17 brotherhood religious order 18 nice trivial 18 charge importance 21 crow crowbar 25 beshrew blame 26 accidents happenings 5.3.3 lay thee all along lie at full length
Here in the churchyard; yet I will adventure.°
[Retires.]
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;
Or, wanting that, with tears distilled by moans.
The obsequies that I for thee will keep
Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep.
Whistle Boy.
The boy gives warning something doth approach.
What cursèd foot wanders this way tonight
To cross° my obsequies and true love’s rite?
What, with a torch? Muffle° me, night, awhile.
[Retires.]
Enter Romeo, [and Balthasar with a torch, a mattock,
and a crow of iron].
Romeo. Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron.
Hold, take this letter. Early in the morning
See thou deliver it to my lord and father.
Give me the light. Upon thy life I charge thee,
Whate’er thou hearest or seest, stand all aloof
And do not interrupt me in my course.
Why I descend into this bed of death
Is partly to behold my lady’s face,
But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger
A precious ring—a ring that I must use.
In dear employment.° Therefore hence, be gone.
But if thou, jealous,° dost return to pry
In what I farther shall intend to do,
By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint
And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs.
The time and my intents are savage-wild,
More fierce and more inexorable far
Than empty tigers or the roaring sea.
11 adventure risk it 14 sweet perfumed 20 cross interrupt 21 Muffle hide 32 dear employment important business 33 jealous curious
Balthasar. I will be gone, sir, and not trouble ye.
Romeo. So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou
that.
Live, and be prosperous; and farewell, good fellow.
Balthasar. [Aside] For all this same, I’ll hide me here-
about.
His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt.° [Retires.]
Romeo. Thou detestable maw,° thou womb of death,
Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth,
Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open,
And in despite° I’ll cram thee with more food.
[Romeo opens the tomb.]
Paris. This is that banished haughty Montague
That murd’red my love’s cousin—with which grief
It is supposed the fair creature died—
And here is come to do some villainous shame
To the dead bodies. I will apprehend him.
Stop thy unhallowèd toil, vile Montague!
Can vengeance be pursued further than death?
Condemnèd villain, I do apprehend thee.
Obey, and go with me; for thou must die.
Romeo. I must indeed; and therefore came I hither.
Good gentle youth, tempt not a desp’rate man.
Fly hence and leave me. Think upon these gone;
Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth,
Put not another sin upon my head
By urging me to fury. O, be gone!
By heaven, I love thee better than myself,
For I come hither armed against myself.
Stay not, be gone. Live, and hereafter say
A madman’s mercy bid thee run away.
Paris. I do defy thy conjurations.°
And apprehend thee for a felon here.
Romeo. Wilt thou provoke me? Then have at thee, boy!
[They fight.]
44 doubt suspect 45 maw stomach 48 in despite to spite you 68 conjurations solemn charges
Page. O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch.
[Exit. Paris falls.]
Paris. O, I am slain! If thou be merciful,
Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet. [Dies.]
Romeo. In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face.
Mercutio’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?
Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet,
To think it was so? O, give me thy hand,
One writ with me in sour misfortune’s book!
I’ll bury thee in a triumphant grave.
A grave? O, no, a lanthorn,° slaught’red youth,
For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feasting presence° full of light.
Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interred.
[Lays him in the tomb.]
How oft when men are at the point of death
Have they been merry! Which their keepers° call
A lightning before death. O, how may I
Call this a lightning? O my love, my wife!
Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.
Thou art not conquered. Beauty’s ensign° yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death’s pale flag is not advancèd there.
Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
O, what more favor can I do to thee
Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial Death is amorous,
77 attend give attention to 84 lanthorn lantern (a windowed erection on the top of a dome or room to admit light) 86 feasting presence festive presence chamber 89 keepers jailers 94 ensign banner
And that the lean abhorrèd monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that I still will stay with thee
And never from this pallet of dim night
Depart again. Here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids. O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! And, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless° bargain to engrossing° death!
Come, bitter conduct;° come, unsavory guide!
Thou desperate pilot,° now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark!
Here’s to my love! [Drinks.] O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. [Falls.]
Enter Friar [Lawrence], with lanthorn, crow, and spade.
Friar. Saint Francis be my speed!° How oft tonight
Have my old feet stumbled° at graves! Who’s there?
Balthasar. Here’s one, a friend, and one that knows
you well.
Friar. Bliss be upon you! Tell me, good my friend,
What torch is yond that vainly lends his light
To grubs and eyeless skulls? As I discern,
It burneth in the Capels’ monument.
Balthasar. It doth so, holy sir; and there’s my master,
One that you love.
Friar. Who is it?
Balthasar. Romeo.
Friar. How long hath he been there?
115 dateless eternal 115 engrossing all-buying, all-encompassing 116 conduct guide 117 desperate pilot i.e., himself 121 speed help 122 stum
bled (a bad omen)
Balthasar. Full half an hour.
Friar. Go with me to the vault.
Balthasar. I dare not, sir.
My master knows not but I am gone hence,
And fearfully did menace me with death
If I did stay to look on his intents.
Friar. Stay then; I’ll go alone. Fear comes upon me.
O, much I fear some ill unthrifty° thing.
Balthasar. As I did sleep under this yew tree here,
I dreamt my master and another fought,
And that my master slew him.
Friar. Romeo!
Alack, alack, what blood is this which stains
The stony entrance of this sepulcher?
What mean these masterless and gory swords
To lie discolored by this place of peace?
[Enters the tomb.]
Romeo! O, pale! Who else? What, Paris too?
And steeped in blood? Ah, what an unkind° hour
Is guilty of this lamentable chance!
The lady stirs. [Juliet rises.]
Juliet. O comfortable° friar! Where is my lord?
I do remember well where I should be,
And there I am. Where is my Romeo?
Friar. I hear some noise. Lady, come from that nest
Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep.
A greater power than we can contradict
Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away.
Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead;
And Paris too. Come, I’ll dispose of thee
Among a sisterhood of holy nuns.
Stay not to question, for the watch is coming.
Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay.
136 unthrifty unlucky 145 unkind unnatural 148 comfortable comforting
Juliet. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.
Exit [Friar].
What’s here? A cup, closed in my truelove’s hand?
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless° end.
O churl!° Drunk all, and left no friendly drop
To help me after? I will kiss thy lips.
Haply some poison yet doth hang on them
To make me die with a restorative. [Kisses him.]
Thy lips are warm!
Chief Watchman. [Within] Lead, boy. Which way?
Juliet. Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy°
dagger! [Snatches Romeo’s dagger.]
This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.
[She stabs herself and falls.]
Enter [Paris’] Boy and Watch.
Boy. 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 attach.
[Exeunt some of the Watch.]
Pitiful sight! Here lies the County slain;
And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead,
Who here hath lain this two days burièd.
Go, tell the Prince; run to the Capulets;
Raise up the Montagues; some others search.
[Exeunt others of the Watch.]
We see the ground whereon these woes do lie,
But the true ground° of all these piteous woes
We cannot without circumstance° descry.
Enter [some of the Watch, with] Romeo’s Man
[Balthasar].
Second Watchman. Here’s Romeo’s man. We found
him in the churchyard.
162 timeless untimely 163 churl rude fellow 169 happy opportune 180 ground cause 181 circumstance details
Chief Watchman. Hold him in safety till the Prince
come hither.
Enter Friar [Lawrence] and another Watchman.
Third Watchman. Here is a friar that trembles, sighs,
and weeps.
We took this mattock and this spade from him
As he was coming from this churchyard’s side.
Chief Watchman. A great suspicion! Stay the friar too.
Enter the Prince [and Attendants].
Prince. What misadventure is so early up,
That calls our person from our morning rest?
Enter Capulet and his Wife [with others].
Capulet. What should it be, that is 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 your ears?
Chief Watchman. Sovereign, 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,
With 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°
Is empty on the back of Montague,
And it missheathèd in my daughter’s bosom!
203 his house its sheath
Lady Capulet. O me, this sight of death is as a bell
That warns my old age to a sepulcher.
Enter Montague [and others].
Prince. Come, Montague; for thou art early up
To see thy son and heir more early down.
Montague. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead tonight!
Grief of my son’s exile hath stopped her breath.
What further woe conspires against mine age?
Prince. Look, and thou shalt see.
Montague. O thou untaught! What manners is in this,
To press before thy father to a grave?
Prince. Seal up the mouth of outrage° for a while,
Till we can clear these ambiguities
And know their spring, their head, their true
descent;
And then will I general of your woes°
And lead you even to death. Meantime forbear,
And let mischance be slave to patience.
Bring forth the parties of suspicion.
Friar. I am the greatest, able to do least,
Yet most suspected, as the time and place
Doth make against me, of this direful murder;
And here I stand, both to impeach and purge°
Myself condemnèd and myself excused.
Prince. Then say at once what thou dost know in this.
Friar. I will be brief, for my short date of breath°
Is not so long as is a 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
Banished the new-made bridegroom from this city;
216 the mouth of outrage these violent cries 219 general of your woes leader in your sorrowing 226 impeach and purge make charges and exonerate 229 date of breath term of life
For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined.
You, to remove that siege of grief from her,
Betrothed and would have married her perforce
To County Paris. Then comes she to me
And with wild looks bid me devise some mean
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
As I intended, for it wrought on her
The form of death. Meantime I writ to Romeo
That he should hither come as° this dire night
To help to take her from her borrowed
grave,
Being the time the potion’s force should cease.
But he which bore my letter, Friar John,
Was stayed by accident, and yesternight
Returned my letter back. Then all alone
At the prefixèd hour of her waking
Came I to take her from her kindred’s vault;
Meaning to keep her closely° at my cell
Till 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.
She wakes; and I entreated her come forth
And bear this work of heaven 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.
All this I know, and to the marriage
Her nurse is privy;° and if aught in this
Miscarried by my fault, 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.
Where’s Romeo’s man? What can he say to this?
Balthasar. I brought my master news of Juliet’s death;247 as on 255 closely hidden 266 privy accessory 270 still always
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,
And threat’ned 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° in this place?
Boy. He came with flowers to strew his lady’s grave;
And bid me stand aloof, and so I did.
Anon comes one with light to ope the tomb;
And by and by° my master drew on him;
And then I ran away to call the watch.
Prince. 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 therewithal°
Came to this vault to die and lie with Juliet.
Where 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, too,
Have lost a brace° of kinsmen. All are punished.
Capulet. O brother Montague, give me thy hand.
This is my daughter’s jointure,° for no more
Romeo and Juliet Page 19
