Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2, 97-126
Arden 3 | René Weis | London: Bloomsbury, 2012 | 255-256
“Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?”
(30 lines)
Speech
Arden 3 | 2012
JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name
When I, thy three-hours’ wife, have mangled it?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? [100]
That villain cousin would have killed my husband.
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring,
Your tributary drops belong to woe
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives that Tybalt would have slain, [105]
And Tybalt’s dead that would have slain my husband.
All this is comfort. Wherefore weep I then?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,
That murdered me. I would forget it fain,
But O, it presses to my memory [110]
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds.
Tybalt is dead and Romeo banished;
That ‘banished’, that one word ‘banished’
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there; [115]
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be ranked with other griefs,
Why followed not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead’,
‘Thy father’, or ‘thy mother’, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentation might have moved? [120]
But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death,
‘Romeo is banished’ – to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished’ –
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, [125]
In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound.
Words and Pronunciation +
Arden 3 | 2012
Words
ill:
poor my lord: my poor lord (on transposing the possessive, see Abbott, 13) (Weis)
smooth: (SW)
smooth thy name: ‘restore your reputation from the damage (it is being mangled) that it is now receiving’ (cited under OED smooth) (Weis)
mangled:
wherefore:
didst:
villain:
foolish:
native:
native spring: i.e. Juliet’s eyes (Weis)
tributary: paying homage; cf. ‘tributary tears’ (Tit 1.1.162) and ‘tributary rivers’ (Cym 4.2.36). (Weis)
woe: a
lines 103-104: i.e. tears are shed for sorrow, not for good news (since Romeo is alive). (Weis)
slain:
comfort:
worser: worse (Weis)
would: wish I could (Leung)
fain: gladly (Weis)
presses:
damnèd:
guilty:
banishèd:
hath:
sour:
sour…both (lines 116-119): The expression that grief enjoys company is proverbial (Dent, M1012). Juliet wishes that, since bad news, like that of Tybalt’s death, wants more of the same for solace, then the same it should be, even if that means news of her parents’ deaths – anything so long as it is not that Romeo is banished. (Weis)
woe:
delights:
fellowship: (SW)
needly: of necessity (Weis)
ranked: classified alongside others of a similar kind, in a fellowship of woes (cited under OED v. 3) (Weis)
nay: c
modern: h
lamentation: s
Which…moved (line 120): ‘which might have allowed me commonplace (modern; OED modern a. 4) expressions of grief (lamentation)’ (rather than finding myself murdered (109) by a sorrow so overwhelming that I cannot fathom it)(Weis)
rearward: rearguard; coming at the end and carrying the proverbial sting in the tail, since news of Romeo’s banishment is broken to her after she learns of Tybalt’s death (cited under OED rearward sb. 1). She may also play on ‘ward’/‘word’ in a play keenly interested in testing the relationship between words, sounds and reality; cf. words and woe in 126. (Weis)
limit:
measure: (SW)
bound: t
that word’s death: The word banished has infinite powers to kill and destroy. (Weis)
sound: express (cited under OED v.1 8b) (Weis)
Pronunciation +
didst: (line 100) one syllable
fain: (line 109) fayn
damnèd: (line 111) dam-ned (two syllables)
banishèd: (lines 112, 133, 122, 124) bann-ih-shed (three syllables)
Translation
No Fear Shakespeare
JULIET
Am I supposed to say bad things about my own husband? Ah, my poor husband, who will sing your praises when I, your wife of three hours, have been saying awful things about you? But why, you villain, did you kill my cousin? Probably because my cousin the villain would have killed my husband. I’m not going to cry any tears. I would cry with joy that Romeo is alive, but I should cry tears of grief because Tybalt is dead. My husband, whom Tybalt wanted to kill, is alive. Tybalt, who wanted to kill my husband, is dead. All this is comforting news. Why, then, should I cry? There is news worse than the news that Tybalt is dead, news that makes me want to die. I would be glad to forget about it, but it weighs on my memory like sins linger in guilty minds. “Tybalt is dead, and Romeo has been banished. That banishment is worse than the murder of ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death would be bad enough if that was all. Maybe pain likes to have company and can’t come without bringing more pain. It would have been better if, after she said, “Tybalt’s dead,” she told me my mother or my father, or both, were gone. That would have made me make the normal cries of sadness. But to say that Tybalt’s dead and then say, “Romeo has been banished.” To say that is like saying that my father, my mother, Tybalt, Romeo, and Juliet have all been killed, they’re all dead. “Romeo has been banished.” That news brings infinite death. No words can express the pain.
Assonance
Arden 3 | 2012
JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name
When I, thy three-hours’ wife, have mangled it?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? [100]
That villain cousin would have killed my husband.
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring,
Your tributary drops belong to woe
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives that Tybalt would have slain, [105]
And Tybalt’s dead that would have slain my husband.
All this is comfort. Wherefore weep I then?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,
That murdered me. I would forget it fain,
But O, it presses to my memory [110]
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds.
Tybalt is dead and Romeo banished;
That ‘banished’, that one word ‘banished’
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there; [115]
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be ranked with other griefs,
Why followed not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead’,
‘Thy father’, or ‘thy mother’, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentation might have moved? [120]
But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death,
‘Romeo is banished’ – to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished’ –
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, [125]
In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound.
Alliteration
Arden 3 | 2012
JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name
When I, thy three-hours’ wife, have mangled it?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? [100]
That villain cousin would have killed my husband.
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring,
Your tributary drops belong to woe
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives that Tybalt would have slain, [105]
And Tybalt’s dead that would have slain my husband.
All this is comfort. Wherefore weep I then?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,
That murdered me. I would forget it fain,
But O, it presses to my memory [110]
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds.
Tybalt is dead and Romeo banished;
That ‘banished’, that one word ‘banished’
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there; [115]
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be ranked with other griefs,
Why followed not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead’,
‘Thy father’, or ‘thy mother’, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentation might have moved? [120]
But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death,
‘Romeo is banished’ – to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished’ –
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, [125]
In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound.
JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name
When I, thy three-hours’ wife, have mangled it?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? 100
That villain cousin would have killed my husband.
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring,
Your tributary drops belong to woe
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives that Tybalt would have slain, 105
And Tybalt’s dead that would have slain my husband.
All this is comfort. Wherefore weep I then?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,
That murdered me. I would forget it fain,
But O, it presses to my memory 110
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds.
Tybalt is dead and Romeo banished;
That ‘banished’, that one word ‘banished’
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there; 115
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be ranked with other griefs,
Why followed not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead’,
‘Thy father’, or ‘thy mother’, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentation might have moved? 120
But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death,
‘Romeo is banished’ – to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished’ –
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, 125
In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound.
Consonance
Arden 3 | 2012
JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name
When I, thy three-hours’ wife, have mangled it?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? [100]
That villain cousin would have killed my husband.
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring,
Your tributary drops belong to woe
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives that Tybalt would have slain, [105]
And Tybalt’s dead that would have slain my husband.
All this is comfort. Wherefore weep I then?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,
That murdered me. I would forget it fain,
But O, it presses to my memory [110]
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds.
Tybalt is dead and Romeo banished;
That ‘banished’, that one word ‘banished’
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there; [115]
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be ranked with other griefs,
Why followed not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead’,
‘Thy father’, or ‘thy mother’, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentation might have moved? [120]
But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death,
‘Romeo is banished’ – to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished’ –
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, [125]
In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound.
Thoughts
Arden 3 | 2012
JULIET
1. Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
2. Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name
When I, thy three-hours’ wife, have mangled it?
3. But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? [100]
4. That villain cousin would have killed my husband.
5. Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring,
Your tributary drops belong to woe
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
6. My husband lives that Tybalt would have slain, [105]
And Tybalt’s dead that would have slain my husband.
7. All this is comfort. 8. Wherefore weep I then?
9. Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,
That murdered me. 10. I would forget it fain,
But O, it presses to my memory [110]
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds.
11. Tybalt is dead and Romeo banished;
11b. That ‘banished’, that one word ‘banished’
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. 12. Tybalt’s death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there; [115]
12b. Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be ranked with other griefs,
Why followed not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead’,
‘Thy father’, or ‘thy mother’, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentation might have moved? [120]
13. But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death,
‘Romeo is banished’ – to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. 14. ‘Romeo is banished’ –
14b. There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, [125]
In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound.
Thought Count
Arden 3 | 2012
JULIET
Long: 1
Medium: 7 | 6
Short: 6 | 10
Total: 14 | 17
Complex: 3 | 2,2,2
End stopped: 10 | 13
Midline: 4
Period: 9
Exclamation: 0
Question: 5
Dash: 0
Rhythm
Arden 3 | 2012
JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? (10R)
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name (10R | 10)
When I, thy three-hours’ wife, have mangled it? (10R | 10))
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? [100] (11W)
That villain cousin would have killed my husband.(11W)
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring, (10)
Your tributary drops belong to woe (10R)
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.(10R)
My husband lives that Tybalt would have slain, [105] (10R)
And Tybalt’s dead that would have slain my husband. (11W)
All this is comfort. Wherefore weep I then? (10R | 10)
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death, (10)
That murdered me. I would forget it fain, (10R)
But O, it presses to my memory [110](10R)
Like damnèd guilty deeds to sinners’ minds. (10R)
Tybalt is dead and Romeo banishèd; (10 | 11)
That ‘banishèd’, that one word ‘banishèd’ (10R | 10)
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death (10R | 10)
Was woe enough, if it had ended there; [115](10R)
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship (10R | 10)
And needly will be ranked with other griefs, (10R)
Why followed not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead’, (10R)
‘Thy father’, or ‘thy mother’, nay, or both, (10R)
Which modern lamentation might have moved? [120](10R)
But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death, (10R | 11)
‘Romeo is banishèd’ – to speak that word (12)
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, (11W | 12 | 13)
All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banishèd’ – (10 | 11)
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, [125] (10R | 10)
In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound. (10R)
Pacing
Arden 3 | 2012
JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? pause?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name slowly?
When I, thy three-hours’ wife, have mangled it? pause?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? [100] pause?
That villain cousin would have killed my husband. pause?
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring,
Your tributary drops belong to woe
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy. pause?
My husband lives that Tybalt would have slain, [105]
And Tybalt’s dead that would have slain my husband. pause? slowly?
All this is comfort. Wherefore weep I then? pause?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death, slowly?
That murdered me. I would forget it fain,
But O, it presses to my memory [110]
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds.
Tybalt is dead and Romeo banished; pause?
That ‘banished’, that one word ‘banished’
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there; [115]
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be ranked with other griefs,
Why followed not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead’,
‘Thy father’, or ‘thy mother’, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentation might have moved? [120] pause?
But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death,
‘Romeo is banished’ – to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished’ – pause?
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, [125]
In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound. slowly?
Beats
Arden 3 | 2012
JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name
When I, thy three-hours’ wife, have mangled it?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? [100]
That villain cousin would have killed my husband.
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring,
Your tributary drops belong to woe
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives that Tybalt would have slain, [105]
And Tybalt’s dead that would have slain my husband.
All this is comfort. Wherefore weep I then?
discovery
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,
That murdered me. I would forget it fain,
But O, it presses to my memory [110]
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds.
Tybalt is dead and Romeo banished;
That ‘banished’, that one word ‘banished’
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there; [115]
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be ranked with other griefs,
Why followed not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead’,
‘Thy father’, or ‘thy mother’, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentation might have moved? [120]
But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death,
‘Romeo is banished’ – to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished’ –
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, [125]
In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound.
Pronunciation +
shamest: (line 23) Q2–3; sham’st Q4, F; not in Q1 (Weis)
Jesu: (line 29) jeez-yoo or jee-zoo; jayz-yoo or jay-zoo
you: (line 29) The more formal pronoun is used consistently by Nurse when addressing Juliet, while the 13-year-old uses the familiar thou, thee, thy to her servant, in conformity with the etiquette of the day in which social class overrides age. (Weis)
marry: (line 62) mah-ree (UK); meh-ree (US) (OED)
trow: (line 62) tr-ah-oo (UK); tr-oh (US) (OED)
hie: (line 68) hah-ee
wanton: (line 70) want-en or want-in
Rhetoric
Arden 3 | 2012
JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name
When I, thy three-hours’ wife, have mangled it?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? [100]
That villain cousin would have killed my husband.
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring,
Your tributary drops belong to woe
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives that Tybalt would have slain, [105]
And Tybalt’s dead that would have slain my husband.
All this is comfort. Wherefore weep I then?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,
That murdered me. I would forget it fain,
But O, it presses to my memory [110]
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds.
Tybalt is dead and Romeo banished;
That ‘banished’, that one word ‘banished’
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there; [115]
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be ranked with other griefs,
Why followed not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead’,
‘Thy father’, or ‘thy mother’, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentation might have moved? [120]
But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death,
‘Romeo is banished’ – to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished’ –
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, [125]
In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound.
Scene
Arden 3 | 2012
[ 3.2 ]
Enter Juliet alone.
Juliet
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus’ lodging. Such a wagoner
As Phaeton would whip you to the west
And bring in cloudy night immediately.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, 5
That runaways’ eyes may wink, and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalked of and unseen.
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night, 10
Thou sober-suited matron all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
Played for a pair of stainless maidenhoods.
Hood my unmanned blood, bating in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle, till strange love grow bold, 15
Think true love acted simple modesty.
Come, night, come, Romeo, come, thou day in night,
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow upon a raven’s back.
Come, gentle night, come, loving black-browed night, 20
Give me my Romeo, and when I shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun. 25
O, I have bought the mansion of a love
But not possessed it, and though I am sold,
Not yet enjoyed. So tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes 30
And may not wear them.
Enter Nurse wringing her hands, with the ladder of cords in her lap.
————————–O, here comes my Nurse,
And she brings news, and every tongue that speaks
But Romeo’s name speaks heavenly eloquence.
Now, Nurse, what news? What hast thou there, the cords
That Romeo bid thee fetch? 35
NURSE
—————————-Ay, ay, the cords. 35
JULIET
Ay me, what news? Why dost thou wring thy hands?
NURSE
Ah weraday , he’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead!
We are undone, lady, we are undone.
Alack the day, he’s gone, he’s killed, he’s dead.
JULIET
Can heaven be so envious? 40
NURSE
—————————-Romeo can, 40
Though heaven cannot. O Romeo, Romeo,
Whoever would have thought it – Romeo!
JULIET
What devil are thou that dost torment me thus?
This torture should be roared in dismal hell.
Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but ‘Ay’, 45
And that bare vowel ‘I’ shall poison more
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice.
I am not I if there be such an ‘Ay’,
Or those eyes shut that makes thee answer ‘Ay’.
If he be slain, say ‘Ay’, or if not, ‘No’. 50
Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe.
NURSE
I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes –
God save the mark – here on his manly breast,
A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse,
Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaubed in blood, 55
All in gore-blood. I sounded at the sight.
JULIET
O break, my heart, poor bankrupt , break at once!
To prison, eyes, ne’er look on liberty.
Vile earth to earth resign, end motion here,
And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier. 60
NURSE
O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had!
O courteous Tybalt, honest gentleman,
That ever I should live to see thee dead!
JULIET
What storm is this that blows so contrary?
Is Romeo slaughtered and is Tybalt dead, 65
My dearest cousin and my dearer lord?
Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom,
For who is living if those two are gone?
NURSE
Tybalt is gone and Romeo banished,
Romeo that killed him, he is banished. 70
JULIET
O God, did Romeo’s hand shed Tybalt’s blood?
Nurse
It did, it did, alas the day, it did.
Juliet
O serpent heart hid with a flowering face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical, 75
Dove-feathered raven , wolvish-ravening lamb,
Despised substance of divinest show,
Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st,
A damned saint, an honourable villain.
O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell 80
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend
In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh?
Was ever book containing such vile matter
So fairly bound? O, that deceit should dwell
In such a gorgeous palace. 85
NURSE
—————————-There’s no trust, 85
No faith, no honesty in men – all perjured,
All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers .
Ah, where’s my man? Give me some aqua vitae.
These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.
Shame come to Romeo! 90
JULIET
————————-Blistered be thy tongue 90
For such a wish! He was not born to shame;
Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit
For ’tis a throne where honour may be crowned
Sole monarch of the universal earth.
O, what a beast was I to chide at him! 95
NURSE
Will you speak well of him that killed your cousin?
JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name
When I, thy three-hours’ wife, have mangled it?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? 100
That villain cousin would have killed my husband.
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring,
Your tributary drops belong to woe
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives that Tybalt would have slain, 105
And Tybalt’s dead that would have slain my husband.
All this is comfort. Wherefore weep I then?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,
That murdered me. I would forget it fain,
But O, it presses to my memory 110
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds.
Tybalt is dead and Romeo banished;
That ‘banished’, that one word ‘banished’
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there; 115
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be ranked with other griefs,
Why followed not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead’,
‘Thy father’, or ‘thy mother’, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentation might have moved? 120
But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death,
‘Romeo is banished’ – to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished’ –
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, 125
In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound.
Where is my father and my mother, Nurse?
NURSE
Weeping and wailing over Tybalt’s corse.
Will you go to them? I will bring you thither.
JULIET
Wash they his wounds with tears? Mine shall be spent, 130
When theirs are dry, for Romeo’s banishment.
Take up those cords. Poor ropes, you are beguiled,
Both you and I, for Romeo is exiled.
He made you for a highway to my bed,
But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed. 135
Come, cords, come, Nurse, I’ll to my wedding bed
And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead.
NURSE
Hie to your chamber. I’ll find Romeo
To comfort you. I wot well where he is.
Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night. 140
I’ll to him; he is hid at Laurence’ cell.
JULIET
O, find him, give this ring to my true knight
And bid him come to take his last farewell.
(Exeunt.)
Pronunciation +
shamest: (line 23) Q2–3; sham’st Q4, F; not in Q1 (Weis)
Jesu: (line 29) jeez-yoo or jee-zoo; jayz-yoo or jay-zoo
you: (line 29) The more formal pronoun is used consistently by Nurse when addressing Juliet, while the 13-year-old uses the familiar thou, thee, thy to her servant, in conformity with the etiquette of the day in which social class overrides age. (Weis)
marry: (line 62) mah-ree (UK); meh-ree (US) (OED)
trow: (line 62) tr-ah-oo (UK); tr-oh (US) (OED)
hie: (line 68) hah-ee
wanton: (line 70) want-en or want-in
Given Circumstances
Arden 3 | 2012
JULIET
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name
When I, thy three-hours’ wife, have mangled it?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? 100
That villain cousin would have killed my husband.
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring,
Your tributary drops belong to woe
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives that Tybalt would have slain, 105
And Tybalt’s dead that would have slain my husband.
All this is comfort. Wherefore weep I then?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,
That murdered me. I would forget it fain,
But O, it presses to my memory 110
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds.
Tybalt is dead and Romeo banished;
That ‘banished’, that one word ‘banished’
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there; 115
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be ranked with other griefs,
Why followed not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead’,
‘Thy father’, or ‘thy mother’, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentation might have moved? 120
But with a rearward following Tybalt’s death,
‘Romeo is banished’ – to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished’ –
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, 125
In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound.