Romeo and Juliet: Act 4, Scene 1
Enter FRIAR [LAURENCE] and
COUNTY PARIS.
FRIAR LAURENCE
1 On Thursday, sir? the time is very short.
PARIS
2 My father Capulet will have it so,
3. I am nothing slow to slack his haste: I have no reluctance which might slow down his haste.
3 And I am nothing slow to slack his haste.
FRIAR LAURENCE
4 You say you do not know the lady's mind:
5. Uneven is the course: i.e.,
this course of events is out of order. Friar Laurence objects the fact that the wedding is being arranged before Juliet has consented to the marriage.
5 Uneven is the course, I like it not.
PARIS
6 Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt's death,
7 And therefore have I little talk'd of love;
8 For Venus smiles not in a house of tears.
9 Now, sir, her father counts it dangerous
10 That she doth give her sorrow so much sway,
11 And in his wisdom hastes our marriage,
12 To stop the inundation of her tears;
13-14. Which, too much minded by herself alone, / May be put from her by society: [her grief], too much thought about in her solitude, may be lifted from her by having company.
13 Which, too much minded by herself alone,
14 May be put from her by society.
15 Now do you know the reason of this haste.
FRIAR LAURENCE [Aside.]
16. I would I knew not why it should be slow'd: i.e., I wish I didn't know why Juliet's marriage to Paris must be put off.
16 I would I knew not why it should be slow'd.
17 Look, sir, here comes the lady towards my cell.
Enter JULIET.
PARIS
18 Happily met, my lady and my wife!
Paris and Juliet JULIET
19 That may be, sir, when I may be a wife.
PARIS
20 That "may be" must be, love, on Thursday next.
JULIET
21 What must be shall be.
FRIAR LAURENCE
21 That's a certain text.
PARIS
22 Come you to make confession to this father?
JULIET
23 To answer that, I should confess to you.
PARIS
24 Do not deny to him that you love me.
JULIET
25 I will confess to you that I love him.
PARIS
26 So will ye, I am sure, that you love me.
JULIET
27. of more price: worth more [because it will be more trustworthy].
27 If I do so, it will be of more price,
28 Being spoke behind your back, than to your face.
PARIS
29 Poor soul, thy face is much abused with tears.
JULIET
30 The tears have got small victory by that;
31 For it was bad enough before their spite.
PARIS
32. that report: i.e., Juliet's description of her face as "bad enough."
32 Thou wrong'st it, more than tears, with that report.
JULIET
33 That is no slander, sir, which is a truth;
34 And what I spake, I spake it to my face.
PARIS
35 Thy face is mine, and thou hast slander'd it.
JULIET
36. for it is not mine own: I believe Juliet's hidden meaning is that, in exchanging witticisms with Paris, she is putting on a false face.
36 It may be so, for it is not mine own.
37 Are you at leisure, holy father, now;
38 Or shall I come to you at evening mass?
FRIAR LAURENCE
39 My leisure serves me, pensive daughter, now.
40 My lord, we must entreat the time alone.
PARIS
41. God shield: God forbid.
41 God shield I should disturb devotion!
42 Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouse ye:
43. keep this holy kiss: Though there is no stage direction, it must be that Paris kisses Juliet.
43 Till then, adieu; and keep this holy kiss.
JULIET
44 O shut the door! and when thou hast done so,
45 Come weep with me; past hope, past cure, past help!
FRIAR LAURENCE
46 Ah, Juliet, I already know thy grief;
47. It strains me past the compass of my wits: i.e., The solution to your problem is beyond the reach of my wit. 48. prorogue: delay.
47 It strains me past the compass of my wits:
48 I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it,
49 On Thursday next be married to this county.
JULIET
50 Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'st of this,
51 Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it.
52 If, in thy wisdom, thou canst give no help,
53 Do thou but call my resolution wise,
54. I'll help it presently: I'll solve the problem at once.
54 And with this knife I'll help it presently.
55 God join'd my heart and Romeo's, thou our hands;
56-57. ere this hand ... / Shall be the label to another deed: i.e., before this hand of mine shall make another contract of marriage.
59. this shall slay them both: i.e., this knife will kill both my hand and heart. 60. out of thy long-experienced time: from your long-experienced age. 61. present counsel: immediate, useful advice. 62. extremes: desperate difficulties.
59. this shall slay them both: i.e., this knife will kill both my hand and heart. 60. out of thy long-experienced time: from your long-experienced age. 61. present counsel: immediate, useful advice. 62. extremes: desperate difficulties.
56 And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd,
57 Shall be the label to another deed,
58 Or my true heart with treacherous revolt
59 Turn to another, this shall slay them both.
60 Therefore, out of thy long-experienced time,
61 Give me some present counsel, or, behold,
62 'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife
63 Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that
64-65. the commission of thy years and art / Could to no issue of true honor bring: the authority of your age and professional skill [as a friar] could bring no honorable outcome.
64 Which the commission of thy years and art
65 Could to no issue of true honor bring.
66 Be not so long to speak; I long to die,
67 If what thou speak'st speak not of remedy.
FRIAR LAURENCE
68 Hold, daughter! I do spy a kind of hope,
69 Which craves as desperate an execution
70 As that is desperate which we would prevent.
71 If, rather than to marry County Paris,
72 Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself,
73 Then is it likely thou wilt undertake
74 A thing like death to chide away this shame,
75. That copest with death himself to scape from it: [you] who would encounter death himself to escape from shame.
75 That copest with death himself to scape from it;
76 And, if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy.
JULIET
77 O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
78 From off the battlements of yonder tower;
79. thievish ways: streets infested with thieves.
79 Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk
80 Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears;
81. charnel-house: a building or vault in which the bones or bodies of the dead are stored.
83. reeky: emitting foul vapor. chapless: without lower jaws.
83. reeky: emitting foul vapor. chapless: without lower jaws.
81 Or hide me nightly in a charnel-house,
82 O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones,
83 With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls;
84 Or bid me go into a new-made grave
85 And hide me with a dead man in his shroud;
86 Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble;
87 And I will do it without fear or doubt,
88 To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.
FRIAR LAURENCE
89 Hold, then; go home, be merry, give consent
90 To marry Paris: Wednesday is tomorrow:
91 Tomorrow night look that thou lie alone;
92 Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber:
93 Take thou this vial, being then in bed,
94. distilling: having the power to permeate the body.
95. presently: immediately.
96. humor: fluid; bodily sensation.
97. keep his native progress: maintain its natural rhythm. surcease: cease.
95. presently: immediately.
96. humor: fluid; bodily sensation.
97. keep his native progress: maintain its natural rhythm. surcease: cease.
94 And this distilling liquor drink thou off;
95 When presently through all thy veins shall run
96 A cold and drowsy humor, for no pulse
97 Shall keep his native progress, but surcease:
98 No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest;
99 The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade
100. wanny: pale. windows: shutters; i.e., eyelids.
100 To wanny ashes, thy eyes' windows fall,
101 Like death, when he shuts up the day of life;
102. supple government: control of movement.
102 Each part, deprived of supple government,
103 Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death:
104 And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death
105 Thou shalt continue two and forty hours,
"as the manner of our country is, / In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier"106 And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.
107 Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes
108 To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead:
109 Then, as the manner of our country is,
110 In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier
111 Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault
112 Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.
113. against: in preparation for the time when.
114. drift: intent.
114. drift: intent.
113 In the mean time, against thou shalt awake,
114 Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift,
115 And hither shall he come: and he and I
116 Will watch thy waking, and that very night
117 Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.
118 And this shall free thee from this present shame;
119. inconstant toy: capricious whim.
119 If no inconstant toy, nor womanish fear,
120 Abate thy valour in the acting it.
JULIET
121 Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!
FRIAR LAURENCE
122. prosperous: fortunate.
122 Hold; get you gone, be strong and prosperous
123 In this resolve: I'll send a friar with speed
124 To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.
JULIET
125. afford: provide.
125 Love give me strength! and strength shall help afford.
126 Farewell, dear father!
Exeunt.