Romeo and Juliet: Act 5 Scene 3 Modification
Original Text:
SCENE III
– A churchyard; in it a tomb belonging to the Capulets.
Speaker: PARIS
Give me
thy torch, boy: hence, and stand aloof:
Yet put
it out, for I would not be seen.
Under
yond yew-trees lay thee all along,
Holding
thine ear close to the hollow ground;
So shall
no foot upon the churchyard tread,
Being
loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves,
But thou
shalt hear it: whistle then to me,
As signal
that thou hear'st something approach.
Give me
those flowers. Do as I bid thee, go.
Speaker: PAGE
Aside
I am
almost afraid to stand alone
Here in
the churchyard; yet I will adventure.
Speaker: PARIS
Sweet
flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew,--
O woe!
thy canopy is dust and stones;--
Which
with sweet water nightly I will dew,
Or,
wanting that, with tears distill'd by moans:
The
obsequies that I for thee will keep
Nightly
shall be to strew thy grave and weep.
The Page whistles
The boy
gives warning something doth approach.
What
cursed foot wanders this way to-night,
To cross
my obsequies and true love's rite?
What with
a torch! muffle me, night, awhile.
Retires
Enter ROMEO and BALTHASAR, with a torch, mattock, &c
Speaker: ROMEO
Give me
that mattock and the wrenching iron.
Hold,
take this letter; early in the morning
See thou
deliver it to my lord and father.
Give me
the light: upon thy life, I charge thee,
Whate'er
thou hear'st or seest, stand all aloof,
And do
not interrupt me in my course.
Why I
descend into this bed of death,
Is partly
to behold my lady's face;
But
chiefly to take thence from her dead finger
A
precious ring, a ring that I must use
In dear
employment: therefore hence, be gone:
But if
thou, jealous, dost return to pry
In what I
further shall intend to do,
By
heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint
And strew
this hungry churchyard with thy limbs:
The time
and my intents are savage-wild,
More
fierce and more inexorable far
Than
empty tigers or the roaring sea.
Speaker: BALTHASAR
I will be
gone, sir, and not trouble you.
Speaker: ROMEO
So shalt
thou show me friendship. Take thou that:
Live, and
be prosperous: and farewell, good fellow.
Speaker: BALTHASAR
Aside
For all
this same, I'll hide me hereabout:
His looks
I fear, and his intents I doubt.
Retires
Speaker: ROMEO
Thou detestable
maw, thou womb of death,
Gorged
with the dearest morsel of the earth,
Thus I
enforce thy rotten jaws to open,
And, in
despite, I'll cram thee with more food!
Opens the tomb
Speaker: PARIS
This is
that banish'd haughty Montague,
That
murder'd my love's cousin, with which grief,
It is
supposed, the fair creature died;
And here
is come to do some villanous shame
To the
dead bodies: I will apprehend him.
Comes forward
Stop thy
unhallow'd toil, vile Montague!
Can
vengeance be pursued further than death?
Condemned
villain, I do apprehend thee:
Obey, and
go with me; for thou must die.
Speaker: ROMEO
I must
indeed; and 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.
Speaker: PARIS
I do defy
thy conjurations,
And
apprehend thee for a felon here.
Speaker: ROMEO
Wilt thou
provoke me? then have at thee, boy!
They fight
Speaker: PAGE
O Lord,
they fight! I will go call the watch.
Exit
Speaker: PARIS
O, I am
slain!
Falls
If thou
be merciful,
Open the
tomb, lay me with Juliet.
Speaker: 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
Speaker: FRIAR LAURENCE
Saint
Francis be my speed! how oft to-night
Have my
old feet stumbled at graves! Who's there?
Speaker: BALTHASAR
Here's
one, a friend, and one that knows you well.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: BALTHASAR
It doth
so, holy sir; and there's my master,
One that
you love.
Speaker: FRIAR LAURENCE
Who is
it?
Speaker: BALTHASAR
Romeo.
Speaker: FRIAR LAURENCE
How long
hath he been there?
Speaker: BALTHASAR
Full half
an hour.
Speaker: FRIAR LAURENCE
Go with
me to the vault.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: FRIAR LAURENCE
Stay,
then; I'll go alone. Fear comes upon me:
O, much I
fear some ill unlucky thing.
Speaker: BALTHASAR
As I did
sleep under this yew-tree here,
I dreamt
my master and another fought,
And that
my master slew him.
Speaker: 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
Speaker: 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
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: First Watchman
Within
Lead,
boy: which way?
Speaker: 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
Speaker: PAGE
This is
the place; there, where the torch doth burn.
Speaker: 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
Speaker: Second Watchman
Here's
Romeo's man; we found him in the churchyard.
Speaker: First Watchman
Hold him
in safety, till the prince come hither.
Re-enter others of the Watch, with FRIAR LAURENCE
Speaker: Third Watchman
Here is a
friar, that trembles, sighs and weeps:
We took
this mattock and this spade from him,
As he was
coming from this churchyard side.
Speaker: First Watchman
A great
suspicion: stay the friar too.
Enter the PRINCE and Attendants
Speaker: PRINCE
What
misadventure is so early up,
That
calls our person from our morning's rest?
Enter CAPULET, LADY CAPULET, and others
Speaker: CAPULET
What
should it be, that they so shriek abroad?
Speaker: LADY CAPULET
The
people in the street cry Romeo,
Some
Juliet, and some Paris; and all run,
With open
outcry toward our monument.
Speaker: PRINCE
What fear
is this which startles in our ears?
Speaker: First Watchman
Sovereign,
here lies the County Paris slain;
And Romeo
dead; and Juliet, dead before,
Warm and
new kill'd.
Speaker: PRINCE
Search,
seek, and know how this foul murder comes.
Speaker: First Watchman
Here is a
friar, and slaughter'd Romeo's man;
With
instruments upon them, fit to open
These
dead men's tombs.
Speaker: CAPULET
O
heavens! O wife, look how our daughter bleeds!
This
dagger hath mista'en--for, lo, his house
Is empty
on the back of Montague,--
And it
mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom!
Speaker: LADY CAPULET
O me!
this sight of death is as a bell,
That
warns my old age to a sepulchre.
Enter MONTAGUE and others
Speaker: PRINCE
Come,
Montague; for thou art early up,
To see
thy son and heir more early down.
Speaker: MONTAGUE
Alas, my
liege, my wife is dead to-night;
Grief of
my son's exile hath stopp'd her breath:
What
further woe conspires against mine age?
Speaker: PRINCE
Look, and
thou shalt see.
Speaker: MONTAGUE
O thou
untaught! what manners is in this?
To press
before thy father to a grave?
Speaker: PRINCE
Seal up
the mouth of outrage for a while,
Till we
can clear these ambiguities,
And know
their spring, their head, their
true
descent;
And then
will I be general of your woes,
And lead
you even to death: meantime forbear,
And let
mischance be slave to patience.
Bring
forth the parties of suspicion.
Speaker: FRIAR LAURENCE
I am the
greatest, able to do least,
Yet most
suspected, as the time and place
Doth make
against me of this direful murder;
And here
I stand, both to impeach and purge
Myself
condemned and myself excused.
Speaker: PRINCE
Then say
at once what thou dost know in this.
Speaker: FRIAR LAURENCE
I will be
brief, for my short date of breath
Is not so
long as is a tedious tale.
Romeo,
there dead, was husband to that Juliet;
And she,
there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife:
I married
them; and their stol'n marriage-day
Was
Tybalt's dooms-day, whose untimely death
Banish'd
the new-made bridegroom from the city,
For whom,
and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined.
You, to
remove that siege of grief from her,
Betroth'd
and would have married her perforce
To County
Paris: then comes she to me,
And, with
wild looks, bid me devise some mean
To rid
her from this second marriage,
Or in my
cell there would she kill herself.
Then gave
I her, so tutor'd by my art,
A
sleeping potion; which so took effect
As I
intended, for it wrought on her
The form
of death: meantime I writ to Romeo,
That he
should hither come as this dire night,
To help
to take her from her borrow'd grave,
Being the
time the potion's force should cease.
But he
which bore my letter, Friar John,
Was
stay'd by accident, and yesternight
Return'd
my letter back. Then all alone
At the
prefixed hour of her waking,
Came I to
take her from her kindred's vault;
Meaning
to keep her closely at my cell,
Till I
conveniently could send to Romeo:
But when
I came, some minute ere the time
Of her
awaking, here untimely lay
The noble
Paris and true Romeo dead.
She
wakes; and I entreated her come forth,
And bear
this work of heaven with patience:
But then
a noise did scare me from the tomb;
And she,
too desperate, would not go with me,
But, as
it seems, did violence on herself.
All this
I know; and to the marriage
Her nurse
is privy: and, if aught in this
Miscarried
by my fault, let my old life
Be
sacrificed, some hour before his time,
Unto the
rigour of severest law.
Speaker: PRINCE
We still
have known thee for a holy man.
Where's
Romeo's man? what can he say in this?
Speaker: BALTHASAR
I brought
my master news of Juliet's death;
And then
in post he came from Mantua
To this
same place, to this same monument.
This
letter he early bid me give his father,
And
threatened me with death, going in the vault,
I
departed not and left him there.
Speaker: PRINCE
Give me
the letter; I will look on it.
Where is
the county's page, that raised the watch?
Sirrah,
what made your master in this place?
Speaker: PAGE
He came
with flowers to strew his lady's grave;
And bid
me stand aloof, and so I did:
Anon
comes one with light to ope the tomb;
And by
and by my master drew on him;
And then
I ran away to call the watch.
Speaker: PRINCE
This
letter doth make good the friar's words,
Their
course of love, the tidings of her death:
And here
he writes that he did buy a poison
Of a poor
'pothecary, and therewithal
Came to
this vault to die, and lie with Juliet.
Where be
these enemies? Capulet! Montague!
See, what
a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That
heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.
And I for
winking at your discords too
Have lost
a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd.
Speaker: CAPULET
O brother
Montague, give me thy hand:
This is
my daughter's jointure, for no more
Can I
demand.
Speaker: MONTAGUE
But I can
give thee more:
For I
will raise her statue in pure gold;
That
while Verona by that name is known,
There
shall no figure at such rate be set
As that
of true and faithful Juliet.
Speaker: CAPULET
As rich
shall Romeo's by his lady's lie;
Poor
sacrifices of our enmity!
Speaker: PRINCE
A
glooming peace this morning with it brings;
The sun,
for sorrow, will not show his head:
Some
shall be pardon'd, and some punished:
For never
was a story of more woe
Than this
of Juliet and her Romeo.
Exeunt
Modified Text:
Instead,
Paris let go of Juliet to marry Romeo, although he was the most preferred by
Capulet. Having a heavy heart, he should let loose of her since he really loves
Juliet.
He told his decision to Capulet and
Lady Capulet. But the couple stalwartly deviates, so they abruptly went to the
tomb. Upon hearing the news, Romeo hastily conceals, nevertheless Capulet perceived
him. However, upon considering the probable consequences, Capulet brought to an
end the rivalry between Paris and for his daughter’s sake. Romeo swore not to
frustrate and disappoint them and promised to love and cherish Juliet ceaselessly.
So, the marriage was arranged. More
than a few preparations were done in Verona. And during the wedding, the populaces
of Verona were dreadfully blissful and delighted. Paris was seen during the
wedding, accepting the gospel truth that he does not really deserve the love of
Juliet.
From then on, Verona became a place
full of love and adoration, and the newly-weds reigned the kingdom.
