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Romeo
and Juliet
William Shakespeare
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| Plot:
Shakespeare set the scene in Verona,
Italy, during July. Juliet and Romeo meet and fall instantly
in love at a masked ball of the Capulets. Romeo later visits
her at her private balcony in her family's home. Because the
two noble families are enemies, the couple is married secretly
by Friar Laurence. When Tybalt, a Capulet, kills Romeo's friend
Mercutio in a quarrel, Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished
to Mantua. Juliet's father insists on her marrying Count Paris,
and Juliet goes to consult the friar. He gives her a potion
that will make her appear to be dead and proposes that she
take it and that Romeo rescue her. Unaware of the friar's
scheme, Romeo returns to Verona on hearing of Juliet's apparent
death. He encounters Paris, kills him, and finds Juliet in
the burial vault. There he gives her a last kiss and kills
himself with poison. Juliet awakens, sees the dead Romeo,
and kills herself. The families learn what has happened and
end their feud.
Source: Britannica Online School Edition.
ACT 3, SCENE V. Capulet's orchard
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JULIET
Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day:
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear;
Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree:
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.
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ROMEO
It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east:
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.
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JULIET
Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I:
It is some meteor that the sun exhales,
To be to thee this night a torch-bearer,
And light thee on thy way to Mantua:
Therefore stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone.
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ROMEO
Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death;
I am content, so thou wilt have it so.
I have more care to stay than will to go:
Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so.
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JULIET
It is, it is: hie hence, be gone, away!
It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps.
Some say the lark makes sweet division;
This doth not so, for she divideth us:
Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes,
O, now I would they had changed voices too!
Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,
Hunting thee hence with hunt's-up to the day,
O, now be gone; more light and light it grows
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ROMEO
More light and light; more dark and dark our woes! |
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JULIET
Nurse? |
NURSE
Madam!
Your lady mother is coming to your chamber:
The day is broke; be wary, look about.
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JULIET
Then, window, let day in, and let life out.
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ROMEO
Farewell, farewell! One kiss, and I'll descend.
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JULIET
Art thou gone so? love, lord, ay, husband, friend!
I must hear from thee every day in the hour,
For in a minute there are many days:
O, by this count I shall be much in years
Ere I again behold my Romeo!
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ROMEO
And trust me, love, in my eye so do you:
Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu!
(Exit)
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JULIET
Who is't that calls? is it my lady mother?
Is she not down so late, or up so early?
What unaccustom'd cause procures her hither?
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LADY
CAPULET
Why, how now, Juliet! |
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