Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: Act 2, scene 2
JULIET: O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.
ROMEO: [Aside]
Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
JULIET: ’Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
ROMEO: I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.
JULIET: What man art thou that thus bescreen’d in night
So stumblest on my counsel?
ROMEO: By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee;
Had I it written, I would tear the word.
JULIET: My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue’s utterance, yet I know the sound:
Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?
ROMEO: Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.
JULIET: How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?
The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
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If any of my kinsmen find thee here.
ROMEO: With love’s light wings did I o’er-perch these walls;
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do that dares love attempt;
Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me.
Analysis: Juliet suddenly appears at a window above the spot where Romeo is
standing. Romeo compares her to the morning sun, far more beautiful than the moon
it banishes. He nearly speaks to her, but thinks better of it. Juliet, musing to herself
and unaware that Romeo is in her garden, asks why Romeo must be Romeo—a
Montague, and therefore an enemy to her family. She says that if he would refuse his
Montague name, she would give herself to him; or if he would simply swear that he
loved her, she would refuse her Capulet name. Romeo responds to her plea, surprising
Juliet, since she thought she was alone. She wonders how he found her and he tells
her that love led him to her. Juliet worries that Romeo will be murdered if he is found
in the garden, but Romeo refuses to budge, claiming that Juliet’s love would make
him immune to his enemies.
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: Act 5, scene 3
(…)
Romeo: O my love! my wife!
Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
Thou art not conquered; beauty’s ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death’s pale flag is not advanced there.
(…)
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
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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]
(…)
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 discoloured by this place of peace? [Enters the tomb]
Romeo! O, pale! Who else? what, Paris too?
And steeped 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.
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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]
Analysis: Romeo descends into the tomb carrying Paris’s body. He finds Juliet lying
peacefully, and wonders how she can still look so beautiful—as if she were not dead
at all. Romeo speaks to Juliet of his intention to spend eternity with her, describing
himself as shaking “the yoke of inauspicious stars / From this world-wearied flesh”
(5.3.111–112). He kisses Juliet, drinks the poison, kisses Juliet again, and dies.
The friar enters the tomb, where he finds Paris’s body and then Romeo’s. As the friar
takes in the bloody scene, Juliet wakes.
Juliet asks the friar where her husband is. Hearing a noise that he believes is the
coming of the watch, the friar quickly replies that both Romeo and Paris are dead, and
that she must leave with him. Juliet refuses to leave, and the friar, fearful that the
watch is imminent, exits without her. Juliet sees Romeo dead beside her, and surmises
from the empty vial that he has drunk poison. Hoping she might die by the same
poison, Juliet kisses his lips, but to no avail. Hearing the approaching watch, Juliet
unsheathes Romeo’s dagger and, saying, “O happy dagger, / This is thy sheath,” stabs
herself (5.3.171). She dies upon Romeo’s body.
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