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb!
  Despised substance of divinest show!
  Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st, 1800
  A damned saint, an honourable villain!
  O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell,
  When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend
  In moral paradise of such sweet flesh?
  Was ever book containing such vile matter 1805
  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. 1810
  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: 1815
  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? 1820

• 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 kill'd my husband: 1825
  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: 1830
  All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?
  Some word there was, worser than 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: 1835
  '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 1840
  And needly will be rank'd with other griefs,
  Why follow'd not, when she said 'Tybalt's dead,'
  Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both,
  Which modern lamentations might have moved?
  But with a rear-ward following Tybalt's death, 1845
  '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. 1850
  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. 1855
  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; 1860
  And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead!

• Nurse. Hie to your chamber: I'll find Romeo
  To comfort you: I wot well where he is.
  Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night:
  I'll to him; he is hid at Laurence' cell. 1865

• Juliet. O, find him! give this ring to my true knight,
  And bid him come to take his last farewell.

Act III, Scene 3

Friar Laurence’s cell.

• Friar Laurence. Romeo, come forth; come forth, thou fearful man: 1870
  Affliction is enamour'd of thy parts,
  And thou art wedded to calamity.

• Romeo. Father, what news? what is the prince's doom?
  What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand, 1875
  That I yet know not?

• Friar Laurence. Too familiar
  Is my dear son with such sour company:
  I bring thee tidings of the prince's doom.

• Romeo. What less than dooms-day is the prince's doom? 1880

• Friar Laurence. A gentler judgment vanish'd 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,
  Much more than death: do not say 'banishment.' 1885

• Friar Laurence. Hence 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 banish'd from the world, 1890
  And world's exile is death: then banished,
  Is death mis-term'd: calling death banishment,
  Thou cutt'st my head off with a golden axe,
  And smilest upon the stroke that murders me.

• Friar Laurence. O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness! 1895
  Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind prince,
  Taking thy part, hath rush'd aside the law,
  And turn'd that black word death to banishment:
  This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not.

• Romeo. 'Tis torture, and not mercy: heaven is here, 1900
  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 1905
  In carrion-flies than Romeo: they my 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; 1910
  But Romeo may not; he is banished:
  Flies may do this, but I from this must fly:
  They are free men, but I am banished.
  And say'st thou yet that exile is not death?
  Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife, 1915
  No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean,
  But 'banished' to kill me?—'banished'?
  O friar, the damned use that word in hell;
  Howlings attend it: how hast thou the heart,
  Being a divine, a ghostly confessor, 1920
  A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd,
  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: 1925
  Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy,
  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, 1930
  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. Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel: 1935
  Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love,
  An hour but married, Tybalt murdered,
  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, 1940
  Taking the measure of an unmade grave.

• Friar Laurence. Arise; one knocks; good Romeo, hide thyself.

• Romeo. Not I; unless the breath of heartsick groans,
  Mist-like, infold me from the search of eyes. 1945

• Friar Laurence. Hark, how they knock! Who's there? Romeo, arise;
  Thou wilt be taken. Stay awhile! Stand up;
  [Knocking]
  Run to my study. By and by! God's will, 1950
  What simpleness is this! I come, I come!
  [Knocking]
  Who knocks so hard? whence come you? what's your will?

• Nurse.[Within] Let me come in, and you shall know
  my errand; 1955
  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? 1960

• 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! O woful sympathy!
  Piteous predicament! Even so lies she,
  Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering. 1965
  Stand up, stand up; stand, and 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. 1970

• 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 our joy
  With blood removed but little from her own?
  Where is she? and how doth she? and what says 1975
  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. 1980

• Romeo. As if that name,
  Shot from the deadly level of a gun,
  Did murder her; as that name's cursed hand
  Murder'd her kinsman. O, tell me, friar, tell me,
  In what vile part of this anatomy 1985
  Doth my name lodge? tell me, that I may sack
  The hateful mansion.

• Friar Laurence. Hold thy desperate hand:
  Art thou a man? thy form cries out thou art: 1990
  Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote
  The unreasonable fury of a beast:
  Unseemly woman in a seeming man!
  Or ill-beseeming beast in seeming both!
  Thou hast amazed me: by my holy order, 1995
  I thought thy disposition better temper'd.
  Hast thou slain Tybalt? wilt thou slay thyself?
  And stay thy lady too that lives in thee,
  By doing damned hate upon thyself?
  Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth? 2000
  Since birth, and heaven, and earth, all three do meet
  In thee at once; which thou at once wouldst lose.
  Fie, fie, thou shamest thy shape, thy love, thy wit;
  Which, like a usurer, abound'st in all,
  And usest none in that true use indeed 2005
  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; 2010
  Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love,
  Misshapen in the conduct of them both,
  Like powder in a skitless soldier's flask,
  Is set afire by thine own ignorance,
  And thou dismember'd with thine own defence. 2015
  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 slew'st Tybalt; there are thou happy too:
  The law that threaten'd death becomes thy friend 2020
  And turns it to exile; there art thou happy:
  A pack of blessings lights up upon thy back;
  Happiness courts thee in her best array;
  But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench,
  Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love: 2025
  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; 2030
  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. 2035
  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.

• Nurse. O Lord, I could have stay'd here all the night 2040
  To hear good counsel: O, what learning is!
  My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come.

• Romeo. Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide.

• Nurse. Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir:
  Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late. 2045

• Romeo. How well my comfort is revived by this!

• Friar Laurence. Go hence; good night; and here stands all your state:
  Either be gone before the watch be set,
  Or by the break of day disguised from hence: 2050
  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; good night.

• Romeo. But that a joy past joy calls out on me, 2055
  It were a grief, so brief to part with thee: Farewell.

Act III, Scene 4

A room in Capulet’s house.

• Capulet. Things have fall'n out, sir, so unluckily,
  That we have had no time to move our daughter: 2060
  Look you, she loved her kinsman Tybalt dearly,
  And so did I:—Well, we were born to die.
  'Tis very late, she'll not come down to-night:
  I promise you, but for your company,
  I would have been a-bed an hour ago. 2065

• Paris. These times of woe afford no time to woo.
  Madam, good night: commend me to your daughter.

• Lady Capulet. I will, and know her mind early to-morrow;
  To-night she is mew'd up to her heaviness.

• Capulet. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender 2070
  Of my child's love: I think she will be ruled
  In all respects by me; nay, more, I doubt it not.
  Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed;
  Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love;
  And bid her, mark you me, on Wednesday next— 2075
  But, soft! what day is this?

• Paris. Monday, my lord,

• Capulet. Monday! ha, ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon,
  O' Thursday let it be: o' Thursday, tell her,
  She shall be married to this noble earl. 2080
  Will you be ready? do you like this haste?
  We'll keep no great ado,—a friend or two;
  For, hark you, Tybalt being slain so late,
  It may be thought we held him carelessly,
  Being our kinsman, if we revel much: 2085
  Therefore we'll have some half a dozen friends,
  And there an end. But what say you to Thursday?

• Paris. My lord, I would that Thursday were to-morrow.

• Capulet. Well get you gone: o' Thursday be it, then.
  Go you to Juliet ere you go to bed, 2090
  Prepare her, wife, against this wedding-day.
  Farewell, my lord. Light to my chamber, ho!
  Afore me! it is so very very late,
  That we may call it early by and by.
  Good night. 2095

Act III, Scene 5

• 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; 2100
  Nightly she sings on yon 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: 2105
  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. Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I:
  It is some meteor that the sun exhales, 2110
  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. 2115
  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: 2120
  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. 2125
  Some say the lark makes sweet division;
  This doth not so, for she divideth us:
  Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes,
  O, now I would they had changed voices too!
  Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray, 2130
  Hunting thee hence with hunt's-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!

• Nurse. Madam! 2135

• Juliet. Nurse?

• Nurse. Your lady mother is coming to your chamber:
  The day is broke; be wary, look about.

• Juliet. Then, window, let day in, and let life out. 2140

• Romeo. Farewell, farewell! one kiss, and I'll descend.

• Juliet. Art thou gone so? love, lord, ay, husband, friend!
  I must hear from thee every day in the hour,
  For in a minute there are many days: 2145
  O, by this count I shall be much in years
  Ere I again behold my Romeo!

• Romeo. Farewell!
  I will omit no opportunity
  That may convey my greetings, love, to thee. 2150

• Juliet. O think'st thou 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, 2155
  As one dead in the bottom of a tomb:
  Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st 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 renown'd for faith? Be fickle, fortune;
  For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long,
  But send him back. 2165

• Lady Capulet.[Within] Ho, daughter! are you up?

• Juliet. Who is't that calls? is it my lady mother?
  Is she not down so late, or up so early?
  What unaccustom'd cause procures her hither?

• Lady Capulet. Why, how now, Juliet!

• Juliet. Madam, I am not well.

• Lady Capulet. Evermore weeping for your cousin's death?
  What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?
  An if thou couldst, thou couldst not make him live; 2175
  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.

• Lady Capulet. So shall you feel the loss, but not the friend
  Which you weep for. 2180

• Juliet. Feeling so the loss,
  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 slaughter'd him.

• Juliet. What villain madam? 2185

• Lady Capulet. That same villain, Romeo.

• 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.

• Lady Capulet. That is, because the traitor murderer lives. 2190

• Juliet. Ay, madam, from the reach of these my hands:
  Would 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 banish'd runagate doth live, 2195
  Shall give him such an unaccustom'd 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— 2200
  Is my poor heart for a kinsman vex'd.
  Madam, 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 2205
  To hear him named, and cannot come to him.
  To wreak the love I bore my cousin
  Upon his body that slaughter'd him!

• Lady Capulet. Find thou the means, and I'll find such a man.
  But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl. 2210

• Juliet. And joy comes well in such a needy time:
  What are they, I beseech your ladyship?

• Lady 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, 2215
  That thou expect'st not nor I look'd not for.

• Juliet. Madam, 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, 2220
  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 husband, comes to woo. 2225
  I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam,
  I 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, 2230
  And see how he will take it at your hands.

• Capulet. When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew;
  But for the sunset of my brother's son
  It rains downright. 2235
  How now! a conduit, girl? what, still in tears?
  Evermore showering? In one little body
  Thou counterfeit'st a bark, a sea, a wind;
  For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea,
  Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is, 2240
  Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs;
  Who, raging with thy tears, and they with them,
  Without a sudden calm, will overset
  Thy tempest-tossed body. How now, wife!
  Have you deliver'd to her our decree? 2245

• Lady Capulet. Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives you thanks.
  I would the fool were married to her grave!

• Capulet. Soft! take me with you, take me with you, wife.
  How! will she none? doth she not give us thanks?
  Is she not proud? doth she not count her blest, 2250
  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:
  Proud can I never be of what I hate;
  But thankful even for hate, that is meant love. 2255

• Capulet. How now, how now, chop-logic! What is this?
  'Proud,' and 'I thank you,' and 'I thank you not;'
  And yet 'not proud,' mistress minion, you,
  Thank me no thankings, nor, proud me no prouds,
  But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next, 2260
  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!

• Lady Capulet. Fie, fie! what, are you mad? 2265

• 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!
  I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday,
  Or never after look me in the face: 2270
  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: 2275
  Out on her, hilding!

• Nurse. God in heaven bless her!
  You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.

• Capulet. And why, my lady wisdom? hold your tongue,
  Good prudence; smatter with your gossips, go. 2280

• Nurse. I speak no treason.

• Capulet. O, God ye god-den.

• Nurse. May not one speak?

• Capulet. Peace, you mumbling fool!
  Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl; 2285
  For here we need it not.

• Lady Capulet. You are too hot.

• Capulet. God's bread! it makes me mad:
  Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play,
  Alone, in company, still my care hath been 2290
  To have her match'd: and having now provided
  A gentleman of noble parentage,
  Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly train'd,
  Stuff'd, as they say, with honourable parts,
  Proportion'd as one's thought would wish a man; 2295
  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, as you will not wed, I'll pardon you: 2300
  Graze where you will you shall not house with me:
  Look to't, think on't, I do not use to jest.
  Thursday is near; lay hand on heart, advise:
  An you be mine, I'll give you to my friend;
  And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in 2305
  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 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 2315
  In 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.

• Juliet. O God!—O nurse, how shall this be prevented? 2320
  My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven;
  How shall that faith return again to earth,
  Unless that husband send it me from heaven
  By leaving earth? comfort me, counsel me.
  Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems 2325
  Upon so soft a subject as myself!
  What say'st thou? hast thou not a word of joy?
  Some comfort, nurse.

• Nurse. Faith, here it is.
  Romeo is banish'd; and all the world to nothing, 2330
  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! 2335
  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, 2340
  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;
  Or else beshrew them both. 2345

• 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' cell, 2350
  To make confession and to be absolved.

• Nurse. Marry, I will; and this is wisely done.

• Juliet. Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend!
  Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn, 2355
  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: 2360
  If all else fail, myself have power to die.

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