Romeo and Juliet

Give me your torch, boy. Go away and stay apart from me. Put the torch out, so I can’t be seen. Hide under the yew-trees over there. Listen to make sure no one is coming through the graveyard. If you hear any one, whistle to me to signal that someone is approaching. Give me those flowers. Do as I tell you. Go.

(to himself) I am almost afraid to stand alone here in the graveyard, but I’ll take the risk.

(he scatters flowers at JULIET’s closed tomb) Sweet flower, I’m spreading flowers over your bridal bed. Oh, pain! Your canopy is dust and stones. I’ll water these flowers every night with sweet water. Or, if I don’t do that, my nightly rituals to remember you will be to put flowers on your grave and weep.

The boy is warning me that someone approaches. Who could be walking around here tonight? Who’s ruining my rituals of true love? It’s someone with a torch! I must hide in the darkness for awhile.

Give me that pickax and the crowbar. (he takes them from BALTHASAR) Here, take this letter. Early in the morning deliver it to my father. (he gives the letter to BALTHASAR) Give me the light. (he takes the torch from BALTHASAR) Swear on your life, I command you, whatever you hear or see, stay away from me and do not interrupt me in my plan. I’m going down into this tomb of the dead, partly to behold my wife’s face. But my main reason is to take a precious ring from her dead finger. I must use that ring for an important purpose. So go on your way. But if you get curious and return to spy on me, I swear I’ll tear you apart limb by limb and spread your body parts around to feed the hungry animals in the graveyard. My plan is wild and savage. I am more fierce in this endeavor than a hungry tiger or the raging sea.

I’ll go, sir, and I won’t bother you.

That’s the way to show me friendship. Take this. (he gives BALTHASAR money) Live and be prosperous. Farewell, good fellow.

(speaking so that only PARIS can hear) Despite what I said, I’ll hide nearby. I’m frightened by the look on his face, and I have doubts about his intentions.

(speaking to the tomb) You horrible mouth of death! You’ve eaten up the dearest creature on Earth. Now I’m going to force open your rotten jaws and make you eat another body. (ROMEO begins to open the tomb with his tools)

(speaking so that ROMEO can’t hear) It’s that arrogant Montague, the one who’s been banished. He’s the one who murdered my love’s cousin Tybalt. They think she died with grief for that cousin. This guy has come here to commit awful crimes against the dead bodies. I’ll catch him. (to ROMEO) Stop your evil work, vile Montague! Can you take revenge on dead bodies? Condemned villain, I’ve caught you. Obey and come with me. You must die.

I must indeed. That’s why I came here. Good and noble young man, don’t mess with someone who’s desperate. Get away from here and leave me. Think about the ones who have died. Let them put fear in your heart. Please, young man, don’t make me angry. I don’t want to commit another crime. Oh, go away! I swear, I love you more than I love myself. For I’ve come here with weapons to use against myself. Don’t stay here, go away. Live, and from now on, say a madman mercifully told you to run away.

I refuse your request. I’m arresting you as a criminal.

Are you going to provoke me? Alright, let’s fight, boy!

Oh Lord, they’re fighting! I’ll go call the watch.

(he falls) Oh, I’ve been killed! If you are merciful, open the tomb and lay me next to Juliet.

Alright, I will. Let me look at this face. It’s Mercutio’s relative, noble Count Paris! What did my man say? I was worried, so I wasn’t listening to him while we were riding. I think he told me Paris was about to marry Juliet. Isn’t that what he said? Or was I dreaming? Or am I crazy? Did I hear him say something about Juliet and jump to conclusions? Oh, give me your hand. Both of us had such bad luck! I’ll bury you in a magnificent grave.

A grave? Oh no! This is a lantern, dead Paris. Juliet lies here, and her beauty fills this tomb with light. Dead men, lie there. You are being buried by another dead man. (he lays PARIS in the tomb) How often are men happy right before they die! They call it the lightness before death. Oh, how can I call this lightness? Oh, my love! My wife! Death has sucked the honey from your breath, but it has not yet ruined your beauty. You haven’t been conquered. There is still red in your lips and in your cheeks. Death has not yet turned them pale. Tybalt, are you lying there in your bloody death shroud? Oh, what better favor can I do for you than to kill the man who killed you with the same hand that made you die young. Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet, why are you still so beautiful? Should I believe that death is in love with you, and that the awful monster keeps you here to be his mistress? I don’t like that idea, so I’ll stay with you. And I will never leave this tomb. Here, here I’ll remain with worms that are your chamber-maids. Oh, I’ll rest here forever. I’ll forget about all the bad luck that has troubled me. Eyes, look out for the last time! Arms, make your last embrace! And lips, you are the doors of breath. Seal with a righteous kiss the deal I have made with death forever. (ROMEO kisses JULIET and takes out the poison) Come, bitter poison, come, unsavory guide! You desperate pilot, let’s crash this sea-weary ship into the rocks! Here’s to my love! (ROMEO drinks the poison.)* Oh, that pharmacist was honest! His drugs work quickly. So I die with a kiss.

Saint Francis, help me! How often tonight have my old feet stumbled on gravestones! Who’s there?

I’m a friend, a friend who knows you well.

God bless you! Tell me, my good friend, what is that light over there? The one that vainly lights up the darkness for worms and skulls without eyes? It looks to me like it’s burning in the Capulet tomb.

That is where it’s burning, father. My master is there. The one you love.

Who is it?

Romeo.

How long has he been there?

For a full half hour.

Go with me to the tomb.

I don’t dare, sir. My master doesn’t know I’m still here. He threatened me with death if I stayed to look at what he was doing.

Stay, then. I’ll go alone. I’m suddenly afraid. Oh, I’m very scared something awful has happened.

As I slept under this yew-tree here, I had a dream that my master and someone else were fighting and that my master killed him.

(approaching the tomb) Romeo! Oh no! What is this blood that stains the stony entrance of this tomb? Why are these bloody swords lying here, abandoned by their masters? Next to this place of peace? (he looks inside the tomb) Romeo! Oh, he’s pale! Who else? What, Paris too? And he’s covered in blood? Ah, when did these horrible things happen? The lady’s moving.

Oh friendly friar! Where is my husband? I remember very well where I should be, and here I am. Where is my Romeo?

I hear some noise. Lady, come out of the tomb. A greater power than we can fight has ruined our plan. Come, come away. Your husband lies dead there, and Paris too. Come, I’ll place you among the sisterhood of holy nuns. Don’t wait to ask questions. The watch is coming. Come, let’s go, good Juliet, I don’t dare stay any longer.

Go, get out of here. I’m not going anywhere.

What’s this here? It’s a cup, closed in my true love’s hand? Poison, I see, has been the cause of his death. How rude! He drank it all, and didn’t leave any to help me afterward. I will kiss your lips. Perhaps there’s still some poison on them, to make me die with a medicinal kiss. (she kisses ROMEO) Your lips are warm.

(coming to the PAGE) Lead, boy. Which way?

Oh, noise? Then I’ll be quick. Oh, good, a knife! My body will be your sheath. Rust inside my body and let me die. (she stabs herself with ROMEO’s dagger and dies.)

This is the place. There, where the torch is burning.

The ground is bloody. Search the graveyard. Go, some of you, arrest whoever you find.

This is a pitiful sight! The count is dead. Juliet is bleeding. Her body is warm, and she seems to have been dead only a short time, even though she has been buried for two days. Go, tell the Prince. Run to the Capulets. Wake up the Montagues. Have some others search.

We see the cause of all this pain. But we’ll have to investigate to discover the whole story.

Here’s Romeo’s man. We found him in the churchyard.

Hold him in custody until the Prince gets here.

Here is a friar who’s trembling, sighing and weeping. We took this pickax and this shovel from him, as he was walking from this side of the graveyard.

Very suspicious. Hold the friar too.

What crimes happen so early in the morning that I have to wake up before the usual time?

What’s the problem, that they cry out so loud?

Some people in the street are crying “Romeo.” Some are crying “Juliet,” and some are crying “Paris.” They’re all running in an open riot toward our tomb.

What’s this awful thing that everyone’s crying about?

Prince, here lies Count Paris killed. And Romeo dead. And Juliet. She was dead before, but now she’s warm and hasn’t been dead for long.

Investigate how this foul murder came about.

Here is a friar, and dead Romeo’s man. They’ve got tools on them—tools they could use to open these tombs.

Oh heavens! Oh wife, look at how our daughter bleeds! That knife should be in its sheath on that Montague’s back, but instead it’s mis-sheathed in my daughter’s breast.

Oh my! This sight of death is like a bell that warns me I’m old and I’ll die soon.

Come, Montague. You’re up early to see your son down early.

Oh, my liege, my wife died tonight. Sadness over my son’s exile stopped her breath. What further pain must I endure in my old age?

Look, and you’ll see.

(seeing ROMEO’s body) Oh, you undisciplined boy! Where are your manners? It’s not right for a son to push past his father on his way to the grave.

Be quiet and hold back your remarks of outrage, until we can clear up these questions. We want to know how it started and what really happened. And then I’ll be the leader of pain, and maybe I’ll lead you as far as death. In the meantime, hold on, and be patient. Bring forth the men under suspicion.

I am the greatest, but I was able to do the least. I am under the most suspicion, because I was here at the time of this awful murder. And here I stand, you can question me and punish me. I have already condemned and excused myself.

Tell us what you know about this affair.

I will be brief because I’m not going to live long enough to tell a boring story. Romeo, who lies there dead, was the husband of that Juliet. And she, who lies there dead, was that Romeo’s faithful wife. I married them; their secret wedding day was the day Tybalt died. His untimely death caused the bridegroom to be banished from the city. Juliet was sad because Romeo was gone, not because of Tybalt’s death. To cure her sadness, you arranged a marriage for her with Count Paris. Then she came to me, and, looking wild, she asked me to devise a plan to get her out of this second marriage. She threatened to kill herself in my cell if I didn’t help her. So I gave her a sleeping potion that I had mixed with my special skills. It worked as planned. She seemed to everyone to be dead. In the meantime I wrote to Romeo and told him to come here on this awful night to help remove her from her temporary grave when the sleeping potion wore off. But the man who carried my letter, Friar John, was held up by an accident. Last night he gave me the letter back. So I came here alone at the hour when she was supposed to wake up. I came to take her out of her family’s tomb, hoping to hide her in my cell until I could make contact with Romeo. But by the time I got here, just a few minutes before Juliet woke up, Paris and Romeo were already dead. She woke up, and I asked her to come out of the tomb with me and endure this tragedy with patience. But then a noise sent me running scared from the tomb. She was too desperate to come with me, and it seems that she killed herself. I know all of this. And her Nurse knows about the marriage too. If any part of this tragedy is my fault, let my old life be sacrificed and let me suffer the most severe punishment.

We have always known you to be a holy man. Where’s Romeo’s man? What does he have to say about this?

I brought my master news of Juliet’s death. And then he rode from Mantua here to this tomb. (he shows a letter) Earlier this morning he asked me to give this letter to his father. When he went into the vault, he threatened me with death if I didn’t leave him alone there.

Give me the letter. I’ll look at it. (he takes the letter from BALTHASAR) Where is the count’s page, the one who called the watch? Boy, what was your master doing here?

He came with flowers to spread on his lady’s grave. And he asked me to stand far away and leave him alone, and so I did. Then someone with a torch came to open the tomb. So my master drew on him. And then I ran away to call the watch.

(skimming the letter) This letter confirms the friar’s account. It describes the course of their love and mentions the news of her death. Here he writes that he bought poison from a poor pharmacist. He brought that poison with him to this vault to die and lie with Juliet. Where are these enemies? Capulet! Montague! Do you see what a great evil results from your hate? Heaven has figured out how to kill your joys with love. Because I looked the other way when your feud flared up, I’ve lost several members of my family as well. Everyone is punished.

Oh, brother Montague, give me your hand. This is my daughter’s dowry. I can ask you for nothing more.

But I can give you more. I’ll raise her statue in pure gold. As long as this city is called Verona, there will be no figure praised more than that of true and faithful Juliet.

The statue I will make of Romeo to lie beside his Juliet will be just as rich. They were poor sacrifices of our rivalry!

We settle a dark peace this morning. The sun is too sad to show itself. Let’s go, to talk about these sad things some more. Some will be pardoned, and some will be punished. There was never a story more full of pain than the story of Romeo and Juliet.