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Act 4, Scene 2
Romeo and Juliet Translation Act 4, Scene 3
JULIET
Ay, those attires are best. But, gentle Nurse, I pray thee, leave me to myself tonight, For I have need of many orisons To move the heavens to smile upon my state, Which, well thou know’st, is cross and full of sin.
JULIET
Yes, those clothes are the best. But, gentle Nurse, I beg you, please let me be by myself tonight. I need to say many prayers in order to convince the heavens to bless me despite my situation. You know very well that my life is difficult and full of sin.
JULIET and the NURSE enter.
LADY CAPULET enters.
LADY CAPULET
What, are you busy, ho? Need you my help?
LADY CAPULET
Are you busy? Do you need my help?
JULIET
No, madam. We have culled such necessaries As are behooveful for our state tomorrow. So please you, let me now be left alone, And let the Nurse this night sit up with you. For, I am sure, you have your hands full all In this so sudden business.
JULIET
No, madam. We’ve selected the things that would be best for me to wear at the ceremony tomorrow. So, if it’s all right with you, please leave me alone now. Let the Nurse stay up tonight with you. I’m sure your hands are full getting ready for this sudden marriage celebration.
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LADY CAPULET
Good night.Get thee to bed and rest, for thou hast need.
LADY CAPULET
Good night. Go to bed and get your rest. You'll need it.
LADY CAPULET and the NURSE exit.
JULIET
Farewell. God knows when we shall meet again. 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. Come, vial. [Holds out the vial] What if this mixture do not work at all? Shall I be married then tomorrow morning? No, no, this shall forbid it. Lie thou there. [Lays down a knife] What if it be a poison which the friar Subtly hath ministered to have me dead, Lest in this marriage he should be dishonored 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. 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, 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— As in a vault, an ancient receptacle Where for this many hundred years the bones Of all my buried ancestors are packed; Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth, Lies fest'ring in his shroud; where, as they say, 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— O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught, Environèd 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 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, Romeo, Romeo! Here's drink. I drink to thee.
JULIET
Goodybe. God only knows when we will meet again. I feel a bit of cold fear tingling through my veins; it's almost freezing the heat of life. I'll call them back into the room again to comfort me. Nurse!—Oh, what good could she do here? I must carry out this dismal performance by myself. Come to me, vial. [She holds out the vial] What if this mixture doesn't work at all? In that case, will I have to get married tomorrow morning? No, no, this knife will forbid that from happening. I'll put you down there. [She lays down the knife] What if the friar has slyly given me a potion to kill me? Is he afraid that he would be disgraced by marrying me to Paris, because he married me to Romeo first? That's what I'm afraid of—and yet, I think it's probably not the case, because he has always proved to be an honest, holy man. But what if, when I'm laid in the tomb, I wake up before the time Romeo is supposed to come and get me? That frightens me. Will I not feel stifled in that foul vault—where no healthy air gets in—and die of strangulation before Romeo arrives? Or, if I live, isn't it likely that the horrible thought of death and night, together with the terror of the place, will make me go crazy? There's no place as terrifying as a vault, an ancient container where for over a hundred years my ancestors' bones have been packed in for burial. There bloody Tybalt, so recently alive on the earth, now lies festering in his burial shroud. They say that at some hours of night, spirits visit the tomb. Alas, alas! Is it not likely that I, waking up so early—what with the awful smells and the cries like mandrakes ripped out from the earth, making living mortals go crazy after hearing them—will likewise go insane? Oh, if I do wake up in there, will I not be distraught, surrounded with all these terrible fears? Will I go crazy, and play with my forefathers' bones, and take Tybalt's injured corpse out of his shroud? And, in this madness, will I use some noble relative's bone as a club to dash out my hopeless brains? Oh, look there! I think I see my cousin's ghost searching for Romeo, who killed him with a sword, staking him like a piece of meat upon the dagger's point. Wait, Tybalt, wait! Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here's a drink. I'll drink to you.
JULIET drinks from the vial and falls down on her bed, hidden by her bed curtains.
