Romeo and Juliet — Act 3, Scene 2in modern English, side by side
A Room in Capulet’s House · Juliet, Nurse
Juliet waits eagerly for nightfall and her wedding night with Romeo, but the Nurse arrives with news that Tybalt is dead and Romeo has killed him. Juliet swings between fury at Romeo and fierce loyalty to her new husband before learning the Prince has banished him rather than executed him.
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Enter Juliet
Juliet
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus’ lodging.
Gallop fast, you fiery-footed horses, toward the sun's home in the west.
Such a waggoner
As Phaeton would whip you to the west
And bring in cloudy night immediately.
A driver like Phaethon would whip you there and bring on cloudy night right away.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,5
That runaway’s eyes may wink, and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk’d of and unseen.
Spread your close curtain, night that makes love possible, so that Romeo's watchers may shut their eyes, and Romeo can leap into these arms unnoticed and unspoken of.
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties: or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night.10
Lovers can see well enough to perform their acts of love by their own beauty — or, if love is blind, it goes best with night.
Come, civil night,10
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
Play’d for a pair of stainless maidenhoods.
Come, decorous night, you sober, black-robed matron, and teach me how to lose a winning game played for a pair of untouched virginities.
Hood my unmann’d blood, bating in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle, till strange love, grow bold,15
Think true love acted simple modesty.
Cover the wild blood pounding in my cheeks with your black cloak, until my unfamiliar passion grows bold enough to think that true love is simply modest behavior.
Come, night, come Romeo; come, thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow upon a raven’s back.
Come, night; come, Romeo — you are my daylight within the night, for you will lie upon night's wings whiter than fresh snow on a raven's back.
Come gentle night, come loving black-brow’d night,20
Give me my Romeo, and when I shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun.25
Come, gentle night, come loving, dark-browed night, give me my Romeo; and when I die, take him and cut him into little stars, and he'll make the face of heaven so beautiful that the whole world will fall in love with night and stop worshipping the harsh sun.
O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
But not possess’d it; and though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy’d.
Oh, I've bought the house of love but haven't moved in yet; and though I am promised, I haven't yet been enjoyed.
So tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes30
And may not wear them.
This day is as endless as the night before some festival is to an impatient child who has new clothes and isn't allowed to wear them yet.
O, here comes my Nurse,
And she brings news, and every tongue that speaks
But Romeo’s name speaks heavenly eloquence.
Oh, here comes my Nurse, and she brings news — and every tongue that speaks anything but Romeo's name speaks the language of heaven.
Enter Nurse, with cords
Juliet
Now, Nurse, what news?
Now, Nurse, what news?
What hast thou there?
The cords that Romeo bid thee fetch?35
What's that you're carrying — the ropes Romeo told you to fetch?
Nurse
Ay, ay, the cords.
Yes, yes, the ropes.
_Throws them down._
Juliet
Ay me, what news?
Oh no, what news?
Why dost thou wring thy hands?
Why are you wringing your hands?
Nurse
Ah, well-a-day, he’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead!
Oh, what a terrible day — he's dead, he's dead, he's dead!
We are undone, lady, we are undone.
We're ruined, my lady, we're ruined.
Alack the day, he’s gone, he’s kill’d, he’s dead.40
Alas the day, he's gone, he's been killed, he's dead.
Juliet
Can heaven be so envious?
Can heaven really be so cruel?
Nurse
Romeo can,
Though heaven cannot.
Romeo can be, even if heaven can't.
O Romeo, Romeo.
Who ever would have thought it?
Oh, Romeo, Romeo — who would ever have thought it?
Romeo!
Romeo!
Juliet
What devil art thou, that dost torment me thus?45
What devil are you, torturing me like this?
This torture should be roar’d in dismal hell.
This kind of torture belongs howled in hell itself.
Hath Romeo slain himself?
Has Romeo killed himself?
Say thou but Ay,
And that bare vowel I shall poison more
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice.
Just say 'yes,' and that one syllable will poison me faster than the deadly stare of a mythical serpent.
I am not I if there be such an I;50
Or those eyes shut that make thee answer Ay.
I stop being myself if there's such a 'yes' — or if those eyes that would make you say it are shut forever.
If he be slain, say Ay; or if not, No.
If he's dead, say yes; if not, say no.
Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe.
A single word decides my happiness or my ruin.
Nurse
I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,
God save the mark!—here on his manly breast.55
I saw the wound — I saw it with my own eyes, God have mercy — right here on his manly chest.
A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse;
Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub’d in blood,
All in gore-blood.
A pitiful corpse, a bloody, pitiful corpse — pale, pale as ashes, all smeared with blood, covered in gore.
I swounded at the sight.
I fainted at the sight.
Juliet
O, break, my heart.
Oh, break, my heart
Poor bankrout, break at once.
— you poor bankrupt thing, break all at once.
To prison, eyes; ne’er look on liberty.60
Eyes, go to prison; never look on freedom again.
Vile earth to earth resign; end motion here,
And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier.
Let this vile body return to the vile earth; let all motion stop here, so you and Romeo can share one heavy coffin.
Nurse
O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had.
Oh, Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had!
O courteous Tybalt, honest gentleman!
That ever I should live to see thee dead.65
Oh, courteous Tybalt, honest gentleman — that I should live to see you dead!
Juliet
What storm is this that blows so contrary?
What storm is this, blowing from every direction at once?
Is Romeo slaughter’d and is Tybalt dead?
Is Romeo killed, and is Tybalt dead too?
My dearest cousin, and my dearer lord?
My dearest cousin, and my even dearer husband?
Then dreadful trumpet sound the general doom,
For who is living, if those two are gone?70
Then let the dreadful trumpet announce the end of the world, for who is left living if those two are gone?
Nurse
Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished,
Romeo that kill’d him, he is banished.
Tybalt is gone, and Romeo is banished — Romeo, who killed him, has been banished.
Juliet
O God!
Oh God!
Did Romeo’s hand shed Tybalt’s blood?
Did Romeo's hand really spill Tybalt's blood?
Nurse
It did, it did; alas the day, it did.
It did, it did — alas the day, it did.
Juliet
O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!75
Oh, a serpent's heart hidden behind a flowering face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Did any dragon ever live in so beautiful a cave?
Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical,
Dove-feather’d raven, wolvish-ravening lamb!
Beautiful tyrant, angel-faced fiend, dove-feathered raven, wolf that preys like a starving lamb!
Despised substance of divinest show!
The vile truth beneath the most heavenly appearance!
Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st,80
A damned saint, an honourable villain!
The exact opposite of what you rightly seem to be — a damned saint, an honorable villain!
O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend
In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh?
Oh, nature, what were you doing in hell when you housed a devil's spirit in the mortal paradise of such sweet flesh?
Was ever book containing such vile matter85
So fairly bound?
Was any book containing such vile contents ever so beautifully bound?
O, that deceit should dwell
In such a gorgeous palace.
Oh, that deceit should live in such a magnificent palace.
Nurse
There’s no trust,
No faith, no honesty in men. All perjur’d,
All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.90
There's no trust, no faith, no honesty in men — all liars, all oath-breakers, all worthless, all frauds.
Ah, where’s my man?
Ah, where's my servant?
Give me some aqua vitae.
Get me some brandy.
These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.
These griefs, these sorrows, these troubles are making me old before my time.
Shame come to Romeo.
Shame on Romeo.
Juliet
Blister’d be thy tongue
For such a wish!95
Let your tongue blister for wishing such a thing!
He was not born to shame.95
Upon his brow shame is asham’d to sit;
For ’tis a throne where honour may be crown’d
Sole monarch of the universal earth.
He wasn't born for shame — shame is ashamed to sit on his forehead, because that forehead is a throne where honor could be crowned sole ruler of the whole world.
O, what a beast was I to chide at him!
Oh, what a beast I was to scold him!
Nurse
Will you speak well of him that kill’d your cousin?100
Will you really speak well of the man who killed your cousin?
Juliet
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Should I speak badly of the man who is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name,
When I thy three-hours’ wife have mangled it?
Ah, my poor husband, whose tongue will speak kindly of your name now that I, your wife of three hours, have torn it to pieces?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?
But why, you villain, did you kill my cousin?
That villain cousin would have kill’d my husband.105
Because that villain cousin would have killed my husband.
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring,
Your tributary drops belong to woe,
Which you mistaking offer up to joy.
Go back, foolish tears, back to where you came from — your sorrowful drops belong to grief, and you're mistakenly offering them up to joy instead.
My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain,
And Tybalt’s dead, that would have slain my husband.110
My husband lives, the one Tybalt would have killed, and Tybalt is dead, the one who would have killed my husband.
All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?
All of this is comfort — so why am I crying?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,
That murder’d me.
Some word was spoken, worse than Tybalt's death, that struck me down.
I would forget it fain,
But O, it presses to my memory
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds.115
I'd like to forget it, but oh, it presses into my memory the way guilty deeds press on a sinner's mind.
Tybalt is dead, and Romeo banished.
Tybalt is dead, and Romeo is banished.
That ‘banished,’ that one word ‘banished,’
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts.
That word 'banished' — that one word 'banished' — has killed ten thousand Tybalts.
Tybalt’s death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there.
Tybalt's death alone would have been grief enough, if it had ended there.
Or if sour woe delights in fellowship,120
And needly will be rank’d with other griefs,
Why follow’d not, when she said Tybalt’s dead,
Thy father or thy mother, nay or both,
Which modern lamentation might have mov’d?
Or if bitter grief needs company and insists on being ranked alongside other sorrows, why didn't it follow, when she said Tybalt was dead, that your father or your mother — or both — had died too, which would have caused the ordinary kind of mourning?
But with a rear-ward following Tybalt’s death,125
‘Romeo is banished’—to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead.
But trailing right behind Tybalt's death comes 'Romeo is banished' — to say that word is to kill father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, and Juliet, all at once, all dead.
Romeo is banished,
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,
In that word’s death, no words can that woe sound.130
'Romeo is banished' — there is no end, no limit, no measure, no boundary to the death in that word; no words can express that grief.
Where is my father and my mother, Nurse?
Where are my father and mother, Nurse?
Nurse
Weeping and wailing over Tybalt’s corse.
Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's body.
Will you go to them?
Do you want to go to them?
I will bring you thither.
I'll take you there.
Juliet
Wash they his wounds with tears.
Let their tears wash his wounds.
Mine shall be spent,
When theirs are dry, for Romeo’s banishment.135
Mine will still be falling long after theirs have dried, weeping for Romeo's banishment.
Take up those cords.
Pick up those ropes.
Poor ropes, you are beguil’d,
Both you and I; for Romeo is exil’d.
Poor ropes, you've been cheated — both you and I — because Romeo is exiled.
He made you for a highway to my bed,
But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed.
He meant you to be a road leading to my bed, but instead I'll die a widowed virgin.
Come cords, come Nurse, I’ll to my wedding bed,140
And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead.
Come, ropes; come, Nurse — I'm going to my wedding bed, and death, not Romeo, will take my virginity.
Nurse
Hie to your chamber.
Hurry to your room.
I’ll find Romeo
To comfort you.
I'll find Romeo to comfort you
I wot well where he is.
— I know exactly where he is.
Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night.
Listen: your Romeo will be here tonight.
I’ll to him, he is hid at Lawrence’ cell.145
I'll go to him — he's hiding at Friar Lawrence's cell.
Juliet
O find him, give this ring to my true knight,
And bid him come to take his last farewell.
Oh, find him — give this ring to my true knight, and tell him to come and take his final farewell.
_Exeunt._
Famous lines in this scene
“Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,” line 1
Juliet's soliloquy waiting for night, so Romeo can come to her secretly as her new husband. She addresses the sun's horses, night, and the coming darkness directly, building a rush of anticipation and desire. It's one of Shakespeare's most sensuous speeches, showing Juliet as bold and sexually aware, not a passive romantic heroine.
“Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical,” line 77
Juliet piles up contradictory epithets for Romeo after learning he killed Tybalt — beautiful yet cruel, a devil that looks like an angel. The oxymorons capture her torn loyalties: she cannot reconcile the man she loves with the killer of her cousin, so language itself breaks into opposites.
“That ‘banished,’ that one word ‘banished,’” line 117
Juliet realizes that Romeo's banishment devastates her more than Tybalt's death. She insists a single word — 'banished' — outweighs an entire family's worth of grief, showing how completely her identity is now bound to Romeo rather than to her own house.
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