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Romeo & Juliet
 


    
ACT III, Scene v
Act III Scene v: Capulet's house. Enter ROMEO and JULIET on the balcony.
JULIET
  Do you have to go? It isn't day yet.
It was the nightingale, not the lark,
that sang in your apprehensive ear.
She sings every night on the pomegranate tree.
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.
ROMEO
  It was the lark, the herald of the morning,
not a nightingale. Look, love, see the envious streaks
of light that lace the scattering clouds in the east.
The stars are fading and cheerful day
stands on tiptoe on the foggy mountaintops.
If I want to live, I must go. If I stay, I will die.
JULIET
  That light is not daylight. I know it.
It's just a meteor from the sune
which will be your torchbearer
tonight and light your road to Mantua.
Therefore, stay awhile; you don't need to go yet.
ROMEO
  Let them capture me, let them put me to death.
I'm content if you are satisfied.
I'll say that the grey I see in the sky isn't morning
but just a pale reflection of the moon.
It's not the lark I hear singing whose song rises to
the heavens high above our heads.
I have more desire to stay than will to go.
Come death! Welcome! Juliet wills it.
How are you, my soul? Let's talk; it's not day.
JULIET
 

It is ! It is! Hurry, go, away!
It's the lark that sings so out of tune
singing harsh, sour notes and unpleasant sharps.
Some people say the lark sings a sweet melody,
but this bird does not because she separates us.
some people say the lark and the hated toad exchanged eyes.
I wish they'd exchanged voices, too,
since that voice frightens us out of each other's arms
and chases you from here with the song that awakens hunters.
O, go now! It grows lighter and lighter.
ROMEO
  Lighter and lighter means our sorrow grows darker and darker.
Enter NURSE from the bedroom .
NURSE
  Madam!
JULIET
  Nurse?
NURSE
  Your mother is coming to your bedroom.
Day is dawning. Be careful; watch out.
She exits.
JULIET
  Then, window, let day in, and let my life out.
ROMEO
  Goodbye, goodbye! One kiss, and I'll descend.
He climbs down.
JULIET
   
ROMEO (from below)
  Goobye!
I'll not miss a chance
to send my greetings to you, love.
JULIET
  Do you think we'll ever meet again?
ROMEO
  I'm sure we will. Then all of these sorrows will serve
as sweet conversation in the future.
JULIET
  O God, I have a feeling of doom!
I think I see you, as you are now,
but like a dead person in the bottom of a tomb.
Either my eyesight is failing or you look pale.
ROMEO
  Trust me, love. In my eyes, you look pale, too.
Our sorrow makes us pale. Goodbye, goodbye! (Exits)
JULIET
  O, Fate. Fate! All men call you fickle!
If you're fickle, what business can you have with him
who is known for his faith? Be fickle, Fate.
Then you will not keep him long,
and you'll send him back to me.
Enter LADY CAPULET.
LADY CAPULET
  Daughter, are you up?
JULIET
  Who's calling? It's my mother.
Is she up late or up early?
What unusual occurrence brings her here?
LADY CAPULET
  How are you, Juliet?
JULIET
  Madam, I'm not well.
LADY CAPULET
  Are you still crying for your cousin's death?
Will your tears wash him out of his grave?
Even if they did, you couldn't make him live.
So quit crying. Some grief reveals deep love,
but too much grief reveals a lack of intelligence.
JULIET
  Let me cry over such a deeply-felt loss.
LADY CAPULET
  Then you'll feel the loss,
but not the friend for whom you weep.
JULIET
  Since I feel the loss,
I can't help crying for my friend.
LADY CAPULET
  Well, girl, you're really not crying for his death,
but for the fact that the villain who killed him still lives.
JULIET
  What villain, madam?
LADY CAPULET
  The villain Romeo.
JULIET (to herself)
  There is a big difference between Romeo and a villain.
(To Lady Capulet) God forgive him! I forgive him with all my heart.
And yet no man grieves my heart more than Romeo.
LADY CAPULET
  That's because that traitor and murderer still lives.
JULIET
  I wish that only my hands
could avenge my cousin's death.
LADY CAPULET
  We'll have revenge for his death, don't you fear.
So don't cry any more. I'll send a message to someone in Mantua
where that banished renegade lives,
and he'll give Romeo so much poison
that he'll soon keep Tybalt company in the grave.
Then I hope you'll be satisfied.
JULIET
  I'll never be satisfied
with Romeo until I see him--dead--
is my poor heart, so upset am I about my cousin's death.
Madam, if you could find a man
to take the poison, I would mix it with my own hands so that
as soon as Romeo gets it,
he'll sleep quietly. O, how my heart hates
to hear his name and not be able to come to him
to pour the love I bore for Tybalt
upon the body of the man who killed him.
LADY CAPULET
  You find the poison, and I'll find the poisoner.
But now I'll tell you some joyful news, girl.
JULIET
  Joy would be very welcome right now.
What's your news? I beg, your ladyship, tell me.
LADY CAPULET
  Well, you have a thoughtful father, child.
To help you get over your grief,
he's set a day of joy in the near future
which you did not expect and I did not anticipate.
JULIET
  Madam, how fortunate! What day is that?
LADY CAPULET
  My child, early this next Thursday morning,
the brave, young, and noble gentleman,
Count Paris, will make you
a joyful bride at St. Peter's church.
JULIET
  By St. Peter's church, and St. Peter, too,
he won't make me a joyful bride!
I don't understand what's all the rush to force me to marry
my future husband before he even comes to court me.
I beg you, tell my lord and father, madam,
that I'll not marry yet. And when I do get married,
it will be to Romeo, whom you know I hate,
rather than to Paris. Now that's a real piece of news!
LADY CAPULET
  Here comes your father. Tell him yourself,
and see how well he'll take this news from you.
Enter CAPULET and NURSE.
CAPULET
  When the sun sets, the air drizzles dew,
but the sunset for my brother's son, is downright rainy.
What's going on? Are you a water pipe, girl? Are you still in tears?
Are you always crying? In your one little body,
you imitate a ship, a sea, and a wind.
Your eyes, which I might call a sea,
are always ebbing and flowing with tears. The ship is your
body sailing on this salty flood of tears. The winds are your sighs,
raging with your tears and your tears raging with those sighs.
If we don't have a sudden calm, the storm will overturn
your storm-tossed body. Well, wife?
Have you told her about my decision?
LADY CAPULET
  Yes, sir, but she says she won't marry Paris, but thanks you anyway.
I would this fool were married to her grave.
CAPULET
  Wait a moment! Let me understand you, wife.
What do you mean? She won't? Didn't she thank us?
Isn't she proud? Doesn't she count herself lucky,
unworthy as she is, that we've arranged for
so worthy a gentleman to marry her?
JULIET
  I'm not very please, but I'm thankful.
I can never be proud of what I hate,
but I'm thankful even for something hateful that is meant to be a gift of love.
CAPULET
  Are you splitting hairs? What is this?
"Proud"? "I thank you"? "I thank you not"
and "not very pleased"? You spoiled child!
Don't thank me with "no thank you" or give me any "not prouds."
Just prepare your fine self to be ready next Thursday
to marry Paris at St. Peter's church!
If you don't, I'll drag you there on a cart.
Get out, you anemic thing! Out, you minx!
You waxy-faced girl!
LADY CAPULET (To Lord Capulet)
  For shame! Are you crazy?
JULIET
  Good father, I beg you on my knees. (She kneels)
Listen to me with patience. Just let me speak one word.
CAPULET
  Hang you, you minx! You disobedient wretch!
I'll tell you now: go to the church on Thursday,
or never look on my face again.
Don't speak, don't reply, don't answer me!
My fingers itch (to hit you). Wife, we really didn't think we had been blessed
when God gave us just this one child.
But now I think this one is too much
and that we have been cursed by having her.
Out with her, the wretch!
NURSE
  God in heaven bless her!
You're to blame for speaking to her so horribly.
CAPULET
  What, my Lady Wisdom? Shut your mouth,
Miss Prudence! Go gossip with your old cronies.
NURSE
  I'm not speaking treason.
CAPULET
  O, for God's sake!
NURSE
  Isn't a person allowed to speak?
CAPULET
  Quiet, you mumbling fool.
Save your wisdom for the gossipers, for we don't need it here.
LADY CAPULET
  You're too angry.
CAPULET
  By God's sacrament! It makes me so mad!
Day and night, early and late, at work or relaxing,
alone or with others, my one thought has been
to make her a good match. And now I've provided
for you a gentleman from noble parents,
of beautiful estates, youthful and well-trained,
full of honor, andas handsome and well-built
as any girl could wish a man to be.
And then to have a wretched, whining fool,
a crying doll, who when offered good fortune
says, "I won't marry him. I can't love him.
I'm too young. I beg you to excuse me."
If you don't marry, I'll "excuse" you to find another home.
Go where you want to--you won't live here.
Take care! Think about it! I'm not one to joke.
Thursday isn't far away. Think about it carefully.
If you're my daughter, I'll be giving your hand in marriage to my friend.
If you don't marry, you can hang, beg, starve, and die in the streets,
for I swear, I'll never recognize you as my daughter again!
And I'll never give you anything! I'll disinherit you!
Count on that! Think about it. I won't go back on my word.
He exits.
JULIET
  Is there no pity in heaven
that can understand my grief?
O, sweet mother, don't disown me!
Put off this wedding for a month--a week.
Or if you don't, make my bridal bed
in the tomb where Tybalt lies.
LADY CAPULET
  Don't talk to me. I won't say a word.
Do as you want to. I'm done with you.
She exits.
JULIET
  O God! Nurse, how shall this marriage be prevented?
My husband is on earth. My marriage vow to him was made in heaven.
How can my heavenly vow be broken
unless my husband's death
makes me a widow? Comfort me, advise me.
O God, that heaven should use such tricks
on a person as weak as I am.
What do you say? Don't you have a word of comfort?
Give me some comforting advise, nurse.
NURSE
  Indeed, here it is.
Romeo is banished and I think it's safe to say
that he'll never dare to come back and claim you as his wife.
If he does, he'll have to come in secret.
So as the situation now stands,
I think you should marry Count Paris.
O, he's a lovely gentleman!
Romeo is a dishrag compared with him. An eagle, madam,
doesn't have as green as quick, or as beautiful an eye
as Paris has. Curse my own heart,
but I think you'll be happy marrying Paris
for he's better than Romeo. Even if Paris weren't as good as Romeo,
your first husband is dead--it comes to the same thing
as Romeo still being among the living and you separated from him.
JULIET
  Are you speaking from your heart?
NURSE
  And from my soul, too. Otherwise, may both be damned.
JULIET
  Amen!
NURSE
  What?
JULIET
  Well, you've really comforted me.
Go in and tell my mother I've gone
to Friar Laurence's cell to confess
and be absolved for having displeased my father.
NURSE
  Certainly, I will. Now you're acting wisely.
She exits.
JULIET
  Damnable old woman! Most wicked devil!
Is it more sinful to wish me to break my vow,
or to condemn my husband with the same tongue
with which she has praised him as above compare
so many times? Go, my adviser!
You and my real feelings are separated now forever.
I'll go to the friar and get his advice.
If everything else fails, I'll commit suicide.
She exits.