Romeo and Juliet

by William Shakespeare

  That westward rooteth from this city side,

  So early walking did I see your son.

  Towards him I made, but he was waredeg of me

  And stole into the covert of the wood.

  I, measuring his affections by my own,

  Which then most sought where most might not be

  found,deg

  Being one too many by my weary self,

  Pursued my humor not pursuing his,deg

  And gladly shunned who gladly fled from me.

  Montague. Many a morning hath he there been seen,

  With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew,

  Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs;

  But all so soon as the all-cheering sun

  Should in the farthest East begin to draw

  The shady curtains from Aurora'sdeg bed,

  Away from light steals home my heavydeg son

  And private in his chamber pens himself,

  Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out,

  And makes himself an artificial night.

  115 withal thereby 117 on part and part some on one side, some on another 127 ware aware 130 most sought . . . found i.e., wanted most to be alone 132 Pursued . . . his i.e., followed my own inclination by not inquiring into his mood 139 Aurora goddess of the dawn 140 heavy melancholy, moody

  Black and portentous must this humordeg prove

  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 him by any means?

  Montague. Both by myself and many other friends;

  But he, his own affections' counselor,

  Is to himself--I will not say how true--

  But to himself so secret and so close,

  So far from soundingdeg and discovery,

  As is the bud bit with an enviousdeg worm

  Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air

  Or dedicate his beauty to the sun.

  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;

  I'll know his grievance, or be much denied.

  Montague. I would thou wert so happydeg by thy stay

  To hear true shrift.deg Come, madam, let's away.

  Exeunt [Montague and Wife].

  Benvolio. Good morrow,deg cousin.

  Romeo. Is the day so young?

  Benvolio. But new struck nine.

  Romeo. Ay me! Sad hours seem long.

  Was that my father that went hence so fast?

  Benvolio. It was. What sadness lengthens Romeo's

  hours?

  144 humor mood 153 So far from sounding so far from measuring the depth of his mood 154 envious malign 161 happy lucky 162 true shrift i.e., Romeo's confession of the truth 163 morrow morning

  Romeo. Not having that which having makes them

  short.

  Benvolio. 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,deg

  Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!

  Romeo. Alas that love, whose view is muffled still,deg

  Should without eyes see pathways to his will!

  Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here?

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

  Here's much to do with hate, but more with love.deg

  Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate,

  O anything, of nothing first created!deg

  O heavy lightness, serious vanity,

  Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms,

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

  Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!

  This love feel I, that feel no love in this.

  Dost thou not laugh?

  Benvolio. No, coz,deg I rather weep.

  Romeo. 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 it prestdeg

  With more of thine. This love that thou hast shown 172 gentle in his view mild in appearance 174 muffled still always blindfolded 178 more with love i.e., the combatants enjoyed their fighting 180 O anything, of nothing first created (Romeo here relates his own succession of witty paradoxes to the dogma that God created everything out of nothing) 186 coz cousin (relative) 190 Which . . . prest i.e., which griefs you will increase by burdening my breast

  Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.

  Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs;

  Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;

  Being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears.

  What is it else? A madness most discreet,deg

  A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.

  Farewell, my coz.

  Benvolio. Soft!deg I will go along.

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

  Romeo. Tut! I have lost myself; I am not here;

  This is not Romeo, he's some other where.

  Benvolio. Tell me in sadness,deg who is that you love?

  Romeo. What, shall I groan and tell thee?

  Benvolio. Groan? Why, no;

  But sadlydeg tell me who.

  Romeo. Bid a sick man in sadnessdeg make his will.

  Ah, word ill urged to one that is so ill!

  In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.

  Benvolio. I aimed so near when I supposed you loved.

  Romeo. A right good markman. And she's fair I love.

  Benvolio. A right fair mark,deg fair coz, is soonest hit.

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

  With Cupid's arrow. She hath Dian's wit,deg

  And, in strong proofdeg of chastity well armed,

  From Love's weak childish bow she lives un-

  charmed.

  She will not staydeg the siege of loving terms,

  Nor bidedeg th' encounter of assailing eyes, 196 discreet discriminating 198 Soft hold on 199 And if if 202 in sadness in all seriousness 204 sadly seriously 205 in sadness (1) in seriousness (2) in unhappiness at the prospect of death 210 fair mark target easily seen 212 Dian's wit the cunning of Diana, huntress and goddess of chastity 213 proof tested power 215 stay submit to 216 bide abide (put up with)

  Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold.

  O, she is rich in beauty; only poor

  That, when she dies, with beauty dies her store.deg

  Benvolio. Then she hath sworn that she will stilldeg live

  chaste?

  Romeo. She hath, and in that sparing make huge

  waste;

  For beauty, starved with her severity,

  Cuts beauty off from all posterity.

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

  To merit blissdeg by making 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. By giving liberty unto thine eyes.

  Examine other beauties.

  Romeo. 'Tis the way

  To call hers, exquisite, in questiondeg more.

  These happy masks that kiss fair ladies' brows,

  Being black puts us in mind they hide the fair.

  He that is strucken blind cannot forget

  The precious treasure of his eyesight lost.

  Show me a mistress that is passing fair:

  What doth her beauty serve but as a notedeg
/>   Where I may read who passed that passing fair?

  Farewell. Thou canst not teach me to forget.

  Benvolio. I'll pay that doctrine, or else die in debt.deg

  Exeunt.

  219 with beauty dies her store i.e., she will leave no progeny to perpetuate her beauty 220 still always 225 merit bliss win heavenly bliss 232 To call hers . . . in question to keep bringing her beauty to mind 238 note written reminder 241 I'll . . . debt I will teach you or else die trying

  [Scene 2. A street.]

  Enter Capulet, County Paris, and the Clown, [his Servant].

  Capulet. But Montague is bounddeg 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 reckoningdeg are you both,

  And pity 'tis you lived at odds so long.

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

  Capulet. But saying o'er what I have said before:

  My child is yet a stranger in the world,

  She hath not seen the change of fourteen years;

  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 swallowed all my hopesdeg but she;

  She is 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,deg within her scope of choicedeg

  Lies my consent and fair accordingdeg voice.

  This night I hold an old accustomeddeg 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. 1.2.1 bound under bond 4 reckoning reputation 14 hopes children 18 And she agreed if she agrees 18 within her scope of choice among those she favors 19 according agreeing 20 accustomed established by custom

  At my poor house look to behold this night

  Earth-treading starsdeg that make dark heaven light.

  Such comfort as do lusty young men feel

  When well-appareled April on the heel

  Of limping Winter treads, even such delight

  Among fresh fenneldeg buds shall you this night

  Inheritdeg at my house. Hear all, all see,

  And like her most whose merit most shall be;

  Which, on more view of many, mine, being one,

  May stand in number,deg though in reck'ning none.deg

  Come, go with me. [To Servant, giving him a paper]

  Go, sirrah,deg 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.deg

  Exit [with Paris].

  Servant. Find them out whose names are written here?

  It is written that the shoemaker should meddle with

  his yard and the tailor with his last, the fisher with

  his pencil and the painter with his nets;deg but I am

  sent to find those persons whose names are here

  writ, and can never finddeg what names the writing

  person hath here writ. I must to the learned. In

  good time!deg

  Enter Benvolio and Romeo.

  Benvolio. Tut, man, one fire burns out another's

  burning;

  One pain is less'ned by another's anguish;deg

  Turn giddy, and be holp by backward turning;deg 25 Earth-treading stars i.e., young girls 29 fennel flowering herb 30 Inherit have 33 stand in number constitute one of the crowd 33 in reck'ning none not worth special consideration 34 sirrah (a term of familiar address) 37 stay wait 39-41 shoemaker . . . nets i.e., one should stick to what one knows how to do (but the servant, being illiterate, reverses the proverbial expressions) 43 find under-stand 44-45 In good time i.e., here come some learned ones 47 another's anguish the pain of another 48 be holp by backward turning be helped by turning in the opposite direction

  One desperate grief cures with another's languish.

  Take thou some new infection to thy eye,

  And the rank poison of the old will die.

  Romeo. Your plantain leaf is excellent for that.

  Benvolio. For what, I pray thee?

  Romeo. For your brokendeg shin.

  Benvolio. Why, Romeo, art thou mad?

  Romeo. Not mad, but bound more than a madman is;

  Shut up in prison, kept without my food,

  Whipped and tormented and--God-den,deg good fel-

  low.

  Servant. God gi' go-den. I pray, sir, can you read?

  Romeo. Ay, mine own fortune in my misery.

  Servant. Perhaps you have learned it without book.

  But, I pray, can you read anything you see?

  Romeo. Ay, if I know the letters and the language.deg

  Servant. Ye say honestly. Rest you merry.deg

  Romeo. Stay, fellow; I can read. He reads the letter.

  "Signior Martino and his wife and daughters;

  County Anselm and his beauteous sisters;

  The lady widow of Vitruvio;

  Signior Placentio and his lovely nieces;

  Mercutio and his brother Valentine;

  Mine uncle Capulet, his wife and daughters;

  My fair niece Rosaline; Livia;

  Signior Valentio and his cousin Tybalt;

  Lucio and the lively Helena."

  A fair assembly. Whither should they come?

  Servant. Up.

  53 broken scratched 57 God-den good evening (good afternoon) 62 if I know the letters and the language i.e., if I already know what the writing says 63 Rest you merry may God keep you merry

  Romeo. Whither? To supper?

  Servant. To our house.

  Romeo. Whose house?

  Servant. My master's.

  Romeo. Indeed I should have asked you that before.

  Servant. 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 come and crush a cupdeg

  of wine. Rest you merry. [Exit.]

  Benvolio. At this same ancientdeg feast of Capulet's

  Sups the fair Rosaline whom thou so loves;

  With all the admired beauties of Verona.

  Go thither, and with unattainteddeg eye

  Compare her face with some that I shall show,

  And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.

  Romeo. When the devout religion of mine eye

  Maintains such falsehood, then turn tears to fires;

  And these, who, often drowned, could never die,

  Transparentdeg 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 saw her fair, none else being by,

  Herself poiseddeg with herself in either eye;

  But in that crystal scalesdeg let there be weighed

  Your lady's love against some other maid

  That I will show you shining at this feast,

  And she shall scantdeg show well that now seems best.

  Romeo. I'll go along, no such sight to be shown,

  But to rejoice in splendor of mine own.deg [Exeunt.]

  83 crush a cup have a drink 85 ancient established by custom 88 unattainted impartial 94 Transparent obvious 98 poised balanced 99 crystal scales i.e., Romeo's pair of eyes 102 scant scarcely 104 splendor of mine own my own lady's splendor

  [Scene 3. A room in Capulet's house.]

  Enter Capulet's Wife, and Nurse.

  Lady Capulet. Nurse, where's my daughter? Call her forth to me.

  Nurse. Now, by my maidenhead at twelve year old,

  I bade he
r come. What,deg lamb! What, ladybird!

  God forbid, where's this girl? What, Juliet!

  Enter Juliet.

  Juliet. 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

  awhile;

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

  I have rememb'red me; thou 'sdeg hear our counsel.

  Thou knowest my daughter's of a pretty age.

  Nurse. Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.

  Lady Capulet. She's not fourteen.

  Nurse. I'll lay fourteen of my teeth--

  And yet, to my teendeg be it spoken, I have but

  four--

  She's not fourteen. How long is it now

  To Lammastide?deg

  Lady Capulet. A fortnight and odd days.

  1.3.3 What (an impatient call) 9 thou 's thou shalt 13 teen sorrow 15 Lammastide August 1

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

  Come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen.

  Susan and she (God rest all Christian souls!)

  Were of an age.deg 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.

  'Tis since the earthquakedeg now eleven years;

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

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

  For I had then laid wormwood to my dug,

  Sitting in the sun under the dovehouse wall.

  My lord and you were then at Mantua.

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

  When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple

  Of my dug and felt it bitter, pretty fool,

  To see it tetchydeg and fall out with the dug!

  Shake, quoth the dovehouse!deg 'Twas no need, I

  trow,deg

  To bid me trudge.

  And since that time it is eleven years,

  For then she could stand high-lone;deg nay, by th'

  rood,deg

  She could have run and waddled all about;

  For even the day before, she broke her brow;

  And then my husband (God be with his soul!

  'Adeg 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;

  Wilt thou not, Jule?" and, by my holidam,deg

  The pretty wretch left crying and said, "Ay."

  To see now how a jest shall come about!

  I warrant, and I should live a thousand years, 19 of an age the same age 23 earthquake (see Introduction) 29 I do bear a brain i.e., my mind is still good 32 tetchy irritable 33 Shake, quoth the dovehouse i.e., the dovehouse (which the Nurse personifies) began to tremble 33 trow believe 36 high-lone alone 36 rood cross 40 'A he 43 holidam holy thing, relic

  I never should forget it. "Wilt thou not, Jule?"

  quoth he,

  And, pretty fool, it stinteddeg and said, "Ay."