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Romeo and Juliet

Play Script
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Chorus: In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story takes place, a long-standing hatred
between two families erupts into new violence, and citizens stain their hands with the blood of
their fellow citizens. Two unlucky children of these families become lovers and commit suicide.
Their unfortunate deaths put an end to their parents’ feud. Now, we will watch the story of
their doomed love and their parents anger, which nothing but the children’s deaths could
stop.

Act 1, Scene 1

Characters: Props:
Sampson Gregory Abraham Balthasar Benvolio 8 swords
Tybalt Lord Capulet Lord Montague Lady Capulet
Lady Montague Prince First Citizen Second Citizen

Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, of the house of Capulet, armed with swords
SAMPSON: If someone wants to start a fight with us, I’m ready.
GREGORY: You won’t fight anyone.
SAMPSON: I strike quickly, when I’m angry.
GREGORY: But you are never angry enough to strike.
SAMPSON: A dog of the house of Montague makes me angry enough to strike.
GREGORY: If someone tries to start a fight with you, you are more likely to run away.
SAMPSON: A dog of that house will make me angry enough to fight. I will fight any man or woman of the
Montagues.
GREGORY: The quarrel is between our masters and us their men.
SAMPSON: I will show myself a tyrant: when I have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the
women.
GREGORY: Draw your sword! Here comes two of the men who work for the house of Montague.
SAMPSON: My weapon is out: pick a fight with them, I will back you.
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GREGORY: How! By turning your back and running away?

SAMPSON: Don’t worry – I’ll fight! Make sure they draw their swords first, otherwise we can get in trouble
with the law for starting the fight.
GREGORY: I will stare at them as they pass by, which will offend them.
SAMPSON: I will bite my thumb at them, which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it.
Enter ABRAHAM and BALTHASAR, of the house of Montague, armed with swords. Sampson bites his thumb.
ABRAHAM: Did you bite your thumb at us, sir?
SAMPSON: I did bite my thumb, sir.
BALTHASAR: But did you bite your thumb at us, sir?
SAMPSON [Whispers to Gregory]: Is the law on our side, if I say yes?
GREGORY [Whispers to Sampson]: No.
SAMPSON: No, sir, I did not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I did bite my thumb, sir.
GREGORY: Are you trying to start a fight, sir?
ABRAHAM: Start a fight? No, sir.
SAMPSON: If you do, sir, I am ready for you: I serve as good a man as you.
BALTHASAR: But not a better one.
GREGORY [Whispers to Sampson]: Say you serve a better man: here comes one of my master's cousins.
SAMPSON: I serve a better man than you, sir.
ABRAHAM: You lie.
SAMPSON: Draw, if you are men. Gregory, let’s fight!
They fight. Enter BENVOLIO, a Montague.
BENVOLIO: Stop, fools! Put up your swords; you don’t know what you’re doing!
Benvolio tries to beat down their swords. Enter TYBALT, a Capulet.
TYBALT: What, Benvolio, are you fighting with the servants? Turn and fight a real man. I’ll kill you!
BENVOLIO: I was just trying to keep the peace: put away your sword, or else use it to part these men with me.
TYBALT: What? Your sword is drawn, and you talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and
you: Let’s fight, coward!
They fight. Enter several people from both houses, who join the fight.
First Citizen: Strike! Beat them down! Down with the Capulets!
Second Citizen: Kill them! Down with the Montagues!
Enter CAPULET and LADY CAPULET
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CAPULET: What is this noise? Give me my sword!

LADY CAPULET: You are too old to fight! You need a crutch! Why are you calling for a sword?
CAPULET: My sword, I say! Old Montague is coming, and swings his blade at me.
Enter MONTAGUE and LADY MONTAGUE
MONTAGUE: You’re a villain, Capulet! – Wife, let me go.
LADY MONTAGUE [grabs his arm]: I don’t want you to fight.
Enter PRINCE
PRINCE: Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace! Stop killing your neighbors! Listen to me! You men, you
beasts, on pain of torture, throw your weapons to the ground, and hear the sentence of your angry prince.
Three times now you’ve fought in the streets, started by an insult, by you, old Capulet, or you, Montague. If
ever you disturb the quiet of our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. On pain of death,
everyone leave, now!
Montagues go one way. Capulets and everyone else go the other way exit.

MONTAGUE: Who set this ancient quarrel new broach? Speak nephew.
BENVOLIO: The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared.
LADY MONTAGUE: O, where is Romeo? saw you him to-day?
BENVOLIO: Madam, an hour before the worshipp’d sun, Underneath the grove of a sycamore
So early walking did I see your son.
MONTAGUE: Many a morning hath he there been seen, Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow.
We would as willingly give cure to know.
BENVOLIO: Look, here he comes: so please you, step aside.
MONTAGUE: Come, madam, let’s away.
Exit Lord and Lady Montague. Enter Romeo.
BENVOLIO: Good-morrow, cousin.
ROMEO: Ay me! sad hours seem long.
BENVOLIO: What sadness lengthens Romeo’s hours?
ROMEO: Not having that, which, having, makes them short.
BENVOLIO: In love?
ROMEO: Out
BENVOLIO: Of love?
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ROMEO: Out of her favor, while I am in love. In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman. Rosaline.
And she’s fair, my love. O, she is rich in Beauty, only poor.

BENVOLIO: The beautiful Rosaline whom thou love so much will

be at Capulet's feast, along with every beautiful woman in Verona. Go there and examine other beauties- I will
show. And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.

ROMEO: He that is strucken blind cannot forget The precious treasure of his eyesight lost:
Farewell: thou canst not teach me to forget.
BENVOLIO: I’ll pay that doctrine, or else die in debt.

Act 1, Scene 5

Characters

Romeo Juliet Tybalt Lord Capulet Nurse Benvolio Mercutio

ROMEO, MERCUTIO, and BENVOLIO enter dressed in masks, along with five or six other MASKERS, carrying a
drum and torches. On the other side of a door, the Capulet’s ball is in full swing.

ROMEO: Give me a torch. I don't want to dance. I feel sad, so let me be the one who carries the light.
MERCUTIO: No, noble Romeo, you've got to dance! If love plays rough with you, play rough with love.
BENVOLIO: Come on, let's knock and go in. The minute we get in let's all start dancing.
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ROMEO, BENVOLIO, and MERCUTIO enter the party. BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO leave finding someone to
dance with.
JULIET is dancing with someone (maybe PARIS).
TYBALT and LORD CAPULET are discussing something. They will overhear ROMEO.
ROMEO [wanders around before he takes notice of Juliet]: What lady is that, who is holding the hand of that
knight? O, she teaches the torches to burn bright! Did my heart love till now? My eyes lied! For I never saw
true beauty till this night.
TYBALT: This, by his voice, sounds like a Montague. Fetch me my sword, boy. How does this slave dare to
come here with a mask on his face, to laugh and mock us? Now, by the honor of my family, to strike him dead
would not be a sin.
CAPULET: Why, what’s happening, nephew? Why are you storming off?
TYBALT: Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe, a villain that has come here in spite, to scorn at our party tonight.
CAPULET: Young Romeo, is it?
TYBALT: Yes, that villain.
CAPULET: Don’t worry, nephew, leave him alone; he is behaving like a gentleman; Verona brags of him as a
virtuous and well-behaved young man. I would not for the wealth of all the town have anything happen to him
here in my house. Therefore, be patient, just ignore him. Don’t let him ruin a wonderful party.
TYBALT: I'll not endure him.
CAPULET [angry]: He will be endured! You boy! I say, he will! Am I the master here, or you? You'll not endure
him? What will you do - make a mutiny among my guests and start a fight? You child!
TYBALT [upset]: But, uncle, it’s shameful to bear his presence here!
CAPULET [angry]: Get out of here! You rude boy! You will not disobey me!
TYBALT [angry]: I will leave now, but he will pay for this!

Exit TYBALT and LORD CAPULET. JULIET finishes her dance and ROMEO approaches.
ROMEO [To Juliet]: I know that I am unworthy to touch your perfect hand. My lips, two blushing pilgrims, are
ready to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
JULIET: Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, for saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
and palm to palm is holy pilgrims' kiss.
They press their hands together, as if praying.
ROMEO: Have not saints lips, and holy pilgrims, too?
JULIET: Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
ROMEO: O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; they pray. Give me what I pray for. By kissing you, my
sin is pardoned.
They kiss.
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JULIET: Let my lips have again the sin that they have took.
ROMEO: Sin from your lips? Give me my sin again.
They kiss again. Enter Nurse.
Nurse: Madam, your mother wants to speak with you.
Exit JULIET.
ROMEO [to Nurse]: Who is her mother?
Nurse: Why, sir, her mother is the lady of the house, Lady Capulet.
ROMEO: Is she a Capulet? Oh no! My life is my foe's debt.
Enter Benvolio.
BENVOLIO: Let’s leave; the party has ended.
ROMEO: But my troubles have just begun.
Exit all, except JULIET and NURSE.
JULIET: Come here, Nurse. Who is that gentleman? Go ask his name: if he is married, my grave is likely to be
my wedding bed.
Nurse: His name is Romeo, and a Montague; the only son of your great enemy.
JULIET: My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Why must I
finally fall in love, only to love a hated enemy?

All exit.

ACT 2, SCENE 1

Characters:
Romeo Benvolio Mercutio

Enter ROMEO
ROMEO: How can I leave when my heart is here?

He climbs the wall, leaps down on the other side, and exits. Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO.
BENVOLIO [calling]: Romeo! Cousin! Romeo!
MERCUTIO: He is smart, and has probably headed home to bed.
BENVOLIO: He ran this way, and jumped over this orchard wall. Help me call him, Mercutio.
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MERCUTIO: I'll summon him. [calling] Romeo! Madman! Lover! I summon you by Rosaline's bright eyes, by her
red lips, by her fine legs to appear to us!
BENVOLIO: If he hears you, you’ll make him mad.
MERCUTIO: This won’t anger him. My spell is fair and honest, and I use his mistress' name only to find him.
BENVOLIO: Come, he’s hidden himself among these trees. His love is blind and it’s best suited to the dark.
MERCUTIO: If love is blind, love cannot hit the mark. I'm going to bed. Come on, let’s go.
BENVOLIO: All right; we’ll never find him if he doesn’t want to be found.

All exit.

ACT 2, SCENE 2

Characters:

Romeo Juliet Nurse

Enter ROMEO
ROMEO: He jests at scars that never felt a wound.

JULIET comes out onto the balcony of her room.

But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill
the envious moon, which is sick and pale with grief that you are far more beautiful than she is. It is my lady; it
is my love! Oh, if only she knew that she were! See how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a
glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!
JULIET: [sighs] Oh, my!
ROMEO: She speaks! O, speak again, bright angel!
JULIET: O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny your father and refuse your name;
or, if you will not, swear you love me, and I'll no longer be a Capulet.
ROMEO: [Whispers] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
JULIET: It’s only your name that is my enemy. What is the name Montague? It is neither hand, nor foot, nor
arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? If we called
a rose by any other name it would still smell as sweet; so Romeo would, even if he were not called Romeo, still
be the same perfect man he is now even without that name. Romeo, remove your name, and for that name,
which is no part of you, take all myself.
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ROMEO: [calling to her] I take you at your word: call me your love, and I'll be newly baptized; from now on, I
will never be Romeo!
JULIET: Who are you, hiding in my garden and listening to me?
ROMEO: I have a name, but I don’t know how to tell you who I am: my name, dear saint, is hateful to me,
because it is an enemy to you; if I had it written down on paper, I would tear up the word.
JULIET: We’ve just met, but I know your voice already: aren’t you Romeo, and a Montague?
ROMEO: Neither, fair saint, if you don’t like either of those names.
JULIET: How did you get here, and why did you come? The orchard walls are high and hard to climb, and this
place is death to you, if anyone finds you here.
ROMEO: With love's light wings I climbed over these walls; for stony limits cannot hold love out; therefore,
your family is no danger to me.
JULIET: If they see you, they will kill you.
ROMEO: There lies more danger in your eyes than in twenty of their swords: if you love me, I am safe against
their hatred.
JULIET: I don’t want them to find you here.
ROMEO: I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight; and if you love me, let them find me here: my life
were better ended by their hate, than to live longer, but without your love.
Romeo climbs up to the balcony.
JULIET: I’m glad it’s dark, or else you would see me blush for what you’ve heard me say tonight. Do you love
me? If you say 'Yes,' I will believe you: yet if you swear, you may prove false. Romeo, if you love me, tell me
faithfully. You already overheard me say that I love you.
ROMEO: Lady, by the blessed moon I swear --
JULIET: O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon that changes every month, in case your love proves
likewise changeable.
ROMEO: What shall I swear by?
JULIET: Do not swear at all; or, if you do, swear by your honor, and I'll believe you.
ROMEO: If my heart's dear love--
JULIET: Well, do not swear: although I am happy, our love is so sudden, too quick. I wonder if you’ll still love
me tomorrow. I should go in. Good night!
ROMEO: Don’t go! Will you leave me so unsatisfied?
JULIET: What satisfaction can you have tonight?
ROMEO: The exchange of your love's faithful vow for mine.
JULIET: I gave it to you before you asked for it, and yet, I’ll gladly give it to you again. My love is as deep as the
sea: the more I give to you, the more I have, for both are infinite.
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Nurse [calls from inside]: Juliet!

JULIET: I hear some noise inside! [shouts to Nurse] Coming, good nurse! [to Romeo] Stay here, I’ll be right
back.
Exit JULIET
ROMEO: O blessed night! I am afraid that all this is just a dream and will be gone when I wake up.
Re-enter JULIET
JULIET: Three things, dear Romeo, and I’ll tell you good night. If your love is honorable, and you want to marry
me, send me word tomorrow. I’ll send someone to you so you can tell me where and what time we can get
married and then I’ll follow you anywhere, as long as we can be together.
Nurse: [Call from inside] Madam!
JULIET [shouts to Nurse]: Coming! [to Romeo] – But if your love isn’t honorable, I beg you --
Nurse: [Calls from inside] Madam!
JULIET [shouts to Nurse]: I’m coming! [to Romeo]– then don’t come here again and leave me to my tears. I’ll
send to you tomorrow. A thousand times good night!
JULIET exits
ROMEO: A thousand times worse, to be without you.
Re-enter JULIET
JULIET: Romeo! What time tomorrow should I send to you?
ROMEO: At nine ‘o-clock.
JULIET: I won’t fail; it seems like twenty years until then. I’ve forgotten why I called you back.
ROMEO: Let me stand here until you remember it.
JULIET: I shall forget, as long as you’re standing here, remembering how much I love to have you near me.
ROMEO: Then I’ll keep standing here so that you will forget anything besides this.
JULIET: I don’t want you to leave.
Romeo climbs down the balcony.
Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.

Exit all
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Act 3, Scene 1
Characters: Props:
Romeo Mercutio Tybalt Benvolio 3 swords
Prince Lord Capulet Lady Capulet Lord Montague

Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO.

BENVOLIO: Mercutio, let's go in: the day is hot, the Capulets are out, and, if we meet them, we will not escape
a fight. By my head, here come the Capulets.
MERCUTIO: By my heel, I care not.
Enter TYBALT.
TYBALT: Gentlemen, good day: a word with one of you.
MERCUTIO: Just one word with one of us? Make it a word and a blow.
TYBALT: You shall find me ready enough for that, sir, if you will give me a reason.
BENVOLIO: We are talking in public: either go someplace private, or else leave; everyone is watching us.
MERCUTIO: Let them look; I don’t care.
Enter ROMEO.
TYBALT: Romeo, how dare you crash our party last night? I hate you, villain!
ROMEO: Tybalt, the reason that I have to love you excuses such a greeting. I don’t hate you.
TYBALT: Boy, this does not excuse the injuries that you have done to me; turn and draw.
ROMEO: I’ve never injured you, but love you better than you know: and so, good Capulet,--which name I hold
as dearly as my own,--be satisfied.
MERCUTIO: O what a calm, dishonorable, vile submission! I’ll answer him for you. Tybalt, fight me!
Mercutio draws his sword.
TYBALT: If you insist!
Tybalt draws his sword.
ROMEO: Stop, Mercutio! Put away your sword!
MERCUTIO: Come, sir, fight!
Mercutio and Tybalt fight.
ROMEO: Draw, Benvolio; beat down their weapons. Gentlemen, for shame, stop this outrage! Tybalt,
Mercutio, the prince has forbidden fighting in the streets: Hold, Tybalt! Stop, Mercutio!
Romeo comes between Tybalt and Mercutio, trying to stop them. Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo's arm
and runs away.
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MERCUTIO: I am hurt. A plague on both your houses! Is he gone and unhurt?

BENVOLIO: Are you hurt?
MERCUTIO: Yes, just a scratch; but it’s enough. Go, fetch a doctor.
ROMEO: Have courage, man; the hurt cannot be much.
MERCUTIO: No, it is not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but it is enough. Ask for me
tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man. A plague on both your houses! Why the devil did you come
between us? I was hurt under your arm.
ROMEO: I was trying to do the right thing.
MERCUTIO: A plague on both your houses! They have made worms' meat of me; I’m dying!
ROMEO: Mercutio, my best friend, was injured in my behalf, by Tybalt, who an hour ago became my cousin! O
sweet Juliet, your beauty has made me weak!
Mercutio dies.
BENVOLIO: O Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead! And here comes Tybalt back again.
ROMEO: He’s alive, in triumph? And Mercutio is slain?
Re-enter TYBALT
ROMEO: Now, Tybalt, you are the villain; Mercutio's soul is just a little way above our heads, waiting for you
to keep him company: either you, or I, or both, must go with him.
TYBALT: You will join him shortly.
ROMEO: We’ll see about that!

They fight; Tybalt is stabbed and falls.

BENVOLIO: Romeo, away, be gone! Tybalt is slain. Don’t just stand there! The prince will doom you with death
if you are caught: be gone, run away!
ROMEO: O, I am fortune's fool!
BENVOLIO: Why do you stay?

Exit ROMEO. Enter the PRINCE, LORD MONTAGUE and LADY CAPULET
PRINCE: Where are the ones who started this fight?
BENVOLIO: O noble prince, I can tell you all. [points to Tybalt] There lies the man, slain by young Romeo, who
slew your cousin, brave Mercutio.
LADY CAPULET: Tybalt, my cousin! O my brother's child! Prince, keep your word, for blood of ours, shed blood
of Montague. I beg for justice, which you, prince, must give; Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live.
PRINCE: Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio; who should be punished for Mercutio’s death?
LORD MONTAGUE: Not Romeo, prince, he was Mercutio's friend; he only did what the law said he should do:
take the life of Tybalt.
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PRINCE: And for that offence he is immediately exiled. My cousin has died because of your feud, but you’ll
regret it. I will be deaf to pleading; your tears and prayers will not change my mind: let Romeo leave Verona
quickly, or else, when he's found, that hour is his last.

All exit.

Act 3, Scene 5

Characters:

Romeo Juliet Nurse Lady Capulet Lord Capulet

Enter ROMEO and JULIET

JULIET: Don’t leave. It isn’t day yet. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, that sang.
ROMEO: It was the lark, the herald of the morning, that sang. Look, the sun is rising. I must be gone and live,
or stay and die.
JULIET: The light is not daylight, I know it: stay awhile. You don’t need to leave just yet.
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ROMEO: Let me be taken, let me be put to death; I would rather stay with you. I don’t care what happens to
me: Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so. You’re right: it is not yet day.
JULIET: It is day, you need to leave. It is the lark that sings so out of tune. O, now be gone; more light and light
it grows.
ROMEO: More light and light; more dark and dark our woes!
Enter NURSE
NURSE: Madam!
JULIET: Nurse?
NURSE: Your mother is coming to your chamber: the morning is here. Be careful.
Exit NURSE.
JULIET: Then, window, let day in, and let life out.
ROMEO: Farewell, farewell! One kiss, and I'll descend.
They kiss and he climbs down the balcony.
JULIET: Are you leaving? My love! I must hear from you often.
ROMEO: Farewell! I will write to you every day.
JULIET: Do you think we will ever see each other again?
ROMEO: I know we will.
JULIET: O God, I have a bad feeling. I think I see you as one dead in the bottom of a tomb.
ROMEO: Goodbye!
Exit ROMEO
LADY CAPULET [calls from inside]: Juliet! Are you up?
Enter LADY CAPULET
Why, how are you, Juliet?
JULIET: Madam, I am not well.
LADY CAPULET: Are you still weeping for your cousin's death? What, will you wash him from his grave with
tears? If you did, it wouldn’t bring him back to life. Therefore, try to stop crying. Maybe this will help: I have
some good news.
JULIET: I need some good news right now. What is it?
LADY CAPULET: Your father wants to make you happy and turn your sadness to joy. Next Thursday morning,
the young and noble gentleman, Count Paris, at Saint Peter's Church, shall make you a joyful bride.
JULIET: Now, by Saint Peter, he shall not make me a joyful bride. What is the hurry? I barely know him. Please,
madam, tell my father that I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear, it shall be Romeo, whom you know I
hate, rather than Paris.
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LADY CAPULET: Here comes your father; tell him so yourself, and see how he takes it.
Enter LORD CAPULET and NURSE
CAPULET: What’s wrong, Juliet? Are you still crying? Wife, have you given her the good news?
LADY CAPULET: Yes, sir; but she refuses to marry. I wish the fool were married to her grave!
CAPULET: What? Did I hear that right? She refuses to marry? Doesn’t she thank me? Is she not proud? Doesn’t
she count her blessings that I have found so worthy a gentleman to be her groom?
JULIET: I am not proud, but I am thankful. I realize you want what’s best for me, but I hate Paris and cannot
love him.
CAPULET [angry]: What? In love with Paris or not, be ready by next Thursday to go to Saint Peter's Church, or I
will drag you there! You ungrateful brat!
JULIET [upset]: Good father, I beg you on my knees, please listen to me!
CAPULET [angry]: Disobedient brat! I’m telling you: get to church on Thursday, or never after look me in the
face: don’t say anything, or I will smack you! [to Lady Capulet] Wife, we were often sad that God had given us
only this one child; but now I see this one is one too much, and we have been cursed by having her!
NURSE: God in heaven bless her! You are to blame, my lord, to speak to her so.
CAPULET: If you’re smart, you’ll hold your tongue. Don’t tell me what to do.
LADY CAPULET: You are too angry.
CAPULET [angry]: My God! It makes me mad: day and night, all I have worked for is to find her a worthy
match. I have found her a noble gentleman, who is young, well-educated, and handsome, and this crying fool
tells me 'I won’t marry him; I cannot love him, I am too young; please forgive me.' If you won’t marry him, stay
where you want, but you will not live under my roof. It will soon be Thursday: if you are my daughter, I'll give
you to my friend; and if you are not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, for, by my soul, I'll never speak to you
again, nor leave you a penny. This I swear!
LORD CAPULET exits
JULIET [upset]: O, mother, please don’t throw me out! Delay this marriage for a month, a week; or, if you do
not, make the bridal bed in the same tomb where Tybalt lies.
LADY CAPULET [angry]: Don’t speak to me, I don’t want to hear it! Do what you want – I’m done with you!
Exit LADY CAPULET
JULIET: O God! -- Nurse, how can I stop this marriage? I have a husband already; we were joined before God.
Tell me what I should do. Please comfort me with your good advice.
NURSE: Here’s my advice: Romeo is banished; and he doesn’t dare to come back to claim you. In that case, I
think it’s best if you marry the count. He's a lovely gentleman. Romeo's a dishrag compared to him. I think you
will be happy in this second match, which is better than your first, since your first husband is dead; or as good
as dead, since you can’t be together.
JULIET: Do you mean that?
NURSE: I do, by my soul.
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JULIET: Well, you have given me much comfort. Please tell my mother that I have gone, having angered my
father, to Friar Laurence's church, to make confession and to be forgiven for my sins.
NURSE: I will; that’s a good idea.

Exit NURSE
JULIET: Most wicked fiend! My Nurse speaks ill of Romeo, whom she has praised so many times. She wants me
to commit a sin and give up my husband. I’ll never trust her again. I’ll go to the friar and seek his advice. If all
else fails, I’ll kill myself!
Exit JULIET

Act 4, Scene 5

Characters:

Nurse Lady Capulet Lord Capulet Friar Lawrence Paris

Enter NURSE
Nurse [calls]: Mistress! Juliet! Why, lady! Get up, you slug-a-bed! My God, how sound asleep she is! She needs
to get up. [calls] Madam! What, did you wake up, get dressed and fall back to sleep? Lady! My lady! Alas!
Help, help! My lady's dead! Help!
Enter LADY CAPULET
LADY CAPULET: What’s all this noise?
NURSE: O terrible day!
LADY CAPULET: What’s the matter?
Nurse: Look, look! What a sad day!
LADY CAPULET: Oh, no! My child, wake up, or I will die with you! Help, help!
Enter CAPULET
CAPULET: For shame, get Juliet up. Her husband is here.
NURSE: She's dead, she's dead!
LADY CAPULET: She's dead!
CAPULET: No! Let me see her: she's cold! Her joints are stiff. She is long dead! Death lies on her like an early
frost on the sweetest flower in the field.
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NURSE: O, what a sad day!

LADY CAPULET: O, what an unhappy time!
CAPULET: Death, that has taken her, makes me so sad I cannot speak!
Enter FRIAR LAURENCE and PARIS
FRIAR LAURENCE: Come, is the bride ready to go to church?
CAPULET: Ready to go, but never to return. [to Paris] O son! The night before your wedding-day Death has lain
with your wife. There she lies, taken by Him. Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir; He has married my
daughter: I will die, and leave Him all; all is Death's.
PARIS: Have I looked forward to this day for so long, only to see a sight like this?
LADY CAPULET: Cursed, unhappy, wretched, hateful day! Most miserable hour that ever time saw! I had only
one loving child to make me happy and comfort me and cruel Death has taken her from my sight!
PARIS: Most detestable Death, my happiness has been stolen by you!
CAPULET: Why did you come now to murder our happiness? Oh, child! My soul! My child is dead; and with my
child my joys are buried.
FRIAR LAURENCE: Peace, for shame! You shared Juliet with heaven for a while, but now heaven has taken her
back. And it is better for her: you couldn’t keep her from death, but heaven will keep her in eternal life. You
wanted to see her happy, and do you weep now, knowing that she will be happy forever in heaven? Dry your
tears and prepare her body. Bring her to church. Although you cry for her now, know that she is happy in
heaven.
CAPULET: Everything that we had prepared for her wedding, we will use for her funeral. Our wedding cheer
will become a sad burial feast, our happy songs will change to gloomy hymns, and the bridal flowers will be
used to decorate her corpse.
FRIAR LAURENCE: Everyone, go in and prepare to follow Juliet to her grave.

Exit all
 17

Act 5, Scene 1
Characters: Props:

Romeo Balthasar Apothecary Coins Poison

Enter ROMEO and BALTHASAR.

ROMEO: News from Verona!--How are you, Balthasar? Do you bring me letters from the friar?
How is my Juliet? For nothing can be ill, if she is well.

BALTHASAR: Then she is well, and nothing can be ill: her body sleeps in the Capulet's tomb, and she is with the
angels now. Pardon me for bringing this sad news, sir.

ROMEO [upset]: Is it true? She is dead? Then I will leave tonight.

BALTHASAR: I beg you, sir, have patience: your looks are pale and wild.

ROMEO: Have you no letters from the friar?

BALTHASAR: No, my good lord.

ROMEO: No matter: leave me now.

Exit BALTHASAR

Well, Juliet, I will lie with you tonight. I do remember an apothecary who lives around here, dressed in rags. He
was very thin. Sharp misery had worn him to the bones. He is so poor, perhaps he will sell me some poison.
[calls out] Apothecary!

Enter APOTHECARY

Apothecary: Who calls so loud?

ROMEO: I see that you are poor: here is forty ducats: let me have a dram of poison that will kill a man quickly.

Apothecary: I have such deadly drugs; but Mantua's law is death to anyone that sells them.

ROMEO: Are you so poor and still afraid to die? It looks like you are starving. The world is not your friend, nor
the world's law; so don’t be poor, but break the law, and take this money.
 18

Apothecary: My poverty, but not my will, consents.

ROMEO: I pay your poverty, and not your will.

Romeo gives Apothecary money.

Apothecary: Put this in any liquid, and drink it; and, if you had the strength of twenty men, it would kill you in
seconds.

Apothecary gives Romeo poison.

ROMEO: Come, poison, go with me to Juliet's grave; for I must use you there.

Exit all.
 19

Act 5, Scene 3

Characters: Props:

Romeo Juliet Paris Friar Lawrence 2 swords dagger

Lord Capulet Lord Montague Prince Watchman poison

Enter PARIS

PARIS: Sweet Juliet, I will put flowers on your grave. Someone is coming. Who is it? Let me hide here and see.

Paris hides. Enter ROMEO

ROMEO: I’ll go into this bed of death to see my lady's face. This tomb has eaten my precious Juliet. You can
have me, too!

He opens the tomb.

PARIS: This is that banished haughty Montague that murdered my love's cousin. She died of her grief for
Tybalt. And here comes the villain to disturb the dead bodies: I will stop him.

Paris comes forward.

Stop, vile Montague! Can vengeance be pursued further than death? Villain, I arrest you! Obey, and go with
me, or you will die!

ROMEO: I came here to die. Don’t tempt a desperate man; leave me: I beg you, don’t make me kill you. I came
here to kill myself, not you. Please leave now!

PARIS: You’re under arrest!

Paris draws his sword.

ROMEO: Will you provoke me? Then have at it!

They fight. Romeo stabs Paris. Paris falls.

PARIS: O, I am slain! If you are merciful, open the tomb, and lay me with Juliet.

Paris dies.

ROMEO: I promise, I will.

Romeo lays Paris in the tomb.

[to Juliet’s body] O my wife! Death has had no power yet upon your beauty: your lips are still red; your cheeks
are pink. You are not pale with death. Ah, dear Juliet, why are you still so beautiful? I will stay with you and
never leave you again. Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! And, lips, seal with my kiss a bargain
with death! Come, bitter poison! Here’s to my love!
 20

Drinks poison.

O true apothecary! Your drugs are quick. Thus, with a kiss, I die.

Romeo kisses Juliet and dies.

Enter FRIAR LAWRENCE

FRIAR LAURENCE: The door to the tomb is open! I am afraid that something bad has happened.

He enters the tomb.

Romeo! Oh, no, he’s dead! And Paris is killed, too? What an unkind hour this is! Look, Juliet awakes!

JULIET wakes up.

JULIET: O friar! Where is my husband? I remember where I should be, and here I am. Where is my Romeo?

FRIAR LAURENCE: I hear some noise. Lady, come from that bed of death. God has thwarted our plans. Come
away. Your husband lies there dead, and Paris, too. I'll hide you in a convent with the nuns. Let’s go, the watch
is coming. I can’t stay any longer.

JULIET: Go, get away, but I won’t leave.

Exit FRIAR LAWRENCE

What's here? A cup, closed in my true love's hand? Poison, I see, has killed him. [to Romeo’s body] Did you
drink it all, and leave no friendly drop to help me follow you? I will kiss your lips; maybe some poison still
hangs on them, and will help me die.

Juliet kisses him.

Your lips are still warm. Someone is coming! Then I'll be quick. O happy dagger!

She grabs Romeo's dagger and stabs herself.

This is your sheath; now rust, and let me die.

Juliet falls on Romeo's body and dies. Enter WATCHMAN.

Watchman: What a pitiful sight! Go, tell the prince: run to the Capulets: go get the Montagues.

Enter the PRINCE

PRINCE: What disaster calls me from sleep so early?

Enter LORD CAPULET

CAPULET: What has happened?

 21

Watchman: Prince, here lies Count Paris slain, and Romeo dead, and Juliet, who was dead before, is warm and
newly killed.

CAPULET: O heavens! Look how my daughter bleeds! This dagger should have killed a Montague, but it killed
my daughter by mistake!

Enter LORD MONTAGUE

PRINCE: Come, Montague; you have risen early to see your son and heir killed too soon.

MONTAGUE: Alas, my prince, my wife has died tonight; grief of my son's exile has killed her. What further
sorrow awaits me?

PRINCE: Look, and see.

MONTAGUE: O, my son! How could you die before I do? A parent shouldn’t outlive their child!

Enter FRIAR LAWRENCE.

FRIAR LAURENCE: I know what happened. Romeo and Juliet were husband and wife: I married them. When
Romeo was banished, and Juliet engaged to Paris, she begged me to help rid her of this second marriage, or
else she would kill herself. I gave her a sleeping potion that made it look as if she were dead. I wrote to Romeo
to tell him, but he never got my letter. When I came to wake her up, I found Paris and Romeo dead. She woke
up, and I begged her to leave, but she would not go with me. Instead, it looks like she killed herself.

PRINCE: Where are 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 not putting an end to your feud, have lost two
cousins! All are punished.

CAPULET: O brother Montague, give me your hand: This is my daughter's dowry. I ask for no more than peace.

Capulet and Montague shake hands.

MONTAGUE: But I can give you more: I will raise a golden statue of Juliet.

CAPULET: Romeo shall lie with his lady, poor sacrifices to our hatred.

PRINCE: A gloomy peace this morning brings; the sun, for sorrow, will not rise: leave now. Some shall be
pardoned, and some punished: For never was there a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

The End.