Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (beach books txt) š
- Author: William Shakespeare
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ROMEO AND JULIET
(two dates are assigned to it, 1591 and 1596-1597)
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
ESCALUS: prince of Verona. (PRINCE:)
PARIS: a young nobleman, kinsman to the prince. MONTAGUE, CAPULET: heads of two houses at variance
with each other.
An old man, cousin to Capulet. (Second Capulet:) ROMEO: son to Montague.
MERCUTIO: kinsman to the prince, and friend to Romeo. BENVOLIO: nephew to Montague, and friend to Romeo. TYBALT: nephew to Lady Capulet.
FRIAR LAURENCE, FRIAR JOHN: Franciscans. BALTHASAR: servant to Romeo.
SAMPSON, GREGORY: servants to Capulet. PETER: servant to Julietās nurse. ABRAHAM: servant to Montague.
An Apothecary. (Apothecary:)
Three Musicians. (First Musician:) (Second Musician:) (Third Musician:)
Page to Paris; (PAGE:) another Page; an officer. LADY MONTAGUE: wife to Montague.
LADY CAPULET: wife to Capulet.
JULIET: daughter to Capulet.
Nurse to Juliet. (Nurse:)
Citizens of Verona; several Men and Women, relations to both houses; Maskers,
Guards, Watchmen, and Attendants. (First Citizen:)
(Servant:)
(First Servant:) (Second Servant:) (First Watchman:) (Second Watchman:) (Third Watchman:)
Chorus.
SCENE: Verona: Mantua.
PROLOGUE
Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossād lovers take their life; Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parentsā strife. The fearful passage of their death-markād love, And the continuance of their parentsā rage,
Which, but their childrenās end, nought could remove, Is now the two hoursā traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
ACT I
SCENE I: Verona. A public place.
[Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, of the house of
Capulet, armed with swords and bucklers.] SAMPSON: Gregory, oā my word, weāll not carry coals. GREGORY: No, for then we should be colliers. SAMPSON: I mean, an we be in choler, weāll draw.
GREGORY: Ay, while you live, draw your neck out oā the collar.
SAMPSON: I strike quickly, being moved.
GREGORY: But thou art not quickly moved to strike. SAMPSON: A dog of the house of Montague moves me.
GREGORY: To move is to stir; and to be valiant is to stand: therefore, if thou art moved, thou runnāst away.
SAMPSON: A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montagueās.
GREGORY: That shows thee a weak slave; for the weak- est goes to the wall.
SAMPSON: True; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push Montagueās men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall.
GREGORY: The quarrel is between our masters and us their men.
SAMPSON: āTis all one, I will show myself a tyrant: when I have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the maids, and cut off their heads.
GREGORY: The heads of the maids?
SAMPSON: Ay, the heads of the maids, or their
maidenheads; take it in what sense thou wilt.
GREGORY: They must take it in sense that feel it. SAMPSON: Me they shall feel while I am able to stand:
and ātis known I am a pretty piece of flesh.
GREGORY: āTis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou hadst been poor John. Draw thy tool! here comes two of the house of the Montagues.
SAMPSON: My naked weapon is out: quarrel, I will back thee.
GREGORY: How! turn thy back and run? SAMPSON: Fear me not.
GREGORY: No, marry; I fear thee!
SAMPSON: Let us take the law of our sides; let them begin.
GREGORY: I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it
as they list.
SAMPSON: Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them; which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it.
[Enter ABRAHAM and BALTHASAR.] ABRAHAM: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? SAMPSON: I do bite my thumb, sir.
ABRAHAM: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
SAMPSON: [Aside to GREGORY] Is the law of our side, if I say ay?
GREGORY: No.
SAMPSON: No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.
GREGORY: Do you quarrel, sir? ABRAHAM: Quarrel sir! no, sir.
SAMPSON: If you do, sir, I am for you: I serve as good
a man as you. ABRAHAM: No better. SAMPSON: Well, sir.
GREGORY: Say ābetter:ā here comes one of my masterās kinsmen.
SAMPSON: Yes, better, sir. ABRAHAM: You lie.
SAMPSON: Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember thy swashing blow.
[They fight.] [Enter BENVOLIO.]
BENVOLIO: Part, fools!
Put up your swords; you know not what you do. [Beats down their swords.]
[Enter TYBALT.]
TYBALT: What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?
Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.
BENVOLIO: I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword, Or manage it to part these men with me.
TYBALT: What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee: Have at thee, coward!
[They fight.]
[Enter, several of both houses, who join the fray;
then enter Citizens, with clubs.]
First Citizen: Clubs, bills, and partisans! strike! beat them down!
Down with the Capulets! down with the Montagues! [Enter CAPULET in his gown, and LADY CAPULET.]
CAPULET: What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!
LADY CAPULET: A crutch, a crutch! why call you for a sword?
CAPULET: My sword, I say! Old Montague is come, And flourishes his blade in spite of me.
[Enter MONTAGUE and LADY MONTAGUE.] MONTAGUE: Thou villain Capulet,āHold me not, let
me go.
LADY MONTAGUE: Thou shalt not stir a foot to seek a foe.
[Enter PRINCE, with Attendants.] PRINCE: Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbor-stained steel,ā
Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts, That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands Throw your mistemperād weapons to the ground, And hear the sentence of your moved prince. Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturbād the quiet of our streets, And made Veronaās ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments, To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Cankerād with peace, to part your cankerād hate: If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. For this time, all the rest depart away:
You Capulet; shall go along with me:
And, Montague, come you this afternoon, To know our further pleasure in this case,
To old Free-town, our common judgment-place. Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
[Exeunt all but MONTAGUE, LADY MONTAGUE, and
BENVOLIO.]
MONTAGUE: Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach? Speak, nephew, were you by when it began?
BENVOLIO: Here were the servants of your adversary, And yours, close fighting ere I did approach:
I drew to part them: in the instant came The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared, Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears, He swung about his head and cut the winds,
Who nothing hurt withal hissād him in scorn: While we were interchanging thrusts and blows, Came more and more and fought on part and part, Till the prince came, who parted either part.
LADY MONTAGUE: O, where is Romeo? saw you him to- day?
Right glad I am he was not at this fray.
BENVOLIO: Madam, an hour before the worshippād sun
Peerād forth the golden window of the east, A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad; Where, underneath the grove of sycamore That westward rooteth from the cityās side, So early walking did I see your son:
Towards him I made, but he was ware of me
And stole into the covert of the wood: I, measuring his affections by my own,
That most are busied when theyāre most alone, Pursued my humor not pursuing his,
And gladly shunnād who gladly fled from me.
MONTAGUE: Many a morning hath he there been seen, With tears augmenting the fresh morning dew.
Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs; But all so soon as the all-cheering sun
Should in the furthest east begin to draw
The shady curtains from Auroraās bed,
Away from the light steals home my heavy son, And private in his chamber pens himself,
Shuts up his windows, locks far daylight out
And makes himself an artificial night:
Black and portentous must this humor 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 affectionsā counsellor,
Is to himselfāI will not say how trueā But to himself so secret and so close,
So far from sounding and discovery,
As is the bud bit with an envious 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; Iāll know his grievance, or be much denied.
MONTAGUE: I would thou wert so happy by thy stay, To hear true shrift. Come, madam, letās away.
[Exeunt MONTAGUE and LADY MONTAGUE.] BENVOLIO: Good-morrow, 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 Romeoās hours?
ROMEO: Not having that, which, having, makes them short.
BENVOLIO: In love? ROMEO: Outā BENVOLIO: Of love?
ROMEO: Out of her favor, where I am in love.
BENVOLIO: Alas, that love, so gentle in his view, Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!
ROMEO: Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still, 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.
Hereās much to do with hate, but more with love. Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing, of nothing first create! O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Mis-shapen 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, I rather weep. ROMEO: Good heart, at what?
BENVOLIO: At thy good heartās oppression.
ROMEO: Why, such is loveās transgression. Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest
With more of thine: this love that thou hast shown
Doth add more grief to too much of mine own. Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in loversā eyes;
Being vexād a sea nourishād with loversā tears: What is it else? a madness most discreet,
A choking gall and a preserving sweet. Farewell, my coz.
BENVOLIO: Soft! I will go along;
An if you leave me so, you do me wrong.
ROMEO: Tut, I have lost myself; I am not here; This is not Romeo, heās some other where.
BENVOLIO: Tell me in sadness, who is that you love. ROMEO: What, shall I groan and tell thee? BENVOLIO: Groan! why, no.
But sadly tell me who.
ROMEO: Bid a sick man in sadness make his will: Ah, word ill urged to one that is so ill!
In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.
BENVOLIO: I aimād so near, when I supposed you loved.
ROMEO: A right good mark-man! And sheās fair I love. BENVOLIO: A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.
ROMEO: Well, in that hit you miss: sheāll not be hit
With Cupidās arrow; she hath Dianās wit; And, in strong proof of chastity well armād,
From loveās weak childish bow she lives unharmād. She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes, 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.
BENVOLIO: Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste?
ROMEO: She hath, and in that sparing makes 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 bliss by making me despair:
She hath forsworn to love,
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