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Romeo & Juliet
 



ACT I, Scene i
Act I, Scene i: A public street in Verona. SAMPSON and GREGORY, servants of CAPULET, enter carrying swords and shields.
SAMPSON
  Gregory, I swear it, we'll not endure insults.
GREGORY
  No, for then we would be insult-sufferers.
SAMPSON
  I mean, if we get angry, we'll draw our swords.
GREGORY
  Yes, and if you want to live, draw your head out of the hangman's rope.
SAMPSON
  I strike out quickly, once my anger is roused.
GREGORY
  But it is not easily roused.
SAMPSON
  One of those Montague dogs always gets me going!
GREGORY
  To get going means to bestir yourself. To be brave means to stand your ground. If you get going, you'll be running away!
SAMPSON
10   One of those those dogs will certainly get me going. And I'll stand my ground, too! No
  man or woman of Montague's would make me step into the gutter!
GREGORY
  That show what a feeble fellow you are. The weakest always goes to the wall..
SAMPSON
15   That's true, and therefore, women, being the weaker sex, are always
being pushed against the wall. So I will push Montague's men into
the roadway and thrust his women to the wall.
GREGORY [unhappy about the morality of this]
  But the feud is only between our masters and between us, their men . . .
SAMPSON
  It's all the same to me. I'll be a real villain! After I've fought with
the men, I'll be cruel to the maidens. I'll cut off their heads.
GREGORY [aghast]
  The heads of the maidens?
SAMPSON
20   Yes, the heads of the maidens, or their maidenheads. Take it in any
sense you like.
GREGORY
  Those who feel it must take it in sense.
SAMPSON
  They'll feel me as long as I'm able to stand, and everyone knows I'm
a real man.
GREGORY
25   It's a good thing you're not a fish. If you were, you would make a poor
catch.--Draw your weapon! Here comes two of Montague's servants.
Enter ABRAHAM and BALTHASAR, two servants
SAMPSON
  My bare sword is out. Start a quarrel! I'll back you up.
GREGORY
  How will you back me up? By turning your back and running?
SAMPSON
  Have no fears about me.
GREGORY
30   Afraid, indeed! Don't be ridiculous.
SAMPSON
  We'll get the law on our side. Let them begin.
GREGORY
  I'll make a sour face as I pass by, and let them take it as they choose.
SAMPSON
  No--as they dare. I'll bite my thumb at them [an insulting gesture]. That will disgrace
them, if they do nothing about it.
ABRAM
35   Are you biting your thumb at us, sir?
SAMPSON
  I am biting my thumb, sir.
ABRAM
  But are you biting your thumb at us, sir?
SAMPSON (to Gregory)
  Is the law on our side if I say yes?
GREGORY
  No.
SAMPSON
  No, sir. I'm not biting my thumb at you, sir; but I am biting my thumb, sir.
GREGORY
  Are you trying to start a fight, sir?
ABRAM
  A fight, sir? No, sir.
SAMPSON
  If you are starting a fight, I'm ready. My master is as good as your master.
ABRAM
  But he is no better.
SAMPSON
  Well--sir--
Enter BENVOLIO
GREGORY (seeing Tybalt approaching off-stage)
  Say "better." Here comes one of my master's relatives.
SAMPSON (to Abram)
  Yes, my master is better, sir.
ABRAM
  You're a liar.
SAMPSON
  Draw your swords, if you're real men. Gregory, give him your slashing blow.
They fight.
BENVOLIO
  Stop it, you fools!
Put your swords away. You don't know what you're doing.
He strikes down their swords.
Enter TYBALT
TYBALT
  Are you fighting with these cowards?
Turn around, Benvolio. Look at me who is going to kill you.
BENVOLIO
  I'm only trying to make peace. Put away your sword,
or use it to help me break up this fight.
TYBALT
  What? You have your sword out, and you talk about peace! I hate the word peace,
just as I hate hell, all Montagues, and you.
Fight, coward!
They fight.
Enter officers and three or four citizens with clubs, bills, and partisans.
OFFICERS
  Clubs, axes, and spears! Strike! Beat them down!
Down with the Capulets! Down with the Montagues!
Enter old CAPULET, in his robe, and his wife, LADY CAPULET.
CAPULET
  What's all this noise? Give me my long sword--hurry!
LADY CAPULET
  You need a cane! A cane! Why are you asking for a sword?
CAPULET
  Give me my sword, I said. Old Montague is coming,
and he is waving his sword in defiance of me.
Enter old MONTAGUE and his wife, LADY MONTAGUE.
MONTAGUE
  You're a villain, Capulet! (To Lady Montague) Don't hold me back. Let me go!
LADY MONTAGUE
  You shall not move one foot to seek out your enemy.
Enter PRINCE ESCALUS, with his followers.
PRINCE
 

Rebellious people, enemies to peace,
Abusers of your swords stained with your neighbor's blood--
Won't they listen?--Hey! Listen to me, you men, you beasts,
you who quench the fire of your destructive rage
with purple blood spurting like a fountain from your veins!
Unless you want to be tortured, take those angry weapons
you hold in your bloody hands, and throw them on the ground,
and hear the judgment of your angered prince.
Three fights arising from meaningless insults--
started by you, old Capulet, and you, old Montague--
have disturbed the quiet of our streets three times,
and caused Verona's old men
to throw away their proper, dignified ornaments,
and carry old, pikes, rusted with peace, in their equally old
hands to part your diseased hatred.
If you ever disturb our streets again,
the penalty of breaking the peace will be death.
For now, everyone, move along,
except you Capulet. You go with me.
And you, Montague, are to come to me this afternoon
to find out what I am going to do about this case.
Go to my castle, Freetown, the common judgment place.
Once more, unless you want to die, all of you must leave now.

All leave except MONTAGUE, LADY MONTAGUE and BENVOLIO.
MONTAGUE
  Who started up this old quarrel again?
Speak up, nephew, were you here when it started.
BENVOLIO
  Capulet's servants were here,
along with your servants, and they were fighting before I got here.
I drew my sword to separate them. At that moment,
the hot-tempered Tybalt arrived, with his sword drawn,
breathing defiance in my ears,
swinging his sword about his head, and slicing the winds.
But the winds, not being hurt, hissed at him in scorn.
While we were exchanging blows,
more and more people came to fight on each side
until the prince came and stopped the fighting.
LADY MONTAGUE
 

Where is Romeo? Have you seen him today?
I am gad he wasn't at this fight.
BENVOLIO
 

Madam, about an hour before the wonderful sun
peered out of the golden east,
a troubled mind drove me to take a walk.
Underneath a grove of sycamore trees,
which grow west of the city,
I saw your son walking at that early hour.
I went toward him, but he saw me,
and he slipped into a thicket in the woods.
Sensing that he felt the same way I did--
wanting to get away from everyone
and feeling I was one too many by my weary self--
I chose to pursue my own desire rather than to pursue him,
and gladly avoided him who fled from me.
MONTAGUE
  He has been seen there many mornings,
adding tears to the moisture of the fresh morning dew
and adding more clouds to clouds with his deep sighs.
But as soon as the sun, which cheers everything,
begins in the far east to draw
the dark curtains from dawn's bed,
my sad son creeps home, away from this light.
He secludes himself alone in his room,
shutting his windows, locking the lovely daylight outside,
and creating for himself an artificial night.
His mood will become dark and ominous
unless good advice can remove the cause of his sadness.
BENVOLIO
  My noble uncle, do you know the reason for his behavior?
MONTAGUE
  I do not know it , nor can I learn what it is from him.
BENVOLIO
  Have you used any means to beg him to tell you?
MONTAGUE
  I have tried, and so have many friends,
but he is the counselor of his own
emotions--I will not say how well (he plays counselor)--
but he is so secret and close mouthed,
so far from being found out and cured,
that he's like a bud bitten by a deadly worm before
the bud can spread its sweet leaves to the air
or offer its beauty to the sun.
If we could just learn what causes his sorrow,
we would as willingly cure it as know about it.
Enter ROMEO.
BENVOLIO
  Here he comes. If you will, please step aside
and I'll either find out what's wrong with him,
or he will have to persistently turn me away.
MONTAGUE
  Stay. I hope you'll be lucky enough
to hear his true confession. (To Lady Montague)
Come, madam, let's go.
Exit LORD and LADY MONTAGUE.
BENVOLIO
  Good morning, cousin.
ROMEO
  Is it still morning?
BENVOLIO
  The clock just struck nine.
ROMEO
  Alas, the hours seem so long.
Was that my father who just left so quickly?
BENVOLIO
  Yes, it was. What sadness lengthens your hours, Romeo?
ROMEO
  Not having whatever it is that, if I had it, would make the hours seem short.
BENVOLIO
  Are you in love?
ROMEO
  Out--
BENVOLIO
  Of love?
ROMEO
  The one I love doesn't love me.
BENVOLIO
  It's too bad that love, so gentle in appearance,
should be so tyrannous and rough in reality.
ROMEO
  It's too bad that love, whose sight is blindfolded,
can still see ways to work his will even without his eyes.
(Pause) Where shall we eat? (Seeing the remains of the morning brawl)
    Oh no! What fight happened here?
  On second thought, don't tell me, for I've heard it all before.
I has much to do with hate, but more with love.
Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O anything, first created out of nothing!
O heavy lightness! Serious frivolity!
Deformed chaos of outwardly pretty forms!
Lead feather, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!
Ever-wakeful sleep, everything that is not what it is!
I take no joy from this love I feel.
Are you laughing at me?
BENVOLIO
  No, cousin, I am crying.
ROMEO
  Dear, good-hearted friend, why?
BENVOLIO
  Because of your good heart's grief.
ROMEO
  This is love's sin.
My own griefs make my heart heavy
which will only increase if burdened
with your sorrow, too. The love which you have shown me
adds more grief to my own too heavy sorrow.
Love is a smoke made from the fume of sighs;
when the air is cleared, love is a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes.
When frustrated, love is a sea fed by lovers' tears.
What else is love? A very wise insanity,
a choking bitterness, and a lasting sweet.
Goodbye, cousin.
BENVOLIO
  Wait! I'll go with you.
If you leave me, you do me wrong.
ROMEO
  Nonsense, I've lost myself; I'm not here.
This isn't Romeo, he's somewhere else.
BENVOLIO
  Tell me in all seriousness, who is it that you love?
ROMEO
  Do you want me to groan and tell you?
BENVOLIO
  Groan? No,
but tell me, seriously, who you love.
ROMEO
  You want a sick man, in seriousness, to make his will.
That's not good advice for someone who is so ill!
In all seriousness, cousin, I do love a woman.
BENVOLIO
  I guesses that much when I learned you were in love.
ROMEO
  You're right on the mark! And the one I love is beautiful.
BENVOLIO
  A bright, clean target, cousin, is the easiest to hit.
ROMEO
  Well, you missed the target that time. She won't be hit
with Cupid's arrow. She has the same temperament as Diana, the moon goddess.
She's well protected in her armor of virginity.
She's safe from love's weak, childish bow.
She will not listen to my loving words,
or let me look at her with love in my eyes,
or allow herself to be seduced.
O, she is rich in beauty; only poor
in that when she dies, her treasure will die with her beauty.
BENVOLIO
  Then has she sworn that she'll always live as a virgin?
ROMEO
  She has, and in being stingy, she is horribly wasteful.
For when beauty is starved by severe attitudes,
it is cut off from all future generations.
She's too beautiful, too wise, too wisely beautiful
to earn her way to heaven by making me suffer.
She vows she will not love, and because of that vow,
I'm dead, though I live to tell the fact now.
BENVOLIO
  Listen to me: forget to think about her.
ROMEO
  O, teach me how to forget to think!
BENVOLIO
  Just set your eyes free
to look at other beautiful women.
ROMEO
  That would just be another way
to remind me even more of her unparalleled beauty.
Those fortunate masks that kiss beautiful ladies' foreheads,
being black, make us remember that they hide the beautiful.
The man who is struck blind can't forget
the precious treasure of his lost eyesight.
Show me a woman who's surpassingly beautiful,
and I'll ask what good is her beauty except as a note
where I could read who is still more beautiful than that beauty?
Goodbye! You can't teach me to forget her.
BENVOLIO
  I'll make you change your mind, or else die trying.
They exit.