Having spent the night together, Romeo and Juliet must part ways in the morning. The Nurse enters and tells Juliet that her mother is on the way. As Romeo leaves, the two wonder if they’ll see each other again. Lady Capulet enters and assumes Juliet’s visible grief is a result of Tybalt’s death. But she comes bearing good news: Capulet has arranged for Juliet to marry Paris, and soon. Juliet refuses, and continues to do so even when her father enters and threatens to throw her out if she doesn’t. After Capulet and Lady Capulet leave, Juliet begs her Nurse for help. When she refuses, Juliet decides to seek help from Friar Lawrence instead.
Juliet
Are you going to leave? It’s not yet that close to daytime. That was the nightingale — not the morning lark — that just made that loud, piercing cry. The nightingale sings every night on that pomegranate tree over there. Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.
Romeo
It was the lark — always a sign of morning — and not the nightingale. Look, love, see the sun streaks lacing through the severe clouds there in the east? The stars have disappeared, and the cheerful day is reaching up over the eastern mountaintops. I have to go and live, or stay here and be killed.
Juliet
That light over there isn’t daylight, I know that for sure. It must be some meteor the sun breathed this way to light a lamp for you tonight so you can see your way to Mantua. So stay a little longer, you don’t need to leave.
Romeo
Let me be taken, and let me be put to death — I’m happy as long as you wish it. I’ll say that gray light is not the morning, just the smallest reflection of the moon goddess’ face. Nor is that sound the lark with its notes echoing in the heavens above us. I have more impulse to stay here than will to leave.
Romeo
Come, Death, and welcome! Juliet wills it to be this way. How are you, my love? Let’s talk, it’s not yet day.
Juliet
It is, it is. Go, get away from here, away! I admit it is the lark singing, sounding so out of tune and sharp in this moment. Some say that the lark has an excellent sense of rhythm and time. It’s not true, since she’s dividing us as well. Some say that the lark and the toad switched eyes. Now I wish they’d switched voices as well, since that voice is ripping us from each other’s arms, and people will be hunting you. Oh, you must go away, it’s getting more and more light!
Romeo
The lighter it gets, the darker our sadness becomes.
Nurse
Madam!
Juliet
Nurse?
Nurse
Your mother is coming to your room. It’s past daybreak, so be wary, keep watch.
Juliet
May the window let daylight in and you, my life, out.
Romeo
Farewell, farewell! One kiss, then I’ll descend.
Juliet
Are you gone just like that, my love, my lord, my husband, my friend? I must hear from you every hour of every day. Every minute without Romeo will seem like a day, and I shall be very old before I see you again, my Romeo.
Romeo
Goodbye. I won’t miss any opportunity to send you my greetings, love.
Juliet
Oh, do you think we will ever meet again?
Romeo
I have no doubt that we will, and all these sorrows we’re feeling now will be nostalgic memories we’ll look back on in the future.
Juliet
O God, I can’t stop imagining bad things happening! I feel like I can see you in a miserable state, as if dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyes are failing, or you look very pale.
Romeo
Trust me, love, you look pale to me too — sorrow drains away our blood. Adieu, adieu!
Juliet
Oh Fortune, they all say that you are fickle. If you are so fickle, what are you doing with my Romeo, who is well-known for his faithfulness? Be fickle, Fortune. If you are, I have some hope that you might change your mind and not keep Romeo away so long, but bring him back instead.
Lady Capulet
Hello, daughter! Are you up?
Juliet
Who’s calling? Is it my mother? Has she stayed up late, or is she up early? What has happened to make her come to my room at such a strange hour?
Lady Capulet
How are you, Juliet?
Juliet
I’m not well, Mother.
Lady Capulet
Still weeping for your cousin’s death? Would you try to wash him from the grave with tears? Even if you could, you couldn’t bring him back to life, so stop crying. A certain amount of grief shows a large amount of love, but too much grief makes you seem stupid.
Juliet
Still, let me weep for such a heavy loss.
Lady Capulet
In that case you will feel the loss, but the friend you weep for will not.
Juliet
If I feel the loss so much, I can’t help but keep crying for my friend.
Lady Capulet
Well, girl, I suppose you’re weeping not so much for Tybalt’s death as you are for the fact that his killer still lives.
Juliet
What killer, madam?
Lady Capulet
That villain, Romeo.
Juliet
May Romeo and all villainy always be miles away. God pardon him! I do, with all my heart, even though no other man could make me grieve so much.
Lady Capulet
That’s because the traitorous murderer is still alive.
Juliet
Yes, madam, away from the reach of my hands. I wish no one but me could avenge my cousin’s death!
Lady Capulet
We will have revenge for it, fear not.
Juliet
May Romeo and all villainy always be miles away. God pardon him! I do, with all my heart, even though no other man could make me grieve so much.
Lady Capulet
That’s because the traitorous murderer is still alive.
Juliet
Yes, madam, away from the reach of my hands. I wish no one but me could avenge my cousin’s death!
Lady Capulet
We will have revenge for it, fear not.
And then stop weeping. I’ll send someone to Mantua where that banished criminal now lives, and they’ll give him such a powerful poison that he’ll soon keep Tybalt company. And then, I hope, you’ll be satisfied.
Juliet
Indeed, I’ll never be satisfied with Romeo until I see him dead...dead is what my heart is like now on behalf of my cousin. Mother, if you could just find a servant to carry the poison, I’d fix it so that Romeo would be killed right away after drinking it.
Oh, my heart hates hearing his name, and I cannot go to him to throw the love that I had for my cousin upon the body that killed him!
Lady Capulet
You find a suitable poison, and I’ll find a suitable servant. But now I have to tell you good news, girl.
Juliet
Joy is badly needed in this time. Please, mother, what is the good news?
Lady Capulet
Well, you have a thoughtful father, child. Your father, to alleviate your grief, has arranged a joyful day for you, which neither you nor I anticipated.
Juliet
What day is that, mother?
Lady Capulet
Indeed, my child, it’s next Thursday in the early morning, when Count Paris, the gallant, young, and noble gentleman, will make you a happy bride at Saint Peter’s Church.
Juliet
I swear on the Church of Saint Peter and Peter himself, too, he will not make me a happy bride there. I’m amazed at this haste, that I have to get married before he’s even come to woo me, the man who wants to be my husband. Please, mother, tell my lord and father that I won’t marry yet, and when I do I’d rather marry Romeo, whom you know I hate, than marry Paris. What incredible news indeed!
Lady Capulet
Here comes your father, tell him so yourself and see how he takes it from you.
Capulet
When the sun sets there’s a drizzle of dew, but my nephew’s death, the sunset of his life, has caused a downpour. What is it now, are you some kind of water pipe, girl? What, are you still crying? In your little body there’s a storm with a boat, a sea, and a wind. Your eyes are like the sea ebbing and flowing with tears, your body is like a boat sailing through the tears, and your violent sighing is like stormwinds that threaten to overpower your body as if it were a ship in a tempest. What about it, wife? Have you told her about my decision?
Lady Capulet
Yes, sir, but she won’t have any of it, she just thanks you. I wish the silly girl were married to her own grave!
Capulet
What! Hold on, wife, hold on. What is this? She refuses? Isn’t she grateful for us? Isn’t she proud of her family? Doesn’t she count herself blessed, unworthy as she is, that we found such a worthy gentlemen to be her husband?
Juliet
I’m not proud that you’ve done this, but I’m thankful. I can’t be proud of something I can’t stand, but I can be thankful for anything if it was done with good intentions.
Capulet
What is this twisted logic! What is this? You’re proud and you thank us and yet you’re ungrateful and you can’t be proud? You spoiled brat, don’t give me any more of these thanks or this pride. Just get yourself ready for next Thursday to go marry Paris at Saint Peter’s Church, or I’ll drag you there, tied to a wooden frame. Curse you, you weak wretch, you piece of dead weight, you pale faced girl!
Lady Capulet
Shame on you! Are you crazy?
Juliet
Good father, I’m begging you on my knees. Please just listen to me for a few words.
Capulet
Damn you, useless girl! Disobedient wretch! I’ll tell you what. Get yourself to the church on Thursday or never look me in the face again. Don’t speak to me, don’t reply, don’t answer. I feel like I could hit you. My wife, we thought we had been meagerly blessed having just this one child, but now I see that this one alone is too much, and we’re cursed to have her. Curse you, you beast!
Nurse
God in heaven bless her! You’re wrong, my lord, to yell at her like that.
Capulet
Why, are you the Lady of Wisdom? Hold your tongue. Go talk to your fellow gossips somewhere, go.
Nurse
I said nothing wrong.
Capulet
Oh God, good afternoon already!
Nurse
Am I not allowed to speak?
Capulet
Quiet, you mumbling fool! Go spread your wise advice to some gossip, we don’t need that here.
Lady Capulet
You’re too angry.
Capulet
I swear on the Holy Communion, this makes me mad. All day and night, in work and play, time after time, alone and in company, my goal has always been to have her married. And now I’ve provided a gentleman from a good family, with a lovely estate, who is young and well brought up, full to bursting with honor and as good-looking as you could imagine. And then after all of that to have a wretched, blubbering fool, like a whiny baby, look at her good luck and say “I won’t get married, I’m not in love, I’m too young, sorry, forgive me.”
Well, if you won’t get married, I’ll pardon you. Go make your way as you wish, but you won’t live under my roof. Think about it. Consider it carefully. I’m not a joking man. Thursday is coming soon — put your hand on your heart and take my advice. If you want to be my child, I’ll give you away to Paris in marriage. If you won’t marry him, get hanged, beg, starve, go die in the streets, for I swear on my soul I’ll never acknowledge you again, nor will I permit any family to help you. Trust that I will keep my word. I won’t go back on this promise.
Juliet
Is there no pity in heaven that can see the depths of my grief?
Oh my sweet mother, don’t cast me away! Delay this marriage for a month, even a week. If you don’t you should make my bridal bed in the crypt where Tybalt lies.
Lady Capulet
Don’t talk to me, you won’t get a word in return. Do what you want, for I’m done with you.
Juliet
Oh God! Nurse, how can we prevent this? My husband is alive and I’m married to him in the eyes of God. The only way not to be married is if he were dead in heaven instead of here on the earth. Help me, advise me.
How can heaven inflict such a horrible situation on a young girl like me! What do you think? Do you have any words of comfort? I need some comforting, sweet nurse.
Nurse
Well this is it. Romeo’s been banished, and it’s almost positive that he’ll never dare to come back and challenge this marriage. Or, if he does, he’ll have to do it by stealth. Now, given the situation, I think it would be best if you married the count. Oh, but he’s a lovely gentleman!
Romeo’s just a dishcloth compared to him! An eagle doesn’t have as good an eye as Paris does. By my heart I think you’ll be happier with this second match because it’s better than your first. Or, if it’s not, your first love is dead, or it’s as if he were, since you’re no use to him living here.
Juliet
Are you speaking from your heart?
Nurse
Yes, and from my soul, too, or else a curse on them both!
Juliet
Amen!
Nurse
What did you say?
Juliet
Well, you’ve been marvellously comforting. Go inside and tell my mother that I’ve gone to Friar Laurence’s cell to make confession and be forgiven for my sins after displeasing my father like that.
Nurse
I will indeed, and I think that’s a smart idea.
Juliet
Damn old woman! Oh what a wicked devil! Is it more sinful to tell me to break my marriage vows or to speak ill of Romeo like that when she’s praised him beyond comparison so many thousands of times? Go, my former advisor, you and my inner thoughts will be separated from now on. I’ll go to the friar to see if he has a solution. If all else fails, I still have the power to end my own life.
