Romeo and Juliet Page #16

JULIET:

O shut the door! and when thou hast done so,

Come weep with me; past hope, past cure, past help!

FRIAR LAURENCE:

Ah, Juliet, I already know thy grief;

It strains me past the compass of my wits:

I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it,

On Thursday next be married to this county.

JULIET:

Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'st of this,

Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it:

If, in thy wisdom, thou canst give no help,

Do thou but call my resolution wise,

And with this knife I'll help it presently.

God join'd my heart and Romeo's, thou our hands;

And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd,

Shall be the label to another deed,

Or my true heart with treacherous revolt

Turn to another, this shall slay them both:

Therefore, out of thy long-experienced time,

Give me some present counsel, or, behold,

'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife

Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that

Which the commission of thy years and art

Could to no issue of true honour bring.

Be not so long to speak; I long to die,

If what thou speak'st speak not of remedy.

FRIAR LAURENCE:

Hold, daughter:
I do spy a kind of hope,

Which craves as desperate an execution.

As that is desperate which we would prevent.

If, rather than to marry County Paris,

Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself,

Then is it likely thou wilt undertake

A thing like death to chide away this shame,

That copest with death himself to scape from it:

And, if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy.

JULIET:

O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,

From off the battlements of yonder tower;

Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk

Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears;

Or shut me nightly in a charnel-house,

O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones,

With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls;

Or bid me go into a new-made grave

And hide me with a dead man in his shroud;

Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble;

And I will do it without fear or doubt,

To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.

FRIAR LAURENCE:

Hold, then; go home, be merry, give consent

To marry Paris:
Wednesday is to-morrow:

To-morrow night look that thou lie alone;

Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber:

Take thou this vial, being then in bed,

And this distilled liquor drink thou off;

When presently through all thy veins shall run

A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse

Shall keep his native progress, but surcease:

No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest;

The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade

To paly ashes, thy eyes' windows fall,

Like death, when he shuts up the day of life;

Each part, deprived of supple government,

Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death:

And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death

Thou shalt continue two and forty hours,

And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.

Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes

To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead:

Then, as the manner of our country is,

In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier

Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault

Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.

In the mean time, against thou shalt awake,

Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift,

And hither shall he come: and he and I

Will watch thy waking, and that very night

Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.

And this shall free thee from this present shame;

If no inconstant toy, nor womanish fear,

Abate thy valour in the acting it.

JULIET:

Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!

FRIAR LAURENCE:

Hold; get you gone, be strong and prosperous

In this resolve:
I'll send a friar with speed

To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.

JULIET:

Love give me strength! and strength shall help afford.

Farewell, dear father!

Exeunt

SCENE II. Hall in Capulet's house.

Enter CAPULET, LADY CAPULET, Nurse, and two Servingmen

CAPULET:

So many guests invite as here are writ.

Exit First Servant

Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks.

Second Servant

You shall have none ill, sir; for I'll try if they

can lick their fingers.

CAPULET:

How canst thou try them so?

Second Servant

Marry, sir, 'tis an ill cook that cannot lick his

own fingers:
therefore he that cannot lick his

fingers goes not with me.

CAPULET:

Go, be gone.

Exit Second Servant

We shall be much unfurnished for this time.

What, is my daughter gone to Friar Laurence?

Nurse

Ay, forsooth.

CAPULET:

Well, he may chance to do some good on her:

A peevish self-will'd harlotry it is.

Nurse

See where she comes from shrift with merry look.

Enter JULIET

CAPULET:

How now, my headstrong! where have you been gadding?

JULIET:

Where I have learn'd me to repent the sin

Of disobedient opposition

To you and your behests, and am enjoin'd

By holy Laurence to fall prostrate here,

And beg your pardon: pardon, I beseech you!

Henceforward I am ever ruled by you.

CAPULET:

Send for the county; go tell him of this:

I'll have this knot knit up to-morrow morning.

JULIET:

I met the youthful lord at Laurence' cell;

And gave him what becomed love I might,

Not step o'er the bounds of modesty.

CAPULET:

Why, I am glad on't; this is well: stand up:

This is as't should be. Let me see the county;

Ay, marry, go, I say, and fetch him hither.

Now, afore God! this reverend holy friar,

Our whole city is much bound to him.

JULIET:

Nurse, will you go with me into my closet,

To help me sort such needful ornaments

As you think fit to furnish me to-morrow?

LADY CAPULET:

No, not till Thursday; there is time enough.

CAPULET:

Go, nurse, go with her: we'll to church to-morrow.

Exeunt JULIET and Nurse

LADY CAPULET:

We shall be short in our provision:

'Tis now near night.

CAPULET:

Tush, I will stir about,

And all things shall be well, I warrant thee, wife:

Go thou to Juliet, help to deck up her;

I'll not to bed to-night; let me alone;

I'll play the housewife for this once. What, ho!

They are all forth. Well, I will walk myself

To County Paris, to prepare him up

Against to-morrow: my heart is wondrous light,

Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd.

Exeunt

SCENE III. Juliet's chamber.

Enter JULIET and Nurse

JULIET:

Ay, those attires are best: but, gentle nurse,

I pray thee, leave me to my self to-night,

For I have need of many orisons

To move the heavens to smile upon my state,

Which, well thou know'st, is cross, and full of sin.

Enter LADY CAPULET

LADY CAPULET:

What, are you busy, ho? need you my help?

JULIET:

No, madam; we have cull'd such necessaries

As are behoveful for our state to-morrow:

So please you, let me now be left alone,

And let the nurse this night sit up with you;

For, I am sure, you have your hands full all,

In this so sudden business.

LADY CAPULET:

Good night:

Get thee to bed, and rest; for thou hast need.

Exeunt LADY CAPULET and Nurse

JULIET:

Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.

I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins,

That almost freezes up the heat of life:

I'll call them back again to comfort me:

Nurse! What should she do here?

My dismal scene I needs must act alone.

Come, vial.

What if this mixture do not work at all?

Shall I be married then to-morrow morning?

No, no:
this shall forbid it: lie thou there.

Laying down her dagger

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