Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (most read book in the world TXT) 📕

therefore came I hither.
Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man;
Fly hence, and leave me: think upon these gone;
Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth,
Put not another sin upon my head,
By urging me to fury: O, be gone!
By heaven, I love thee better than myself;
For I come hither arm’d against myself:
Stay not, be gone; live, and hereafter say,
A madman’s mercy bade thee run away. Paris

I do defy thy conjurations,
And apprehend thee for a felon here.

Romeo Wilt thou provoke me? then have at thee, boy! They fight. Page O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch. Exit. Paris

O, I am slain! Falls. If thou be merciful,
Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet. Dies.

Romeo

In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face.
Mercutio’s kinsman, noble County Paris!
What said my man, when my betossed soul
Did not attend him as we rode? I think
He told me Paris should have married Juliet:
Said he not so? or did I dream it so?
Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet,
To think it was so? O, give me thy hand,
One writ with me in sour misfortune’s book!
I’ll bury thee in a triumphant grave;
A grave? O no! a lantern, slaughter’d youth,
For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feasting presence full of light.
Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr’d. Laying Paris in the tomb.
How oft when men are at the point of death
Have they been merry! which their keepers call
A lightning before death: O, how may I
Call this a lightning? O my love! my wife!
Death, that hath suck’d the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
Thou art not conquer’d; beauty’s ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death’s pale flag is not advanced there.
Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
O, what more favour can I do to thee,
Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
Here’s to my love! Drinks. O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. Dies.

Enter, at the other end of the churchyard, Friar Laurence, with a lantern, crow, and spade. Friar Laurence

Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night
Have my old feet stumbled at graves! Who’s there?

Balthasar Here’s one, a friend, and one that knows you well. Friar Laurence

Bliss be upon you! Tell me, good my friend,
What torch is yond, that vainly lends his light
To grubs and eyeless skulls? as I discern,
It burneth in the Capel’s monument.

Balthasar

It doth so, holy sir; and there’s my master,
One that you love.

Friar Laurence Who is it? Balthasar Romeo. Friar Laurence How long hath he been there? Balthasar Full half an hour. Friar Laurence Go with me to the vault. Balthasar

I dare not, sir:
My master knows not but I am gone hence;
And fearfully did menace me with death,
If I did stay to look on his intents.

Friar Laurence

Stay, then; I’ll go alone. Fear comes upon me:
O, much I fear some ill unlucky thing.

Balthasar

As I did sleep under this yew-tree here,
I dreamt my master and another fought,
And that my master slew him.

Friar Laurence

Romeo! Advances.
Alack, alack, what blood is this, which stains
The stony entrance of this sepulchre?
What mean these masterless and gory swords
To lie discolour’d by this place of peace? Enters the tomb.
Romeo! O, pale! Who else? what, Paris too?
And steep’d in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour
Is guilty of this lamentable chance!
The lady stirs. Juliet wakes.

Juliet

O comfortable friar! where is my lord?
I do remember well where I should be,
And there I am. Where is my Romeo? Noise within.

Friar Laurence

I hear some noise. Lady, come from that nest
Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep:
A greater power than we can contradict
Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away.
Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead;
And Paris too. Come, I’ll dispose of thee
Among a sisterhood of holy nuns:
Stay not to question, for the watch is coming;
Come, go, good Juliet noise again, I dare no longer stay.

Juliet

Go, get thee hence, for I will not away. Exit Friar Laurence.
What’s here? a cup, closed in my true love’s hand?
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end:
O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop
To help me after? I will kiss thy lips;
Haply some poison yet doth hang on them,
To make die with a restorative. Kisses him.
Thy lips are warm.

First Watchman Within. Lead, boy: which way? Juliet

Yea, noise? then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger! Snatching Romeo’s dagger.
This is thy sheath Stabs herself; there rust, and let me die. Falls on Romeo’s body, and dies.

Enter Watch, with the Page of Paris. Page This is the place; there, where the torch doth burn. First Watchman

The ground is bloody; search about the churchyard:
Go, some of you, whoe’er you find attach.
Pitiful sight! here lies the county slain;
And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead,
Who here hath lain these two days buried.
Go, tell the prince: run to the Capulets:
Raise up the Montagues: some others search:
We see the ground whereon these woes do lie;
But the true ground of all these piteous woes
We cannot without circumstance descry.

Re-enter some of the Watch, with Balthasar. Second Watchman Here’s Romeo’s man; we