Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter Paris and his Page. PARIS
Give me thy torch, boy. Hence and stand aloof.
Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.
Under yond yew trees lay thee all along,
Holding thy ear close to the hollow ground.
So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread 5
(Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves)
But thou shalt hear it. Whistle then to me
As signal that thou hearest something approach.
Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee. Go. PAGE, aside
I am almost afraid to stand alone 10
Here in the churchyard. Yet I will adventure.
He moves away from Paris. PARIS, scattering flowers
Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew
(O woe, thy canopy is dust and stones!)
Which with sweet water nightly I will dew,
Or, wanting that, with tears distilled by moans. 15
The obsequies that I for thee will keep
Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep.
Page whistles.
The boy gives warning something doth approach.
What cursèd foot wanders this way tonight,
To cross my obsequies and true love’s rite? 20
What, with a torch? Muffle me, night, awhile. He steps aside. | The Capulet tomb seems to be a popular locale. When Romeo arrives, Paris is already there, sadly tossing flowers. |
Enter Romeo and Balthasar. ROMEO
Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron.
Hold, take this letter. Early in the morning
See thou deliver it to my lord and father.
Give me the light. Upon thy life I charge thee, 25
Whate’er thou hearest or seest, stand all aloof
And do not interrupt me in my course.
Why I descend into this bed of death
Is partly to behold my lady’s face,
But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger 30
A precious ring, a ring that I must use
In dear employment. Therefore hence, begone.
But, if thou, jealous, dost return to pry
In what I farther shall intend to do,
By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint 35
And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs.
The time and my intents are savage-wild,
More fierce and more inexorable far
Than empty tigers or the roaring sea. BALTHASAR
I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you. 40 ROMEO
So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou that.
Giving money.
Live and be prosperous, and farewell, good fellow. BALTHASAR, aside
For all this same, I’ll hide me hereabout.
His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt.
He steps aside. ROMEO, beginning to force open the tomb
Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death, 45
Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth,
Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open,
And in despite I’ll cram thee with more food. | Romeo gets a hammer and a crowbar from Balthasar and hands Balthasar a letter for his dad, Lord Montague (aha! that's what he needed the paper and ink for). He tells Balthasar not to interrupt him or come after him. Romeo claims he needs to break into Juliet's tomb both to see Juliet's beautiful face one last time and to get a ring from her finger that he needs, um...for something important. If Balthasar tries to follow him, Romeo will tear him limb from limb. Balthasar says okay, but instead of leaving he hides behind some bushes. He's not buying Romeo's story. |
PARIS
This is that banished haughty Montague
That murdered my love’s cousin, with which grief 50
It is supposèd the fair creature died,
And here is come to do some villainous shame
To the dead bodies. I will apprehend him.
Stepping forward.
Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile Montague.
Can vengeance be pursued further than death? 55
Condemnèd villain, I do apprehend thee.
Obey and go with me, for thou must die. | Paris sees Romeo and assumes he's there to somehow dishonor the Capulets. To be fair, Romeo looks pretty suspicious—he's carrying a bunch of tomb-breaking-in tools. Paris tries to do a citizen's arrest on Romeo, who is, after all, an outlaw. |
ROMEO
I must indeed, and therefore came I hither.
Good gentle youth, tempt not a desp’rate man.
Fly hence and leave me. Think upon these gone. 60
Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth,
Put not another sin upon my head
By urging me to fury. O, begone!
By heaven, I love thee better than myself,
For I come hither armed against myself. 65
Stay not, begone, live, and hereafter say
A madman’s mercy bid thee run away. PARIS
I do defy thy commination
And apprehend thee for a felon here. ROMEO
Wilt thou provoke me? Then have at thee, boy! 70
They draw and fight. PAGE
O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch. He exits. PARIS
O, I am slain! If thou be merciful,
Open the tomb; lay me with Juliet. He dies. | You can guess what happens next: they fight, and Romeo kills Paris. Oops. Meanwhile, Paris's page has run off to alert the watch. Paris's last wish is to be placed in the tomb with Juliet. |
ROMEO
In faith, I will.—Let me peruse this face.
Mercutio’s kinsman, noble County Paris! 75
What said my man when my betossèd soul
Did not attend him as we rode? I think
He told me Paris should have married Juliet.
Said he not so? Or did I dream it so?
Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet, 80
To think it was so?—O, give me thy hand,
One writ with me in sour misfortune’s book!
I’ll bury thee in a triumphant grave.—
He opens the tomb.
A grave? O, no. A lantern, slaughtered youth,
For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes 85
This vault a feasting presence full of light.—
Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interred.
Laying Paris in the tomb.
How oft when men are at the point of death
Have they been merry, which their keepers call
A light’ning before death! O, how may I 90
Call this a light’ning?—O my love, my wife,
Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.
Thou art not conquered. Beauty’s ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, 95
And death’s pale flag is not advancèd there.—
Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
O, what more favor can I do to thee
Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain
To sunder his that was thine enemy? 100
Forgive me, cousin.—Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorrèd monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour? 105
For fear of that I still will stay with thee
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again. Here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids. O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest 110
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh! Eyes, look your last.
Arms, take your last embrace. And, lips, O, you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death. 115
Kissing Juliet.
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavory guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark!
Here’s to my love. Drinking. O true apothecary,
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. 120 He dies. | Romeo feels pretty guilty for killing yet another one of Juliet's male associates, especially since Paris was one of Mercutio's relatives. He vaguely remembers Balthasar saying that Paris was supposed to marry Juliet or something like that, but admits he wasn't really paying attention. He may have dreamed it. Still, he honors Paris's request and places him in the tomb, then he heads over to Juliet's corpse. Romeo wonders more than once why Juliet still looks so fair, why death hasn't made her cheeks pale or her lips blue. Then he gives her a kiss, drinks the poison strong enough to kill twenty men, and dies. Immediately (with one last kiss). |
Enter Friar Lawrence with lantern, crow, and spade. FRIAR LAWRENCE
Saint Francis be my speed! How oft tonight
Have my old feet stumbled at graves!—Who’s there? BALTHASAR
Here’s one, a friend, and one that knows you well. FRIAR LAWRENCE
Bliss be upon you. Tell me, good my friend,
What torch is yond that vainly lends his light 125
To grubs and eyeless skulls? As I discern,
It burneth in the Capels’ monument. BALTHASAR
It doth so, holy sir, and there’s my master,
One that you love. FRIAR LAWRENCE Who is it? 130 BALTHASAR Romeo. FRIAR LAWRENCE
How long hath he been there? BALTHASAR Full half an hour. | Friar Lawrence arrives and sees Balthasar. Since the tomb is already open and he can see a torch burning inside, he asks Balthasar who's in there. Balthasar says it's Romeo, and he's been in there for about a half hour now. |
FRIAR LAWRENCE
Go with me to the vault. BALTHASAR I dare not, sir. 135
My master knows not but I am gone hence,
And fearfully did menace me with death
If I did stay to look on his intents. FRIAR LAWRENCE
Stay, then. I’ll go alone. Fear comes upon me.
O, much I fear some ill unthrifty thing. 140 BALTHASAR
As I did sleep under this yew tree here,
I dreamt my master and another fought,
And that my master slew him. | Friar Lawrence asks Balthasar to come into the tomb with him, but Balthasar won't go because of Romeo's threats. He also tells the Friar that while he was asleep under the yew tree, he dreamed that Romeo fought someone else and killed him. (That wasn't a dream, buddy...) |
FRIAR LAWRENCE, moving toward the tomb
Romeo!—
Alack, alack, what blood is this which stains 145
The stony entrance of this sepulcher?
What mean these masterless and gory swords
To lie discolored by this place of peace?
Romeo! O, pale! Who else? What, Paris too?
And steeped in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour 150
Is guilty of this lamentable chance!
The lady stirs. JULIET
O comfortable friar, where is my lord?
I do remember well where I should be,
And there I am. Where is my Romeo? 155 | Friar Lawrence heads into the tomb and finds Paris and Romeo dead. Then Juliet wakes up. Her first question, of course, is "Where's Romeo?" |
FRIAR LAWRENCE
I hear some noise.—Lady, come from that nest
Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep.
A greater power than we can contradict
Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away.
Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead, 160
And Paris, too. Come, I’ll dispose of thee
Among a sisterhood of holy nuns.
Stay not to question, for the watch is coming.
Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay. | Yeah, about that... The Friar informs Juliet that both Romeo and Paris are dead. He tries to convince her to run away with him—he really doesn't want to be implicated in this plot now. He says he can hide her in a nunnery, but Juliet won't go. The Friar, frightened, flees. |
JULIET
Go, get thee hence, for I will not away. 165
He exits.
What’s here? A cup closed in my true love’s hand?
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.—
O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop
To help me after! I will kiss thy lips.
Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, 170
To make me die with a restorative. She kisses him.
Thy lips are warm! | Juliet finds the poison in Romeo's hand and upends the bottle, hoping there's some left for her. There isn't. So she kisses Romeo's lips, hoping there might still be some poison there. |
Enter Paris’s Page and Watch. FIRST WATCH Lead, boy. Which way? JULIET
Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O, happy dagger,
This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die. 175 She takes Romeo’s dagger, stabs herself, and dies. | Realizing that the poison isn't going to work for her, and that the police are on their way, Juliet pulls out Romeo's dagger and stabs herself. |
PAGE
This is the place, there where the torch doth burn. FIRST WATCH
The ground is bloody.—Search about the
churchyard.
Go, some of you; whoe’er you find, attach.
Some watchmen exit.
Pitiful sight! Here lies the County slain, 180
And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead,
Who here hath lain this two days burièd.—
Go, tell the Prince. Run to the Capulets.
Raise up the Montagues. Some others search.
Others exit.
We see the ground whereon these woes do lie, 185
But the true ground of all these piteous woes
We cannot without circumstance descry. | Paris's Page and the police start to put together the clues at the scene. They're going to need a full scale investigation to figure out what happened here tonight. |
Enter Watchmen with Romeo’s man Balthasar. SECOND WATCH
Here’s Romeo’s man. We found him in the
churchyard. FIRST WATCH
Hold him in safety till the Prince come hither. 190 Enter Friar Lawrence and another Watchman. THIRD WATCH
Here is a friar that trembles, sighs, and weeps.
We took this mattock and this spade from him
As he was coming from this churchyard’s side. FIRST WATCH
A great suspicion. Stay the Friar too. | Or maybe not. A couple of watchmen come back with Balthasar, and then another returns with the very nervous Friar. Maybe these guys can shed some light on things. |
Enter the Prince with Attendants. PRINCE
What misadventure is so early up 195
That calls our person from our morning rest? | The Prince comes in and demands to know why he's been awakened. |
Enter Capulet and Lady Capulet. CAPULET
What should it be that is so shrieked abroad? LADY CAPULET
O, the people in the street cry “Romeo,”
Some “Juliet,” and some “Paris,” and all run
With open outcry toward our monument. 200 PRINCE
What fear is this which startles in our ears? | The Capulets want to know, too. People are running through the streets yelling out the names of Romeo, Juliet, and Paris. What's going on? |
FIRST WATCH
Sovereign, here lies the County Paris slain,
And Romeo dead, and Juliet, dead before,
Warm and new killed. PRINCE
Search, seek, and know how this foul murder 205
comes. FIRST WATCH
Here is a friar, and slaughtered Romeo’s man,
With instruments upon them fit to open
These dead men’s tombs. CAPULET
O heavens! O wife, look how our daughter bleeds! 210
This dagger hath mista’en, for, lo, his house
Is empty on the back of Montague,
And it mis-sheathèd in my daughter’s bosom. LADY CAPULET
O me, this sight of death is as a bell
That warns my old age to a sepulcher. 215 | The First Watchman tries to explain. Paris is dead. Romeo is dead. And Juliet, who everyone thought was already dead, appears to have been killed within the last twenty minutes. Huh? Meanwhile, they've found both the Friar and Romeo's buddy with tools for breaking into the tomb. Lady Capulet, seeing all these dead bodies, is reminded that she doesn't have long to go before she's dead, too. |
Enter Montague. PRINCE
Come, Montague, for thou art early up
To see thy son and heir now early down. MONTAGUE
Alas, my liege, my wife is dead tonight.
Grief of my son’s exile hath stopped her breath.
What further woe conspires against mine age? 220 PRINCE Look, and thou shalt see. | Lord Montague arrives with the bright news that his wife died that afternoon, grief-stricken over Romeo's exile. |
MONTAGUE, seeing Romeo dead
O thou untaught! What manners is in this,
To press before thy father to a grave? | Montague sees Romeo's body and cries out about how unnatural it is for a son to die before his father. |
PRINCE
Seal up the mouth of outrage for awhile,
Till we can clear these ambiguities 225
And know their spring, their head, their true
descent,
And then will I be general of your woes
And lead you even to death. Meantime forbear,
And let mischance be slave to patience.— 230
Bring forth the parties of suspicion. | The Prince tells everyone to hold their grief for a minute while they figure out what happened. Then he tells his guards to bring in the suspicious parties, namely the Friar and Balthasar, who they found creeping around the crypt. |
FRIAR LAWRENCE
I am the greatest, able to do least,
Yet most suspected, as the time and place
Doth make against me, of this direful murder.
And here I stand, both to impeach and purge 235
Myself condemnèd and myself excused. | Friar Lawrence says he knows how things look, and it makes sense that he's the prime suspect here. But really, he's both responsible and not responsible...if you know what he means. |
PRINCE
Then say at once what thou dost know in this. | The Prince tells him to get to the point. |
FRIAR LAWRENCE
I will be brief, for my short date of breath
Is not so long as is a tedious tale.
Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet, 240
And she, there dead, that Romeo’s faithful wife.
I married them, and their stol’n marriage day
Was Tybalt’s doomsday, whose untimely death
Banished the new-made bridegroom from this city,
For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined. 245
You, to remove that siege of grief from her,
Betrothed and would have married her perforce
To County Paris. Then comes she to me,
And with wild looks bid me devise some mean
To rid her from this second marriage, 250
Or in my cell there would she kill herself.
Then gave I her (so tutored by my art)
A sleeping potion, which so took effect
As I intended, for it wrought on her
The form of death. Meantime I writ to Romeo 255
That he should hither come as this dire night
To help to take her from her borrowed grave,
Being the time the potion’s force should cease.
But he which bore my letter, Friar John,
Was stayed by accident, and yesternight 260
Returned my letter back. Then all alone
At the prefixèd hour of her waking
Came I to take her from her kindred’s vault,
Meaning to keep her closely at my cell
Till I conveniently could send to Romeo. 265
But when I came, some minute ere the time
Of her awakening, here untimely lay
The noble Paris and true Romeo dead.
She wakes, and I entreated her come forth
And bear this work of heaven with patience. 270
But then a noise did scare me from the tomb,
And she, too desperate, would not go with me
But, as it seems, did violence on herself.
All this I know, and to the marriage
Her nurse is privy. And if aught in this 275
Miscarried by my fault, let my old life
Be sacrificed some hour before his time
Unto the rigor of severest law. | The Friar says he'll be brief, and fifty lines later, he's given them the whole scoop. Romeo and Juliet were married (by him) shortly before Romeo killed Tybalt. When Juliet was grieving, it wasn't just for Tybalt—it was for her husband, too. When Lord Capulet decided to "help" by marrying her to Paris, Juliet came to the Friar desperate, and he helped her fake her death. He tried to keep Romeo in the loop, but Romeo didn't get his message. By the time the Friar got to the tomb, Romeo and Paris were already dead. Juliet killed herself when the Friar heard a scary noise and left her alone in the tomb. To his credit, he's ready to be executed for his role in all this, but not before outing the Nurse. He makes sure everyone knows she knew all about Romeo and Juliet's mariage, too. |
PRINCE
We still have known thee for a holy man.—
Where’s Romeo’s man? What can he say to this? 280 BALTHASAR
I brought my master news of Juliet’s death,
And then in post he came from Mantua
To this same place, to this same monument.
This letter he early bid me give his father
And threatened me with death, going in the vault, 285
If I departed not and left him there. PRINCE
Give me the letter. I will look on it.—
He takes Romeo’s letter.
Where is the County’s page, that raised the
watch?—
Sirrah, what made your master in this place? 290 PAGE
He came with flowers to strew his lady’s grave
And bid me stand aloof, and so I did.
Anon comes one with light to ope the tomb,
And by and by my master drew on him,
And then I ran away to call the watch. 295 | The Prince calls Balthasar forward to get his take on things, and then he reads the letter Romeo wrote for his father. Finally, he gets some testimony from Paris' Page. |
PRINCE
This letter doth make good the Friar’s words,
Their course of love, the tidings of her death;
And here he writes that he did buy a poison
Of a poor ’pothecary, and therewithal
Came to this vault to die and lie with Juliet. 300
Where be these enemies?—Capulet, Montague,
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love,
And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished. 305 | Satisfied that he has all the facts, the Prince chastises Capulet and Montague for their age-old feud. It's their hatred that brought this all about, and the Prince says he is partly to blame for not taking action to put an end to it sooner. Now, everyone has been punished. They've all lost people dear to them. |
CAPULET
O brother Montague, give me thy hand.
This is my daughter’s jointure, for no more
Can I demand. MONTAGUE But I can give thee more,
For I will ray her statue in pure gold, 310
That whiles Verona by that name is known,
There shall no figure at such rate be set
As that of true and faithful Juliet. CAPULET
As rich shall Romeo’s by his lady’s lie,
Poor sacrifices of our enmity. 315 | Capulet and Montague make up. Capulet gives Montague Juliet's dowry, and Montague says he'll have a golden statue of Juliet made so she'll always be remembered. Capulet says he'll have a statue of Romeo made to go beside it. |
PRINCE
A glooming peace this morning with it brings.
The sun for sorrow will not show his head.
Go hence to have more talk of these sad things.
Some shall be pardoned, and some punishèd.
For never was a story of more woe 320
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. All exit. | The Prince has the last word. He says though they finally have peace, it's under such gloomy circumstances that the sun won't shine today. He also says that as they talk about this more, some people will be pardoned and some will be punished, but we never find out who gets what—just that there's never been a sadder tale than this one. So whaddya think? Is the Nurse going to prison? Will the Friar be put to death? This one's ripe for some fan fiction... |