A ct 1, S cene 1
[They fight. More noblemen and servants from both houses arrive and join in the fighting. Then a number of other citizens armed with clubs and spears appear on the scene. Finally a police officer shows up.]
Officer
Clubs, bills , and partisans ! Strike; beat them down!
Down with the Capulets! Down with the Montagues!
[Enter the elderly Lord Capulet in his nightgown and Lady Capulet]
Capulet
What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!
Lady Capulet
A crutch, a crutch — why call you for a sword?
Capulet
My sword, I say! Old Montague is come,
And flourishes his blade in spite of me.
[Enter the elderly Lord Montague in his nightgown and Lady Montague trying to restrain her husband]
Montague
Thou villain Capulet. [To his wife] Hold me not, let me go.
Lady Montague
Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.
[Enter the Prince with his attendants]
Prince
Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbor-stainèd steel —
Will they not hear? What, ho! You men, you beasts
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins —
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistempered weapons to the ground.
And hear the sentence of your movèd prince.
Three civil brawls bred of an airy word,
By thee old Capulet and Montague,
Have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets,
And made Verona's ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments ,
To wield old partisans in hands as old,
Cankered with peace to part your cankered hate.
If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time , all the rest depart away.
You, Capulet, shall go along with me;
And Montague, come you this afternoon,
To know our farther pleasure in this case,
To old Free-town , our common judgment-place .
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
[Exit all but Montague, Lady Montague, and Benvolio]
Montague
Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach?
Speak, nephew, were you by when it began?
Benvolio
Here were the servants of your adversary,
And yours, close fighting ere I did approach;
I drew to part them. In the instant came
The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared,
Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears,
He swung about his head and cut the winds,
Who, nothing hurt withal , hissed him in scorn.
While we were interchanging thrusts and blows,
Came more and more, and fought on part and part ,
Till the prince came, who parted either part .
Lady Montague
O, where is Romeo? Saw you him today?
Right glad I am he was not at this fray.
Benvolio
Madam, an hour before the worshipped sun
Peered forth the golden window of the east,
A troubled mind drive me to walk abroad ,
Where, underneath the grove of sycamore
That westward rooteth from this city side,
So early walking did I see your son.
Towards him I made, but he was ware of me
And stole into the covert of the wood.
I, measuring his affections by my own —
Which then most sought where most might not be found,
Being one too many by my weary self —
Pursued my humor , not pursuing his ,
And gladly shunned who gladly fled from me.
Montague
Many a morning hath he there been seen,
With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew,
Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs.
But all so soon as the all-cheering sun
Should in the furthest east begin to draw
The shady curtains from Aurora 's bed,
Away from the light steals home my heavy son,
And private in his chamber pens himself,
Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out
And makes himself an artificial night.
Black and portentous must this humor prove ,
Unless good counsel may the cause remove.
Benvolio
My noble uncle, do you know the cause?
Montague
I neither know it, nor can learn of him.
Benvolio
Have you importuned him by any means?
Montague
Both by myself and many other friends.
But he his own affection's counsellor
Is to himself — I will not say how true —
But to himself so secret and so close,
So far from sounding and discovery,
As is the bud bit with an envious worm
Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air
Or dedicate his beauty to the sun.
Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow,
We would as willingly give cure as know .
[Enter Romeo]
Benvolio
See where he comes. So please you, step aside.
I'll know his grievance, or be much denied .
Montague
I would thou wert so happy by thy stay
To hear true shrift. Come, madam, let's away.
[Exit Montague and Lady Montague]
Benvolio
Good morrow , cousin.
Romeo
Is the day so young?
Benvolio
But new struck nine.
Romeo
Ay me, sad hours seem long.
Was that my father that went hence so fast?
Benvolio
It was. What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?
Romeo
Not having that, which having, makes them short.
Benvolio
Romeo
Benvolio
Romeo
Out of her favor where I am in love.
Benvolio
Alas that Love, so gentle in his view ,
Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof !
Romeo
Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still ,
Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will!
Where shall we dine?
[Seeing signs of the brawl]
O me! What fray was here?
Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all .
Here's much to do with hate, but more with love.
Why, then, O brawling love, O loving hate,
O anything of nothing first created,
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms,
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep that is not what it is .
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?
Benvolio
No, coz, I rather weep.
Romeo
Good heart, at what?
Benvolio
At thy good heart's oppression .
Romeo
Why, such is love's transgression .
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,
Which thou wilt propagate to have it pressed
With more of thine . This love that thou hast shown
Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs —
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;
Being vexed , a sea nourished with lovers' tears.
What is it else? A madness most discreet ,
A choking gall and a preserving sweet.
Farewell, my coz.
Benvolio
Soft ! I will go along;
And if you leave me so, you do me wrong.
Romeo
Tut, I have lost myself, I am not here;
this is not Romeo, he's some other where.
Benvolio
Tell me, in sadness , who is that you love.
Romeo
What, shall I groan and tell thee?
Benvolio
Groan! Why, no.
But sadly , tell me who.
Romeo
A sick man, in sadness , makes his will —
A word ill-urged to one that is so ill.
In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.
Benvolio
I aimed so near when I supposed you loved.
Romeo
A right good marksman; and she's fair I love.
Benvolio
A right fair mark , fair coz, is soonest hit.
Romeo
Well, in that hit you miss ; she'll not be hit
With Cupid's arrow. She hath Dian's wit,
And in strong proof of chastity, well armed;
From Love's weak childish bow she lives uncharmed .
She will not stay the siege of loving terms ,
Nor bide th' encounter of assailing eyes,
Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold.
O she is rich in beauty, only poor
That when she dies, with beauty dies her store.
Benvolio
Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste ?
Romeo
She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste,
For beauty starved with her severity
Cuts beauty off from all posterity .
She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair,
To merit bliss by making me despair.
She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow
Do I live dead that live to tell it now.
Benvolio
Be ruled by me; forget to think of her.
Romeo
O, teach me how I should forget to think.
Benvolio
By giving liberty unto thine eyes,
Examine other beauties.
Romeo
'Tis the way
To call hers, exquisite, in question more.
These happy masks that kiss fair ladies' brows,
Being black, put us in mind they hide the fair.
He that is strucken blind cannot forget
The precious treasure of his eyesight lost.
Show me a mistress that is passing fair —
What doth her beauty serve but as a note
Where I may read who passed that passing fair?
Farewell. Thou canst not teach me to forget.
Benvolio
I'll pay that doctrine , or else die in debt .
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The Montagues and the Capulets
Performance
Montague Line 126-137
Performance
Romeo Line 223b-232
Performance
Romeo Line 166-178a
Word Nerd: "Shrift" Line 154
Word Nerd: "vanity" Line 173
Word Nerd: "store" Line 211
Word Nerd: "profane" Line 77
Word Nerd: "canker" Line 90
The Power of Cupid Mythology
"sadness" Double Meaning
Blank Verse Language
"a word ill-urged" Wordplay
The Montagues and the Capulets squabble on the streets of Verona.
Characters:
A Capulet servant who hates the Montagues.
A Capulet servant who hates the Montagues.
A Montague servant and enemy of the Capulets.
A Montague servant and enemy of the Capulets.
A Montague who is Romeo’s cousin and friend. He generally tries to avoid conflict.
A Capulet and cousin of Juliet. He is hot-tempered and quick to fight.
Juliet’s father and leader of the Capulets. He is Montague’s sworn enemy.
Lady Capulet
Juliet’s mother and Capulet’s wife.
Romeo’s father and leader of the Montagues. He is Capulet’s sworn enemy.
Lady Montague
Romeo’s mother and Montague’s wife.
The Prince of Verona. He is frustrated by the feud between the Montagues and Capulets.
Montague’s son. He is a dreamer in love with a woman named Rosaline, though she does not love him back.
Citizens of Verona.
Scene Summary:
Two men from the house of Capulet — Gregory and Sampson — pick a fight with a few Montague men. Benvolio, a Montague man, tries to break it up, but his efforts aren’t exactly successful when Tybalt, a feisty Capulet, arrives to fuel the fire. The fight finally breaks up upon the arrival of the prince of Verona. Once the fight has broken up, Montague and Lady Montague ask about their son Romeo. Benvolio tells them that he has seen Romeo moping around in a bit of a stupor. After they leave, Romeo arrives to tell Benvolio why he’s really in a funk: he’s in love with a woman who does not love him back.
