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Romeo and Juliet, Lines 1-37
Performance Videos
Act 3,
Scene 5
Lines 1-37

Romeo and Juliet perform an excerpt of Act 3, Scene 5 of myShakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

myShakespeare | Romeo and Juliet 3.5 Performance: Romeo and Juliet, Lines 1-37

[The Capulet orchard. Enter Romeo and Juliet on the balcony of her bedroom]

Juliet

Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear.
Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree.
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.

Romeo

It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east.
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.                     
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

Juliet

Yon light is not daylight; I know it, I.
It is some meteor that the sun exhaled,
To be to thee this night a torch-bearer,
And light thee on thy way to Mantua.
Therefore stay yet; thou needst not to be gone.

Romeo

Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death;
I am content, so thou wilt have it so.
I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye,
'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow;
Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat                 
The vaulty heaven so high above our heads.
I have more care to stay than will to go.
Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so.
How is't, my soul? Let's talk; it is not day.

Juliet

It is, it is. Hie hence, be gone, away!
It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps.
Some say the lark makes sweet division;
This doth not so, for she divideth us.                             
Some say the lark and loathèd toad changed eyes.
O, now I would they had changed voices too,
Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,
Hunting thee hence with hunt's-up to the day.
O, now be gone! More light and light it grows.

Romeo

More light and light, more dark and dark our woes!
[Enter Nurse, to the chamber]

Nurse

Madam!