Scene III

Juliet's Chamber

Enter Juliet and Nurse.

JUL:

Ay, those attires are best; but, gentle nurse,
I pray thee leave me to myself to-night;
For I have need of many orisons
To move the heavens to smile upon my state,
Which, well thou knowest, is cross and full of sin.(5)

JUL:

Yes, those clothes are best. but, gentle nurse,
I beg you, leave me to myself tonight;
For I need to say many prayers
To move the heavens to smile upon my situation,
Which, you know well, is evil and full of sin.

Enter Lady Cap.

LADY CAP:

What, are you busy, ho? Need you my help?

LADY CAP:

What, are you busy, hello? Do you need my help?

JUL:

No, madam; we have cull'd such necessaries
As are behoveful for our state to-morrow.
So please you, let me now be left alone,
And let the nurse this night sit up with you;(10)
For I am sure you have your hands full all
In this so sudden business.

JUL:

No, madam; we have selected the necessary things that
Are useful for our event tomorrow.
So please, leave me alone now,
And let the nurse sit up with you this night;
For I am sure you have your hands full
In this so sudden business.

LADY CAP:

Good night.
Get thee to bed, and rest; for thou hast need.

LADY CAP:

Good night.
Go to bed and rest, because you need to rest.

Exeunt Lady Capulet and Nurse.

JUL:

Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.(15)
I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins
That almost freezes up the heat of life.
I'll call them back again to comfort me.
Nurse!— What should she do here?
My dismal scene I needs must act alone.(20)
Come, vial.
What if this mixture do not work at all?
Shall I be married then to-morrow morning?
No, No! This shall forbid it. Lie thou there.

Lays down a dagger.

What if it be a poison which the friar(25)
Subtly hath ministr'd to have me dead,
Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd
Because he married me before to Romeo?
I fear it is; and yet methinks it should not,
For he hath still been tried a holy man.(30)
I will not entertain so bad a thought.
How if, when I am laid into the tomb,
I wake before the time that Romeo
Come to redeem me? There's a fearful point!
Shall I not then be stifled in the vault,(35)
To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in,
And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?
Or, if I live, is it not very like
The horrible conceit of death and night,
Together with the terror of the place—(40)
As in a vault, an ancient receptacle
Where for this many hundred years the bones
Of all my buried ancestors are pack'd;
Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth,
Lies fest'ring in his shroud; where, as they say,(45)
At some hours in the night spirits resort—
Alack, alack, is it not like that I,
So early waking— what with loathsome smells,
And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth,
That living mortals, hearing them, run mad—(50)
O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,
Environed with all these hideous fears,
And madly play with my forefathers’ joints,
And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud,
And, in this rage, with some great kinsman's bone(55)
As with a club dash out my desp'rate brains?
O, look! methinks I see my cousin's ghost
Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his body
Upon a rapier's point. Stay, Tybalt, stay!
Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee.(60)

JUL:

Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.
I have a faint, cold fear that scares my veins
And it almost freezes up the heat of life.
I'll call them back again to comfort me;
Nurse! What is she going to do here?
I must act my dreadful scene alone.
Come, vial.
What if this mixture doesn’t work at all?
Shall I be married, then, tomorrow morning?
No, No! This dagger shall forbid it. You lie there. What if it be a poison, which the friar
Has secretly given me to have me dead,
so that he shouldn’t be dishonored
Because he married me to Romeo before Paris?
I’m afraid it is. And yet, I think it shouldn’t be poison,
For he has always been a holy man.
I won’t entertain such a bad thought.
What if, when I am laid in the tomb,
I wake up before the time that Romeo
Is supposed to come and get me? That’s a scary thought!
The, shouldn’t I smother in the vault,
Where there is no fresh air,
And I will die there, strangled, before my Romeo comes?
Or, if I live, isn’t it very likely that
The horrible notion of death and night,
Together with the terror of the place,
In a vault, an ancient room for the dead,
Where, for almost a hundred years, the bones
Of all my buried ancestors are packed,
Where bloody Tybalt, just murdered and new to death,
Lies festering in his shroud; where, as they say,
Spirits play at some time in the night?
For shame, for shame, isn’t it likely that I,
Waking up so early, what with rotten smells
And screams like those of poisonous plants being torn out of the
Earth, have made living mortals go crazy when they hear them--
O, if I wake up early, won’t I be distraught,
Shut up and living with all these hideous fears?
And play with my forefathers' joints like a crazy person?
And take the mangled Tybalt out of his shroud?
And, in this rage, with some great relative's bone,
Using it as a club, beat my desperate brains out?
O, look! I think I see my cousin's ghost
Looking for Romeo who pierced his body
With a sword's point. Wait, Tybalt, wait!
Romeo, I’m coming! I drink this vial to you.

She drinks and falls upon her bed within the curtains.