The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated)

by William Shakespeare

  This is that banish'd haughty Montague That murder'd my love's cousin,--with which grief, It is supposed, the fair creature died,-- And here is come to do some villanous shame To the dead bodies: I will apprehend him.--

  (Advances.)

  Stop villainous Montague! How can you seek revenge on the dead? I arrest you. Obey me and come because you are going to die.

  Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague! Can vengeance be pursu'd further than death? Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee; Obey, and go with me; for thou must die.

  Romeo

  That is why I’m here. I am a desperate man. Don’t tempt me. Go away and leave me alone. I beg you, young man, do not make me kill you. I am here to kill myself, not you. Go away and let a madman finish himself.

  I must indeed; and therefore came I hither.-- Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate 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 arm'd against myself: Stay not, be gone;--live, and hereafter say, A madman's mercy bid thee run away.

  Paris

  No, I will not let you. I arrest you as a felon.

  I do defy thy conjurations, And apprehend thee for a felon here.

  Romeo

  Let’s go then, boy.

  Wilt thou provoke me? then have at thee, boy!

  (They fight.)

  Page

  Oh, lord. They are fighting. I will go call the police.

  O lord, they fight! I will go call the watch.

  (Exit Page.)

  Paris

  You have stabbed me. (Falls.) Please be merciful and put me with Juliet.

  O, I am slain! [Falls.] If thou be merciful, Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.

  (Dies.)

  Romeo

  Let me look at you. You are Mercutio’s relative, Paris. Wasn’t it my man who said that you were going to marry Juliet? Or did I dream that? Am I going mad? Join me in my misfortune, Paris, and I will bury you in a triumphant grave. This does not look like a grave, with the light from Juliet’s beautiful face inside. Here, this is where dead men lay.

  In faith, I will.--Let me peruse this face:-- Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris!-- What said my man, when my betossed 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 interr'd.

  (Lays Paris in the tomb.)

  How is it that men feel happiness when they are about to die? Is it enlightenment? I will call this enlightenment. Oh, my love! My wife! Death that took away your breath did not have the power to take away your beauty. You are not conquered. You still have color in your cheeks and lips. Tybalt, lying over there in your bloody sheet, I do you a favor by taking the hand that killed you and kill myself. Forgive me, cousin! Ah, Juliet, why are you still so beautiful? Is death so jealous that he has brought you here to be his lover? I will not leave you in this dark place for him. I will stay with you and the worms that are your servants. Here, I will set up my everlasting rest and shake the yoke of this world. Eyes, take your last look! Arms, take your last embrace, and lips, the doors of breath take your last kiss. Come bitter death, I will not bargain with you. Here’s to my love! (Drinks.) The drugs work quickly, so with a kiss I die.

  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 suck'd the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty: Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, And death's pale flag is not advanced there.-- Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet? O, what more favour 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; And that the lean abhorred monster keeps Thee here in dark to be his paramour? For fear of that I still will stay with thee, And never from this palace of dim night Depart again: here, here will I remain With worms that are thy chambermaids: 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, unsavoury guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark! Here's to my love! [Drinks.]--O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick.--Thus with a kiss I die.

  (Dies.)

  (Enter, at the other end of the Churchyard, Friar Lawrence with a lantern, crowbar and shovel.)

  Friar Lawrence

  Saint Francis, give me speed! I have stepped over so many graves tonight. Who’s there? Who is it in this place so late? Is it the dead?

  Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night Have my old feet stumbled at graves!--Who's there? Who is it that consorts, so late, the dead?

  Balthasar

  It is your friend.

  Here's one, a friend, and one that knows you well.

  Friar Lawrence

  Oh, good. Tell me, friend, what light is that over there by the Capulet’s tomb?

  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 is my master, the one you love so much.

  It doth so, holy sir; and there's my master, One that you love.

  Friar Lawrence

  Who is it?

  Who is it?

  Balthasar

  Romeo.

  Romeo.

  Friar Lawrence

  How long has he been in there?

  How long hath he been there?

  Balthasar

  About a half an hour.

  Full half an hour.

  Friar Lawrence

  Go with me.

  Go with me to the vault.

  Balthasar

  No. My master thinks I am gone and threatened me with death if I interrupted him.

  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 Lawrence

  Stay then. I’ll go alone, although fear grips me.

  Stay then; I'll go alone:--fear comes upon me; O, much I fear some ill unlucky thing.

  Balthasar

  I fell asleep under this tree and dreamed that my master was fighting someone, and that he killed him.

  As I did sleep under this yew tree here, I dreamt my master and another fought, And that my master slew him.

  Friar Lawrence

  Romeo! (Goes forward.) Oh, no, what is this blood stain? What do these bloody swords mean?

  Romeo! [Advances.] Alack, alack! what blood is this which stains The stony entrance of this sepulchre?-- What mean these masterless and gory swords To lie discolour'd by this place of peace?

  (Enters the tomb.)

  Romeo! You are so pale! And, Paris, too? What a terrible time! The lady stirs.

  O, pale!--Who else? what, Paris too? And steep'd in blood?--Ah, what an unkind hour Is guilty of this lamentable chance!--The lady stirs.

  (Juliet wakes and stirs.)

  Juliet

  Oh, Friar, where is my lord? I remember where I am supposed to be, but where is Romeo?

  O comfortable friar! where is my lord?-- I do remember well where I should be, And there I am:--where is my Romeo?

  (Noise from within.)

  Friar Lawre
nce

  I hear some noise. Come on, Juliet. Our plan is all messed up. Your husband is dead, so is Pairs. I’ll hide you in a convent with some nuns. Hurry, someone is coming. Let’s go. (Noise from within.) I can’t stay any longer.

  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 [noise within],--I dare no longer stay.

  Juliet

  Go, then. I’m not leaving.

  Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.--

  (Exit Friar Lawrence.)

  What’s this? My true love has a cup in his hand. Poisonous drink, I think has taken his life. There is none left for me. I will kiss your lips and pray some poison remains to help me die.

  What's here? a cup, clos'd in my true love's hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end:-- O churl! drink 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!

  First Watch

  Lead the way, boy.

  [Within.] Lead, boy:--which way?

  Juliet

  I hear another noise. I must hurry. Oh good, Romeo’s dagger!

  Yea, noise?--Then I'll be brief.--O happy dagger!

  (Snatching Romeo’s dagger.)

  This is the place where knives go. (Stabs herself.) Now, let me die.

  This is thy sheath [stabs herself]; there rest, and let me die.

  (Falls on Romeo’s body and dies.)

  (Enter Watch, with the Paris’s Page.)

  Page

  This is the place. See the burning torch.

  This is the place; there, where the torch doth burn.

  First Watch

  The ground is bloody. Search the churchyard. Go and if you find someone attack.

  The ground is bloody; search about the churchyard: Go, some of you, whoe'er you find attach.

  (Exit some of the Watch.)

  What a pitiful sight! Here is the count, murdered. Here is Juliet, bleeding, but she was supposed to be dead. She was buried two days ago. Go tell the Prince. Run to the Capulets and get the Montagues.

  Pitiful sight! here lies the county slain;-- And Juliet bleeding; warm, and newly dead, Who here hath lain this two days buried.-- Go, tell the prince;--run to the Capulets,-- Raise up the Montagues,--some others search:--

  (Exit others of the Watch.)

  We are in the sight of some terrible, unexplainable happenings.

  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 Balthasar.)

  Second Watch

  Here’s Romeo’s man. We found him in the churchyard.

  Here's Romeo's man; we found him in the churchyard.

  First Watch

  Hold him until the Prince gets here.

  Hold him in safety till the prince come hither.

  (Enter others of the Watch with Friar Lawrence.)

  Third Watch

  Here is a friar, trembling and weeping. We took this axe and shovel from him. He was coming from the graveyard.

  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 side.

  First Watch

  That is very odd. We better keep him, too.

  A great suspicion: stay the friar too.

  (Enter the Prince and Attendants.)

  Prince

  What is going on that you feel the need to wake us up so early?

  What misadventure is so early up, That calls our person from our morning's rest?

  (Enter Capulet, Lady Capulet, and others.)

  Capulet

  What is the problem? Why are they crying out?

  What should it be, that they so shriek abroad?

  Lady Capulet

  People in the street cry Romeo, and some cry Juliet. Some are crying Paris, and all of them are running towards our monument.

  The people in the street cry Romeo, Some Juliet, and some Paris; and all run, With open outcry, toward our monument.

  Prince

  What is everyone crying about?

  What fear is this which startles in our ears?

  First Watch

  Sir, here lies the body of Count Paris. He has been murdered. Romeo is dead, too. So is Juliet, although she was thought to be dead, appears to have just been killed.

  Sovereign, here lies the County Paris slain; And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before, Warm and new kill'd.

  Prince

  Search and find out how these murders happened.

  Search, seek, and know how this foul murder comes.

  First Watch

  Here is a friar with tools to open a tomb and Romeo’s man.

  Here is a friar, and slaughter'd Romeo's man, With instruments upon them fit to open These dead men's tombs.

  Capulet

  Oh, heaven! Oh, wife, look at our daughter’s blood. The knife of the Montague is in our daughter’s chest.

  O heaven!--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 mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom!

  Lady Capulet

  Oh me! The sight of all this death is like a bell reminding me that my time is coming soon.

  O me! this sight of death is as a bell That warns my old age to a sepulchre.

  (Enter Montague.)

  Montague

  Sir, my wife died tonight. She died from grief because of my son’s exile. What else must I endure?

  Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night; Grief of my son's exile hath stopp'd her breath: What further woe conspires against mine age?

  Prince

  Look and you will see.

  Look, and thou shalt see.

  Montague

  Oh, you selfish boy. How could you not wait? Fathers are supposed to die before their sons.

  O thou untaught! what manners is in this, To press before thy father to a grave?

  Prince

  Everyone be quiet and do not make any allegations until we know what happened and how it started. Then, I will let you express your pain. Meanwhile, let’s be patient. Bring in the suspects.

  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 be 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 Lawrence

  I am the greatest at fault, but I could do the least. I know you suspect me of murder, but I am not guilty, and I am not innocent.

  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 condemned and myself excus'd.

  Prince

  Then tell us what you know.

  Then say at once what thou dost know in this.

  Friar Lawrence

  I will be brief, because I think I will not live long enough to tell a boring story. Romeo was Juliet’s husband. And she was trying to be faithful to Romeo. I married them on the day Romeo killed Tybalt, which caused him to be exiled. So, Juliet wept for Romeo, and to keep her from killing herself I gave her a sleeping potion. The potion made her look dead. Then, I wrote to Romeo for him to come and claim her from the tomb when she awoke, but he never got my letter. So, I came to retrieve her and found Paris and Romeo, both dead. When she awoke I tried to get her to come with me, but she would not leave. I got scared and left, but she stayed to take her own life. Her nurse knows the truth. If, this is my fault l
et me be sacrificed and held accountable under the severest penalty of the law.

  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 Romeo's faithful wife: I married them; and their stol'n marriage day Was Tybalt's doomsday, whose untimely death Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from this city; For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pin'd. You, to remove that siege of grief from her, Betroth'd, and would have married her perforce, To County Paris:--then comes she to me, And with wild looks, bid me devise some means To rid her from this second marriage, Or in my cell there would she kill herself. Then gave I her, so tutored by my art, A sleeping potion; which so took effect 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 borrow'd grave, Being the time the potion's force should cease. But he which bore my letter, Friar John, Was stay'd by accident; and yesternight Return'd my letter back. Then all alone At the prefixed 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 awaking,--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 ought in this Miscarried by my fault, let my old life Be sacrific'd, some hour before his time, Unto the rigour of severest law.

  Prince

  We have always known you to be holy. Where’s Romeo’s man? What does he have to say about all of this?

  We still have known thee for a holy man.-- Where's Romeo's man? what can he say in this?

  Balthasar

  I told Romeo the news of Juliet’s death. Then, he came from Mantua to this place. He gave me this letter to give to his father and threatened me with death, if I did not leave. I just went over there by that tree.