Romeo and Juliet — Act 2, Scene 5
original text and modern English, side by side
Capulet’s Garden · Juliet, Nurse
Juliet waits anxiously in the garden for the Nurse to return with news from Romeo about the wedding plans. When the Nurse finally arrives, she teases and stalls, complaining about her aches and pains before finally revealing that Romeo wants Juliet to meet him at Friar Lawrence's cell that afternoon to be married.
Enter Juliet
Juliet
The clock struck nine when I did send the Nurse,
In half an hour she promised to return.
The clock struck nine when I sent the Nurse off; she promised to be back in half an hour.
Perchance she cannot meet him.
Maybe she couldn't find him
That’s not so.
— no, that's not it.
O, she is lame.
Oh, she's just slow.
Love’s heralds should be thoughts,
Which ten times faster glides than the sun’s beams,
Driving back shadows over lowering hills:
Messages of love should travel like thoughts, which move ten times faster than sunlight, chasing shadows back over the hills.
Therefore do nimble-pinion’d doves draw love,
And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings.
That's why gentle doves pull Cupid's chariot, and why Cupid himself has wings as fast as the wind.
Now is the sun upon the highmost hill
Of this day’s journey, and from nine till twelve
Is three long hours, yet she is not come.
Right now the sun is at the very top of its daily climb, and from nine to noon is three long hours — yet still she hasn't come.
Had she affections and warm youthful blood,
She’d be as swift in motion as a ball;
My words would bandy her to my sweet love,
And his to me.
If she had any real feeling and young, warm blood in her, she'd move as quickly as a tossed ball — my words would send her flying straight to my sweetheart, and his words flying straight back to me.
But old folks, many feign as they were dead;
Unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead.
But old people, so many of them, might as well be dead already: slow, clumsy, heavy, and pale as lead.
Enter Nurse and Peter
Juliet
O God, she comes.
Oh thank God, here she comes.
O honey Nurse, what news?
Oh sweet Nurse, what's the news?
Hast thou met with him?
Did you find him?
Send thy man away.
Send your servant away first.
Nurse
Peter, stay at the gate.
Peter, wait by the gate.
Exit Peter.
Juliet
Now, good sweet Nurse,—O Lord, why look’st thou sad?
Now, good sweet Nurse — oh, Lord, why do you look so upset?
Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily;
Even if the news is bad, tell it to me cheerfully.
If good, thou sham’st the music of sweet news
By playing it to me with so sour a face.
And if it's good news, you're ruining the sweetness of it by delivering it with such a sour face.
Nurse
I am aweary, give me leave awhile;
I'm exhausted, give me a moment to rest.
Fie, how my bones ache!
Ugh, my bones ache!
What a jaunt have I had!
What a trip I just had!
Juliet
I would thou hadst my bones, and I thy news:
I wish you had my youthful bones and I had your news right now.
Nay come, I pray thee speak; good, good Nurse, speak.
Come on, please, speak — good, good Nurse, speak.
Nurse
Jesu, what haste?
Good heavens, what's the rush?
Can you not stay a while?
Can't you wait a moment?
Do you not see that I am
out of breath?
Can't you see I'm out of breath?
Juliet
How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath
To say to me that thou art out of breath?
How can you be out of breath, when you have enough breath to tell me you're out of breath?
The excuse that thou dost make in this delay
Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse.
The excuse you're making for stalling is taking longer than the actual news would.
Is thy news good or bad?
Is your news good or bad?
Answer to that;
Say either, and I’ll stay the circumstance.
Just answer that — say one word either way, and I'll wait patiently for the rest of the details.
Let me be satisfied, is’t good or bad?
Just satisfy me on this: is it good or bad?
Nurse
Well, you have made a simple choice;
Well, you've made a foolish choice
you know not how to choose a man.
— you have no idea how to pick a man.
Romeo?
Romeo?
No, not he.
Him?
Though his face be better than any man’s, yet his
leg excels all men’s, and for a hand and a foot, and a body, though
they be not to be talked on, yet they are past compare.
Well, even though his face is more handsome than any other man's, and his legs beat everyone else's, and as for his hands and feet and body — though it's not really proper to discuss — they're beyond comparison.
He is not the
flower of courtesy, but I’ll warrant him as gentle as a lamb.
He's not exactly the very model of good manners, but I'll swear he's as gentle as a lamb.
Go thy
ways, wench, serve God.
Go on about your business, girl, and say your prayers.
What, have you dined at home?
By the way, have you had lunch at home yet?
Juliet
No, no.
No, no.
But all this did I know before.
But I already knew all of that.
What says he of our marriage?
What does he say about our marriage?
What of that?
What about that?
Nurse
Lord, how my head aches!
Lord, how my head aches!
What a head have I!
What a headache I have!
It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces.
It's pounding like it's about to split into twenty pieces.
My back o’ t’other side,—O my back, my back!
And my back, over on this side — oh, my back, my back!
Beshrew your heart for sending me about
To catch my death with jauncing up and down.
Curse you for sending me running all around like this — I'll catch my death from all this rushing back and forth.
Juliet
I’faith, I am sorry that thou art not well.
Honestly, I'm sorry you're not feeling well.
Sweet, sweet, sweet Nurse, tell me, what says my love?
Sweet, sweet, sweet Nurse, tell me — what does my love say?
Nurse
Your love says like an honest gentleman,
And a courteous, and a kind, and a handsome,
And I warrant a virtuous,—
Your love speaks like an honest gentleman, and a polite one, and a kind one, and a handsome one, and — I'd swear — a virtuous one too.
Where is your mother?
Where is your mother?
Juliet
Where is my mother?
Where's my mother?
Why, she is within.
Where should she be?
Why, she's inside — where else would she be?
How oddly thou repliest.
What a strange thing to answer with.
‘Your love says, like an honest gentleman,
‘Where is your mother?’
"Your love speaks like an honest gentleman... where is your mother?"
Nurse
O God’s lady dear,
Are you so hot?
Oh, good heavens, are you really so worked up?
Marry, come up, I trow.
Well, listen to you!
Is this the poultice for my aching bones?
Is this the thanks I get for my aching bones — a scolding?
Henceforward do your messages yourself.
From now on, run your own errands.
Juliet
Here’s such a coil.
What a fuss over nothing.
Come, what says Romeo?
Come on, what does Romeo say?
Nurse
Have you got leave to go to shrift today?
Have you gotten permission to go to confession today?
Juliet
I have.
I have.
Nurse
Then hie you hence to Friar Lawrence’ cell;
There stays a husband to make you a wife.
Then hurry off to Friar Lawrence's cell — there waits a husband ready to make you a wife.
Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks,
They’ll be in scarlet straight at any news.
Look at the color rushing to your cheeks now — they'll turn scarlet the moment there's any news at all.
Hie you to church.
Hurry off to church.
I must another way,
To fetch a ladder by the which your love
Must climb a bird’s nest soon when it is dark.
I have to go another way, to fetch a rope ladder that your love will use to climb up to your "bird's nest" once it's dark.
I am the drudge, and toil in your delight;
But you shall bear the burden soon at night.
I'm the one doing all the grunt work, laboring away for your pleasure — but tonight, you're the one who'll be carrying the real weight.
Go.
Go on.
I’ll to dinner; hie you to the cell.
I'm off to dinner; hurry to the cell.
Juliet
Hie to high fortune!
Off to my great fortune!
Honest Nurse, farewell.
Farewell, honest Nurse.
Exeunt.
Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scene 5 summary
Juliet waits anxiously in the garden for the Nurse to return with news from Romeo about the wedding plans. When the Nurse finally arrives, she teases and stalls, complaining about her aches and pains before finally revealing that Romeo wants Juliet to meet him at Friar Lawrence's cell that afternoon to be married.
Who appears in this scene
Juliet, Nurse — Capulet’s Garden.
Keep reading
- Act 2, Scene 4 — modern English translation
- Act 2, Scene 6 — modern English translation
- All Romeo and Juliet scenes
About this translation: the original text follows the public-domain Project Gutenberg Globe edition; the modern English translation was written in-house for Polytranslator and is reviewed on an ongoing basis (last revised August 2026). Free to print and photocopy for classroom use. Cite as: “Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 5. Polytranslator side-by-side translation, polytranslator.com/shakespeare/romeo-and-juliet/act-2-scene-5.”
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