ACT 3
[Enter JULIET]
JULIET
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Quick, horses at the chariot of the sun-god,
Towards Phoebus' lodging: such a wagoner
Go to the west’s horizon; such a horseman
As Phaethon would whip you to the west,
As Phaethon, who lost control at high speed,
And bring in cloudy night immediately.
Would turn the day to night immediately.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
Now lovely night, close curtains on the day,
That runaway's eyes may wink and Romeo
So everybody’s eyes may close and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalked of and unseen.
Can jump into my arms whilst no one’s watching.
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
Lovers can see enough for carnal romance
By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,
From light their beauty brings; or, if love’s blind,
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,
It matches with the night. Come, decent night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
You sombre lady, dressed up all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
And teach me how to lose virginity
Played for a pair of stainless maidenhoods:
And win the consummation of our love.
Hood my unmanned blood, bating in my cheeks,
Disguise the fact my blood has made my cheeks blush
With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold,
By bringing darkness; till this new love’s normal,
Think true love acted simple modesty.
And making love no longer feels so strange.
Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
Come, night; come Romeo, bring light to darkness;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
For you’ll appear to me in night-time’s darkness
Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.
Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back.
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-browed night,
Come, gentle night-time; come here, lovely darkness,
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
And bring my Romeo; and when he’s died,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
Take him and cut him into little star shapes
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
And he will make the heavenly night sky so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
No longer worshipping the flashy sun.
O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
Oh, I have bought myself the house of love
But not possessed it, and, though I am sold,
But I have not moved in yet, though it’s mine,
Not yet enjoyed: so tedious is this day
I’ve not yet enjoyed it. The day is dragging
As is the night before some festival
Like nights that drag before a festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes
That an impatient child has new clothes for
And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse,
But cannot wear them yet. Here comes my nurse,
And she brings news; and every tongue that speaks
And she is bringing news, and all that speak of
But Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence.
My Romeo speak words that come from heaven.
[Enter Nurse, with cords]
Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there? The cords
Now, nurse, what’s news? What have you there? The ropes
That Romeo bid thee fetch?
That Romeo asked you get?
NURSE
Ay, ay, the cords.
Yes, yes, the ropes.
[Throws them down]
JULIET
Ay me! What news? Why dost thou wring thy hands?
Come on! What’s news? Why do you wring your hands?
NURSE
Ah, well-a-day! He's dead, he's dead, he's dead!
Oh, what a day! He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead!
We are undone, lady, we are undone!
We’ve come undone, dear lady! Come undone!
Alack the day! He's gone, he's killed, he's dead!
Alas the day! He’s gone, he’s killed, he’s dead!
JULIET
Can heaven be so envious?
Can heaven be so cruel?
NURSE
Romeo can,
Romeo can,
Though heaven cannot: O Romeo, Romeo!
Though heaven cannot. Oh Romeo, Romeo!
Who ever would have thought it? Romeo!
Whoever would have thought it? Romeo!
JULIET
What devil art thou, that dost torment me thus?
What devil is tormenting me this way?
This torture should be roared in dismal hell.
This torture should be shouted out in hell.
Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but 'I,'
Has Romeo killed himself? If you say “yes”,
And that bare vowel 'I' shall poison more
That single sound will be more poisonous
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice:
Than that mythical creature whose looks kill.
I am not I, if there be such an I;
I will not be myself if you say “yes”;
Or those eyes shut, that make thee answer 'I.'
Or if you shut your eyes to signal “yes”.
If he be slain, say 'I'; or if not, no:
If he is dead, say “yes”; if not, say no.
Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe.
Brief sounds dictate if I have joy or woe.
NURSE
I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,--
I saw the wound, I saw it with my eyes —
God save the mark!--here on his manly breast:
God bless the spot! —here on his manly breast:
A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse;
A pitiful corpse, a bloody pitiful corpse,
Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaubed in blood,
Pale, pale as ashes, all covered in blood,
All in gore-blood; I swounded at the sight.
All gory blood; I fainted at the sight.
JULIET
O, break, my heart! Poor bankrupt, break at once!
Oh, break my heart! My bankrupt heart must break!
To prison, eyes, ne'er look on liberty!
My eyes must go to prison, never freed!
Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here;
I must be buried in vile earth, life ending,
And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier!
As Romeo and I squeeze in one coffin!
NURSE
O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had!
Oh Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had!
O courteous Tybalt! Honest gentleman!
Oh, courteous Tybalt! Honest gentleman!
That ever I should live to see thee dead!
I never thought I’d live to see you dead!
JULIET
What storm is this that blows so contrary?
What stormy statement changes what you’ve said?
Is Romeo slaughtered, and is Tybalt dead?
Is Romeo slaughtered, and is Tybalt dead?
My dear-loved cousin, and my dearer lord?
My dear-loved cousin, and my dearest husband?
Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom!
Then, dreadful trumpets, play the tune of doomsday!
For who is living, if those two are gone?
For who can live when both of them are dead?
NURSE
Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished;
Tybalt is dead, and Romeo is banished;
Romeo that killed him, he is banished.
Romeo killed him, and that’s why he’s banished.
JULIET
O God! Did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?
Oh God! Did Romeo spill Tybalt’s blood?
NURSE
It did, it did; alas the day, it did!
He did, he did; alas the day, he did!
JULIET
O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!
Romeo’s serpent-heart’s hid by his face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Did dragons ever have a lovely cave?
Beautiful tyrant! Fiend angelical!
Beautiful tyrant! You angelic fiend!
Dove-feathered raven! Wolvish-ravening lamb!
Dove-feathered raven! A lamb that kills like wolves!
Despised substance of divinest show!
A rotten person hidden by his beauty!
Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st,
The opposite of how someone perceives him,
A damned saint, an honourable villain!
A damned saint, an honourable villain!
O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell,
Oh nature, what has made you go to hell
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend
And place the evil spirit of a fiend
In moral paradise of such sweet flesh?
Inside the perfect body of a man?
Was ever book containing such vile matter
Has any book with such appalling content
So fairly bound? O that deceit should dwell
Been made so beautifully? Oh, such deception
In such a gorgeous palace!
In such a gorgeous body!
NURSE
There's no trust,
There’s no trust,
No faith, no honesty in men; all perjured,
No faith, no honesty in men; all liars,
All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.
Uncredible and worthless hypocrites.
Ah, where's my man? Give me some aqua vitae:
Ah, where’s my servant? Bring my alcohol.
These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.
These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.
Shame come to Romeo!
Shame fall on Romeo!
JULIET
Blistered be thy tongue
Your tongue should blister
For such a wish! He was not born to shame:
For wishing such a thing! He wasn’t born bad:
Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit;
For his head never wears a crown of shame;
For 'tis a throne where honour may be crowned
His head is crowned with honour, like a throne,
Sole monarch of the universal earth.
The only king of everything on earth.
O, what a beast was I to chide at him!
Oh, what a beast I was to criticise him!
NURSE
Will you speak well of him that killed your cousin?
Will you endorse the man that killed your cousin?
JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Shall I malign the man who is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name,
Ah, my poor husband, who’ll speak well of you,
When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?
When I, your wife for three hours, vilified you?
But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?
But why, you villain, did you kill my cousin?
That villain cousin would have killed my husband:
That villain cousin would have killed my husband:
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring;
Hold back these foolish tears, stay in your tear ducts;
Your tributary drops belong to woe,
These tears I shed should fall because I’m sad,
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
But yet, mistakenly, I cry for joy.
My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain;
My husband lives, but Tybalt would have killed him;
And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband:
And Tybalt’s dead, and he’d have killed my husband:
All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?
I’m comforted by this, so why am I crying?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death,
There was a word, far worse than Tybalt’s death,
That murdered me: I would forget it fain;
That murdered me: I’d willingly forget it.
But, O, it presses to my memory,
But, oh, it’s stuck within my memory,
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds:
Like bad things done that sinners can’t forget:
'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo--banished;'
“Tybalt is dead, and Romeo…is banished.”
That 'banished,' that one word 'banished,'
That “banished,” that one word “banished,”
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death
Hurts like ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there:
Was bad enough, if it had ended there.
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
Or, if unhappiness must come in twos
And needly will be ranked with other griefs,
And grief must be combined with other griefs,
Why followed not, when she said 'Tybalt's dead,'
Why didn’t she say, when she said, “Tybalt’s dead,”
Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both,
Your father, or your mother, even both,
Which modern lamentations might have moved?
Which would have brought expected pangs of grief?
But with a rear-ward following Tybalt's death,
But saying, after stating Tybalt’s dead,
'Romeo is banished,' to speak that word,
That “Romeo is banished,” is like saying
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
That father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. 'Romeo is banished!'
Have all been murdered. “Romeo is banished!”
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,
There is no ending nor no boundary lines
In that word's death; no words can that woe sound.
To endless pain that single word consigns.
Where is my father, and my mother, nurse?
Where is my father, and my mother, nurse?
NURSE
Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse:
They are both crying over Tybalt’s corpse.
Will you go to them? I will bring you thither.
Will you to go them? I will take you there.
JULIET
Wash they his wounds with tears: mine shall be spent,
They’ll wash his wounds with tears: mine still will flow
When theirs are dry, for Romeo's banishment.
When there’s are dry, for banished Romeo.
Take up those cords: poor ropes, you are beguiled,
Take this ladder of rope: like me, it’s fated,
Both you and I; for Romeo is exiled:
For Romeo is excommunicated.
He made you for a highway to my bed;
He made these ropes to climb up to my bed,
But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed.
But now I’ll die a virgin’s death instead.
Come, cords, come, nurse; I'll to my wedding-bed;
Come, ropes and nurse, come up to bed with me,
And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead!
Where death will now take my virginity!
NURSE
Hie to your chamber: I'll find Romeo
Go to your bedroom: I’ll find Romeo
To comfort you: I wot well where he is.
To comfort you: I know well where he is.
Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night:
Now listen, Romeo will come tonight:
I'll to him; he is hid at Laurence' cell.
I’ll tell him; he’s hid at Laurence’s chapel.
JULIET
O, find him! Give this ring to my true knight,
Oh, find him! Give this ring to my true love,
And bid him come to take his last farewell.
And tell him he must come to say goodbye.
[Exeunt]
