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Romeo and Juliet
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Act 5, Scene 1, Page 2
Act 5, Scene 1
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Act 5, Scene 1
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Original Text
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Enter ROMEO
ROMEO enters.
What do you heart?
ROMEO
ROMEO
If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep,
If I can trust my dreams, then some joyful news
My dreams presage some joyful news at hand.
is coming soon. Love rules my heart, and all day
My bosomʼs lord sits lightly in his throne,
long a strange feeling has been making me
And all this day an unaccustomed spirit
cheerful. I had a dream that my lady came and
5 Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts.
Declare your love during
SPARKNOTES APPRECIATION
DAYS!!!
found me dead. Itʼs a strange dream that lets a
I dreamt my lady came and found me dead—
dead man think! She came and brought me back
Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to
to life by kissing my lips. I rose from the dead
think—
and was an emperor. Oh my! How sweet it
And breathed such life with kisses in my lips
would be to actually have the woman I love,
Love cartoon unicorns?
when merely thinking about love makes me so
Then you'll EXPLODE WITH HAPPINESS over Megan's blog!
happy.
It's not a prom until
someone gets kicked in
the
10 That I revived and was an emperor.
Ah me! How sweet is love itself possessed
When but loveʼs shadows are so rich in joy!
Enter ROMEOʼs man BALTHASAR
ROMEOʼs servant BALTHASAR enters.
News from Verona!—How now, Balthasar?
Do you have news from Verona!—What is it,
Dost thou not bring me letters from the friar?
Balthasar? Do you bring me a letter from the
How doth my lady? Is my father well?
friar? How is my wife? Is my father well? How is
15 How fares my Juliet? That I ask again,
[CENSORED]
my Juliet? I ask that again because nothing can
For nothing can be ill if she be well.
be wrong if she is well.
BALTHASAR
BALTHASAR
Then she is well, and nothing can be ill.
Then she is well, and nothing is wrong. Her body
Her body sleeps in Capels' monument,
sleeps in the Capulet tomb, and her immortal
And her immortal part with angels lives.
soul lives with the angels in heaven. I saw her
20 I saw her laid low in her kindredʼs vault
buried in her familyʼs tomb, and then I came
And presently took post to tell it you.
here to tell you the news. Oh, pardon me for
O, pardon me for bringing these ill news,
bringing this bad news, but you told me it was
Since you did leave it for my office, sir.
my job, sir.
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William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
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Act 5, Scene 1
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Act 5, Scene 1, Page 2
Original Text
Modern Text
ROMEO
ROMEO
Is it e'en so? Then I defy you, stars!
Is it really true? Then I rebel against you, stars!
25 Thou knowʼst my lodging. Get me ink and paper,
And hire post horses. I will hence tonight.
You know where I live. Get me some ink and
paper, and hire some horses to ride. I will leave
here for Verona tonight.
BALTHASAR
BALTHASAR
I do beseech you, sir, have patience.
Please, sir, have patience. You look pale and
Your looks are pale and wild, and do import
wild as if youʼre going to hurt yourself.
Some misadventure.
ROMEO
ROMEO
30 Tush, thou art deceived.
Tsk, youʼre wrong. Leave me and do what I told
Leave me and do the thing I bid thee do.
you to do. Donʼt you have a letter for me from
Hast thou no letters to me from the friar?
the friar?
BALTHASAR
BALTHASAR
No, my good lord.
No, my good lord.
ROMEO
ROMEO
No matter. Get thee gone,
No matter. Get on your way and hire those
35 And hire those horses. Iʼll be with thee straight.
Exit BALTHASAR
horses. Iʼll be with you right away.
BALTHASAR exits.
Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight.
Well, Juliet, Iʼll lie with you tonight. Letʼs see
Letʼs see for means. O mischief, thou art swift
how. Destructive thoughts come quickly to the
To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!
minds of desperate men! I remember a
I do remember an apothecary—
pharmacist who lives nearby. I remember he
40 And hereabouts he dwells—which late I noted
wears shabby clothes and has bushy eyebrows.
In tattered weeds, with overwhelming brows,
He makes drugs from herbs. He looks poor and
Culling of simples. Meager were his looks,
miserable and worn out to the bone. He had a
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones,
tortoise shell hanging up in his shop as well as a
And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
stuffed alligator and other skins of strange fish.
45 An alligator stuffed, and other skins
There were a few empty boxes on his shelves,
Of ill-shaped fishes; and about his shelves
as well as green clay pots, and some musty
A beggarly account of empty boxes,
seeds. There were a few strands of string and
Green earthen pots, bladders and musty seeds,
mashed rose petals on display.
Remnants of packthread and old cakes of roses,
50 Were thinly scattered to make up a show.
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William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
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Noting this penury, to myself I said,
Noticing all this poverty, I said to myself, “If a
“An if a man did need a poison now”—
man needed some poison”—which they would
Whose sale is present death in Mantua—
immediately kill you for selling in Mantua—“here
“Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him.”
is a miserable wretch whoʼd sell it to him.” Oh,
55 Oh, this same thought did but forerun my need,
this idea came before I needed the poison. But
And this same needy man must sell it me.
this same poor man must sell it to me. As I
As I remember, this should be the house.
remember, this should be the house. Todayʼs a
Being holiday, the beggarʼs shop is shut.
holiday, so the beggarʼs shop is shut. Hey!
What, ho! Apothecary!
Pharmacist!
Enter APOTHECARY
The APOTHECARY enters.
APOTHECARY
APOTHECARY
Who calls so loud?
Whoʼs that calling so loud?
ROMEO
ROMEO
60 Come hither, man. I see that thou art poor.
Come here, man. I see that you are poor. Here
Hold, there is forty ducats. Let me have
are forty ducats. Let me have a shot of poison,
A dram of poison, such soon-speeding gear
something that works so fast that the person
As will disperse itself through all the veins
who takes it will die as fast as gunpowder
That the life-weary taker may fall dead,
exploding in a canon.
65 And that the trunk may be discharged of breath
As violently as hasty powder fired
Doth hurry from the fatal cannonʼs womb.
APOTHECARY
APOTHECARY
Such mortal drugs I have, but Mantuaʼs law
I have lethal poisons like that. But itʼs against the
Is death to any he that utters them.
law to sell them in Mantua, and the penalty is
death.
ROMEO
ROMEO
70 Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness,
Youʼre this poor and wretched and still afraid to
And fearʼst to die? Famine is in thy cheeks.
die? Your cheeks are thin because of hunger. I
Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes.
can see in your eyes that youʼre starving.
Contempt and beggary hangs upon thy back.
Anyone can see that youʼre a beggar. The world
The world is not thy friend nor the worldʼs law.
is not your friend, and neither is the law. The
75 The world affords no law to make thee rich.
world doesnʼt make laws to make you rich. So
Then be not poor, but break it, and take this.
donʼt be poor. Break the law, and take this
(holds out money)
money. (he holds out money)
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Home > No Fear Shakespeare > Romeo and Juliet > Act 5, Scene 1, Page 4
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William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
A quick and easy plot summary of Romeo and Juliet.
Read the Romeo and Juliet
SparkNote
Summary, analysis, themes, essay
topics, and more
Get this No Fear to go!
Download the
iPhone app
< Previous Section
Act 5, Scene 1, Page 3
Act 5, Scene 1, Page 4
Download the No Fear
Shakespeare app for
iPhone®/iPod touch™
from iTunes
Next Section >
Act 5, Scene 2
Buy No Fear Romeo and Juliet at
BN.com
Act 5, Scene 1, Page 4
Get the No Fear Shakespeare you can hold in your
hand at BN.com
Original Text
Modern Text
APOTHECARY
APOTHECARY
My poverty, but not my will, consents.
I agree because Iʼm poor, not because I want to.
ROMEO
ROMEO
I pay thy poverty and not thy will.
I pay you because youʼre poor, not because you
want me to buy this.
APOTHECARY
What do you heart?
Declare your love during
SPARKNOTES APPRECIATION
DAYS!!!
APOTHECARY
80 (gives ROMEO poison) Put this in any liquid thing
(gives ROMEO poison) Put this in any kind of
you will
liquid you want and drink it down. Even if you
And drink it off; and, if you had the strength
were as strong as twenty men, it would kill you
Of twenty men, it would dispatch you straight.
immediately.
ROMEO
ROMEO
Love cartoon unicorns?
(gives APOTHECARY money)
(gives APOTHECARY money) There is your
Then you'll EXPLODE WITH HAPPINESS over Megan's blog!
There is thy gold, worse poison to menʼs souls,
gold. Money is a worse poison to menʼs souls,
Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not
than these poor poisons that youʼre not allowed
It's not a prom until
someone gets kicked in
the
sell.
to sell. Iʼve sold you poison. You havenʼt sold me
[CENSORED]
I sell thee poison. Thou hast sold me none.
any. Goodbye. Buy yourself food, and put some
Farewell. Buy food, and get thyself in flesh.—
flesh on your bones. Iʼll take this mixture, which
85 Doing more murder in this loathsome world,
and commits more murders in this awful world,
90 Come, cordial and not poison, go with me
is a medicine, not a poison, to Julietʼs grave.
To Julietʼs grave, for there must I use thee.
Thatʼs where I must use it.
Exeunt
They exit.
Prepare for the worst, plan for THE CROWN
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