Romeo and Juliet Act 5 Scene 1
Mantua. A street.
The Original
Plain Modern English
Enter Romeo.
Romeo
If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep,
My dreams presage some joyful news at hand:
My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne;
And all this day an unaccustom'd spirit
Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts.
I dreamt my lady came and found me dead—
Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to think!—
And breathed such life with kisses in my lips,
That I revived, and was an emperor.
Ah me! how sweet is love itself possess'd,
When but love's shadows are so rich in joy!
Romeo
If I can trust the flattering promises of my dreams,
then good news is coming.
My heart sits easy on its throne,
and all day an unfamiliar lightness
has been lifting me off the ground with happy thoughts.
I dreamed my love came and found me dead —
strange dream, letting a dead man think! —
and breathed so much life into my lips with kisses
that I came back to life, and was an emperor.
How sweet the real thing must be,
when even the shadow of love is this joyful! (He has it exactly backwards. She will find him dead, and kisses will not work.)
Enter Balthasar, in riding boots.
Romeo
News from Verona!—How now, Balthasar!
Dost thou not bring me letters from the friar?
How doth my lady? Is my father well?
How fares my Juliet? that I ask again;
For nothing can be ill, if she be well.
Romeo
News from Verona! Well, Balthasar —
don't you have letters for me from the Friar?
How is my wife? Is my father well?
How is my Juliet? I'll ask that again —
because nothing can be wrong if she's all right.
Balthasar
Then she is well, and nothing can be ill:
Her body sleeps in Capel's monument,
And her immortal part with angels lives.
I saw her laid low in her kindred's vault,
And presently took post to tell it you:
O, pardon me for bringing these ill news,
Since you did leave it for my office, sir.
Balthasar
Then she's all right, and nothing can be wrong.
Her body sleeps in the Capulet tomb
and her immortal soul lives with the angels.
I saw her laid in her family's vault
and rode straight here to tell you.
Forgive me for bringing such terrible news,
but you made it my job, sir.
Romeo
Is it even so? then I defy you, stars!
Thou know'st my lodging: get me ink and paper,
And hire post-horses; I will hence to-night.
Romeo
Is that how it is? Then I defy you, stars!
You know where I'm staying. Get me ink and paper,
and hire fast horses. I'm leaving tonight.
Balthasar
I do beseech you, sir, have patience:
Your looks are pale and wild, and do import
Some misadventure.
Balthasar
I beg you, sir — be patient.
You look pale and wild, and that suggests
something terrible is coming.
Romeo
Tush, thou art deceived:
Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do.
Hast thou no letters to me from the friar?
Romeo
Nonsense, you're imagining things.
Leave me and do what I told you.
You're sure you have no letters from the Friar?
Balthasar
No, my good lord.
Balthasar
No, my lord.
Romeo
No matter: get thee gone,
And hire those horses; I'll be with thee straight.
Romeo
Never mind. Go on,
hire those horses. I'll be right behind you.
Exit Balthasar.
Romeo
Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night.
Let's see for means: O mischief, thou art swift
To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!
I do remember an apothecary,—
And hereabouts he dwells,—which late I noted
In tatter'd weeds, with overwhelming brows,
Culling of simples; meagre were his looks,
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones:
And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
An alligator stuff'd, and other skins
Of ill-shaped fishes; and about his shelves
A beggarly account of empty boxes,
Green earthen pots, bladders and musty seeds,
Remnants of packthread and old cakes of roses,
Were thinly scatter'd, to make up a show.
Noting this penury, to myself I said
'An if a man did need a poison now,
Whose sale is present death in Mantua,
Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him.'
O, this same thought did but forerun my need;
And this same needy man must sell it me.
As I remember, this should be the house.
Being holiday, the beggar's shop is shut.
What, ho! apothecary!
Romeo
Well, Juliet — I'll lie beside you tonight.
Now, how? Oh, mischief, you move fast
into the minds of desperate men!
I remember an apothecary —
he lives near here. I noticed him recently
in ragged clothes, with heavy eyebrows,
sorting medicinal herbs. He looked half-starved;
bitter poverty had worn him down to bone.
In his shabby shop a tortoise hung,
a stuffed alligator, and other skins
of misshapen fish. Around his shelves
was a pitiful collection of empty boxes,
green clay pots, bladders, mouldy seeds,
scraps of string and old dried rose petals,
thinly spread out to make the place look stocked.
Seeing how poor he was, I said to myself:
'If a man needed poison right now —
and selling it in Mantua means execution —
here's a miserable wretch who'd sell it to him.'
That thought came just before I needed it,
and this same desperate man is going to sell it to me.
If I remember right, this is the house.
It's a holiday, so the poor man's shop is closed.
Hello! Apothecary!
Enter the Apothecary.
Apothecary
Who calls so loud?
Apothecary
Who's shouting like that?
Romeo
Come hither, man. I see that thou art poor:
Hold, there is forty ducats: let me have
A dram of poison, such soon-speeding gear
As will disperse itself through all the veins
That the life-weary taker may fall dead
And that the trunk may be discharged of breath
As violently as hasty powder fired
Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb.
Romeo
Come here, man. I can see you're poor.
Here — forty ducats. Give me
a dose of poison, something fast-acting
that will spread through all the veins
so that whoever's tired of living drops dead,
and the body is emptied of breath
as violently as gunpowder bursting
out of a cannon's barrel.
Apothecary
Such mortal drugs I have; but Mantua's law
Is death to any he that utters them.
Apothecary
I have such deadly drugs — but Mantua's law
is death for anyone who sells them.
Romeo
Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness,
And fear'st to die? famine is in thy cheeks,
Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes,
Contempt and beggary hangs upon thy back;
The world is not thy friend nor the world's law;
The world affords no law to make thee rich;
Then be not poor, but break it, and take this.
Romeo
Are you this stripped bare and this wretched,
and still afraid to die? Starvation is in your cheeks,
poverty and oppression are starving in your eyes,
contempt and beggary hang off your back.
The world isn't your friend, and neither is its law.
The world has no law that will make you rich.
So don't stay poor — break the law, and take this.
Apothecary
My poverty, but not my will, consents.
Apothecary
My poverty agrees, not my conscience.
Romeo
I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.
Romeo
Then I'm paying your poverty, not your conscience.
Apothecary
Put this in any liquid thing you will,
And drink it off; and, if you had the strength
Of twenty men, it would dispatch you straight.
Apothecary
Mix this into any liquid you like
and drink it down. Even if you had the strength
of twenty men, it would kill you instantly.
Romeo
There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls,
Doing more murders in this loathsome world,
Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell.
I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none.
Farewell: buy food, and get thyself in flesh.
Come, cordial and not poison, go with me
To Juliet's grave; for there must I use thee.
Romeo
Here's your gold — a worse poison to men's souls,
committing more murders in this vile world,
than these sad little mixtures you're forbidden to sell.
I'm selling you poison; you've sold me none.
Goodbye. Buy food and put some weight on.
Come along, medicine — not poison — come with me
to Juliet's grave, where I'll be needing you.
Exeunt.