Please wait

A churchyard; in it a tomb belonging to the Capulets.

• Paris. Give me thy torch, boy: hence, and stand aloof:
  Yet put it out, for I would not be seen. 2935
  Under yond yew-trees lay thee all along,
  Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground;
  So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread,
  Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves,
  But thou shalt hear it: whistle then to me, 2940
  As signal that thou hear'st something approach.
  Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee, go.

• Page.[Aside] I am almost afraid to stand alone
  Here in the churchyard; yet I will adventure.

• Paris. 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 distill'd by moans:
  The obsequies that I for thee will keep 2950
  Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep.
  [The Page whistles]
  The boy gives warning something doth approach.
  What cursed foot wanders this way to-night,
  To cross my obsequies and true love's rite? 2955
  What with a torch! muffle me, night, awhile.

• Romeo. Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron.
  Hold, take this letter; early in the morning 2960
  See thou deliver it to my lord and father.
  Give me the light: upon thy life, I charge thee,
  Whate'er thou hear'st or seest, stand all aloof,
  And do not interrupt me in my course.
  Why I descend into this bed of death, 2965
  Is partly to behold my lady's face;
  But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger
  A precious ring, a ring that I must use
  In dear employment: therefore hence, be gone:
  But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry 2970
  In what I further shall intend to do,
  By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint
  And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs:
  The time and my intents are savage-wild,
  More fierce and more inexorable far 2975
  Than empty tigers or the roaring sea.

• Balthasar. I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you.

• Romeo. So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou that:
  Live, and be prosperous: and farewell, good fellow.

• Balthasar.[Aside] For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout: 2980
  His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt.

• Romeo. Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death,
  Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth,
  Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open, 2985
  And, in despite, I'll cram thee with more food!

• Paris. This is that banish'd haughty Montague,
  That murder'd my love's cousin, with which grief,
  It is supposed, the fair creature died; 2990
  And here is come to do some villanous shame
  To the dead bodies: I will apprehend him.
  [Comes forward]
  Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague!
  Can vengeance be pursued further than death? 2995
  Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee:
  Obey, and go with me; for thou must die.

• Romeo. I must indeed; and therefore came I hither.
  Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man;
  Fly hence, and leave me: think upon these gone; 3000
  Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth,
  Put not another sin upon my head,
  By urging me to fury: O, be gone!
  By heaven, I love thee better than myself;
  For I come hither arm'd against myself: 3005
  Stay not, be gone; live, and hereafter say,
  A madman's mercy bade thee run away.

• Paris. I do defy thy conjurations,
  And apprehend thee for a felon here.

• Romeo. Wilt thou provoke me? then have at thee, boy! 3010

• Page. O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch.

• Paris. O, I am slain!
  [Falls] 3015
  If thou be merciful,
  Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.

• Romeo. In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face.
  Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris! 3020
  What said my man, when my betossed 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, 3025
  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;
  A grave? O no! a lantern, slaughter'd youth,
  For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes 3030
  This vault a feasting presence full of light.
  Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd.
  [Laying PARIS in the tomb]
  How oft when men are at the point of death
  Have they been merry! which their keepers call 3035
  A lightning before death: O, how may I
  Call this a lightning? O my love! my wife!
  Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath,
  Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
  Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet 3040
  Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
  And death's pale flag is not advanced there.
  Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
  O, what more favour can I do to thee,
  Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain 3045
  To sunder his that was thine enemy?
  Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet,
  Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe
  That unsubstantial death is amorous,
  And that the lean abhorred monster keeps 3050
  Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
  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 chamber-maids; O, here 3055
  Will I set up my everlasting rest,
  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 3060
  A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
  Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!
  Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
  The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
  Here's to my love! 3065
  [Drinks]
  O true apothecary!
  Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.
  [Dies]
  [Enter, at the other end of the churchyard, FRIAR] 3070
  LAURENCE, with a lantern, crow, and spade]

• Friar Laurence. Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night
  Have my old feet stumbled at graves! Who's there?

• Balthasar. Here's one, a friend, and one that knows you well.

• Friar Laurence. Bliss be upon you! Tell me, good my friend, 3075
  What torch is yond, that vainly lends his light
  To grubs and eyeless skulls? as I discern,
  It burneth in the Capel's monument.

• Balthasar. It doth so, holy sir; and there's my master,
  One that you love. 3080

• Friar Laurence. Who is it?

• Balthasar. Romeo.

• Friar Laurence. How long hath he been there?

• Balthasar. Full half an hour.

• Friar Laurence. Go with me to the vault. 3085

• Balthasar. I dare not, sir
  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 Laurence. Stay, then; I'll go alone. Fear comes upon me: 3090
  O, much I fear some ill unlucky thing.

• Balthasar. As I did sleep under this yew-tree here,
  I dreamt my master and another fought,
  And that my master slew him.

• Friar Laurence. Romeo! 3095
  [Advances]
  Alack, alack, what blood is this, which stains
  The stony entrance of this sepulchre?
  What mean these masterless and gory swords
  To lie discolour'd by this place of peace? 3100
  [Enters the tomb]
  Romeo! O, pale! Who else? what, Paris too?
  And steep'd in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour
  Is guilty of this lamentable chance!
  The lady stirs. 3105

• Juliet. O comfortable friar! where is my lord?
  I do remember well where I should be,
  And there I am. Where is my Romeo?

• Friar Laurence. 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; 3115
  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,
  [Noise again] 3120
  I dare no longer stay.

• Juliet. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.
  [Exit FRIAR LAURENCE]
  What's here? a cup, closed in my true love's hand?
  Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end: 3125
  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,
  To make die with a restorative.
  [Kisses him] 3130
  Thy lips are warm.

• First Watchman.[Within] Lead, boy: which way?

• Juliet. Yea, noise? then I'll be brief. O happy dagger!
  [Snatching ROMEO's dagger]
  This is thy sheath; 3135
  [Stabs herself]
  there rust, and let me die.

• Page. This is the place; there, where the torch doth burn. 3140

• First Watchman. The ground is bloody; search about the churchyard:
  Go, some of you, whoe'er you find attach.
  Pitiful sight! here lies the county slain,
  And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead,
  Who here hath lain these two days buried. 3145
  Go, tell the prince: run to the Capulets:
  Raise up the Montagues: some others search:
  We see the ground whereon these woes do lie;
  But the true ground of all these piteous woes
  We cannot without circumstance descry. 3150

• Second Watchman. Here's Romeo's man; we found him in the churchyard.

• First Watchman. Hold him in safety, till the prince come hither.

• Third Watchman. Here is a friar, that trembles, sighs and weeps: 3155
  We took this mattock and this spade from him,
  As he was coming from this churchyard side.

• First Watchman. A great suspicion: stay the friar too.

• Prince Escalus. What misadventure is so early up, 3160
  That calls our person from our morning's rest?

• Capulet. What should it be, that they so shriek abroad?

• Lady Capulet. The people in the street cry Romeo,
  Some Juliet, and some Paris; and all run, 3165
  With open outcry toward our monument.

• Prince Escalus. What fear is this which startles in our ears?

• First Watchman. Sovereign, here lies the County Paris slain;
  And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before,
  Warm and new kill'd. 3170

• Prince Escalus. Search, seek, and know how this foul murder comes.

• First Watchman. Here is a friar, and slaughter'd 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! 3175
  This dagger hath mista'en—for, lo, his house
  Is empty on the back of Montague,—
  And it mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom!

• Lady Capulet. O me! this sight of death is as a bell,
  That warns my old age to a sepulchre. 3180

• Prince Escalus. Come, Montague; for thou art early up,
  To see thy son and heir more early down.

• Montague. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night;
  Grief of my son's exile hath stopp'd her breath: 3185
  What further woe conspires against mine age?

• Prince Escalus. Look, and thou shalt see.

• Montague. O thou untaught! what manners is in this?
  To press before thy father to a grave?

• Prince Escalus. Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while, 3190
  Till we can clear these ambiguities,
  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, 3195
  And let mischance be slave to patience.
  Bring forth the parties of suspicion.

• Friar Laurence. I am the greatest, able to do least,
  Yet most suspected, as the time and place
  Doth make against me of this direful murder; 3200
  And here I stand, both to impeach and purge
  Myself condemned and myself excused.

• Prince Escalus. Then say at once what thou dost know in this.

• Friar Laurence. I will be brief, for my short date of breath
  Is not so long as is a tedious tale. 3205
  Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet;
  And she, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife:
  I married them; and their stol'n marriage-day
  Was Tybalt's dooms-day, whose untimely death
  Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from the city, 3210
  For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined.
  You, to remove that siege of grief from her,
  Betroth'd and would have married her perforce
  To County Paris: then comes she to me,
  And, with wild looks, bid me devise some mean 3215
  To rid her from this second marriage,
  Or in my cell there would she kill herself.
  Then gave I her, so tutor'd by my art,
  A sleeping potion; which so took effect
  As I intended, for it wrought on her 3220
  The form of death: meantime I writ to Romeo,
  That he should hither come as this dire night,
  To help to take her from her borrow'd grave,
  Being the time the potion's force should cease.
  But he which bore my letter, Friar John, 3225
  Was stay'd by accident, and yesternight
  Return'd my letter back. Then all alone
  At the prefixed hour of her waking,
  Came I to take her from her kindred's vault;
  Meaning to keep her closely at my cell, 3230
  Till I conveniently could send to Romeo:
  But when I came, some minute ere the time
  Of her awaking, here untimely lay
  The noble Paris and true Romeo dead.
  She wakes; and I entreated her come forth, 3235
  And bear this work of heaven with patience:
  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 3240
  Her nurse is privy: and, if aught in this
  Miscarried by my fault, let my old life
  Be sacrificed, some hour before his time,
  Unto the rigour of severest law.

• Prince Escalus. We still have known thee for a holy man. 3245
  Where's Romeo's man? what can he say in this?

• 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, 3250
  And threatened me with death, going in the vault,
  I departed not and left him there.

• Prince Escalus. Give me the letter; I will look on it.
  Where is the county's page, that raised the watch?
  Sirrah, what made your master in this place? 3255

• 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. 3260

• Prince Escalus. 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. 3265
  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 punish'd. 3270

• 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 raise her statue in pure gold; 3275
  That while 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! 3280

• Prince Escalus. 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 pardon'd, and some punished:
  For never was a story of more woe 3285
  Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

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