Romeo and Juliet — Act 4, Scene 1in modern English, side by side

Friar Lawrence’s Cell · Friar Lawrence, Paris, Juliet

Romeo has been banished for killing Tybalt, and Juliet's parents — who don't know she is already secretly married to Romeo — have arranged for her to marry Count Paris on Thursday. Juliet comes to Friar Lawrence's cell desperate for a way out, and runs into Paris there making the wedding arrangements.

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Enter Friar Lawrence and Paris

Friar Lawrence

On Thursday, sir?

The time is very short.

That's very little time.

Paris

My father Capulet will have it so;

And I am nothing slow to slack his haste.

Lord Capulet, who will be my father-in-law, wants it that way, and I'm not inclined to slow him down when he's in a hurry.

Friar Lawrence

You say you do not know the lady’s mind.

You say you don't know how the lady feels about it.

Uneven is the course; I like it not.5

That's an irregular way to proceed — I don't like it.

Paris

Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt’s death,

And therefore have I little talk’d of love;

For Venus smiles not in a house of tears.

She's been weeping uncontrollably over Tybalt's death, so I've had little chance to talk to her about love — Venus doesn't smile in a house of tears.

Now, sir, her father counts it dangerous

That she do give her sorrow so much sway;10

And in his wisdom, hastes our marriage,

To stop the inundation of her tears,

Now, sir, her father thinks it's dangerous to let her grief take such a hold on her, and in his wisdom he's rushing our marriage forward to stop this flood of tears.

Which, too much minded by herself alone,

May be put from her by society.

Sorrow she broods on alone may be driven away by company.

Now do you know the reason of this haste.15

Now you know the reason for the hurry.

Aside.

Friar Lawrence

I would I knew not why it should be slow’d.

(To himself) I wish I didn't know the reason it ought to be slowed down.

Look, sir, here comes the lady toward my cell.

— Look, sir, here comes the lady toward my cell.

Enter Juliet

Paris

Happily met, my lady and my wife!

What a happy meeting, my lady — and my wife!

Juliet

That may be, sir, when I may be a wife.

That may be true, sir, once I can actually be a wife.

Paris

That may be, must be, love, on Thursday next.20

That "may be" must be, my love, this coming Thursday.

Juliet

What must be shall be.

Whatever must be, will be.

Friar Lawrence

That’s a certain text.

That's one saying that's certainly true.

Paris

Come you to make confession to this father?

Have you come to make confession to this father?

Juliet

To answer that, I should confess to you.

If I answered that, I'd be making my confession to you.

Paris

Do not deny to him that you love me.25

Don't deny to him that you love me.

Juliet

I will confess to you that I love him.

Paris

So will ye, I am sure, that you love me.

And you'll confess to him, I'm sure, that you love me.

Juliet

If I do so, it will be of more price,

Being spoke behind your back than to your face.

If I do, it will be worth more said behind your back than to your face.

Paris

Poor soul, thy face is much abus’d with tears.30

Poor soul, your face has been badly ravaged by tears.

Juliet

The tears have got small victory by that;

For it was bad enough before their spite.

The tears haven't won much of a victory there — my face was plain enough before they attacked it.

Paris

Thou wrong’st it more than tears with that report.

You wrong your face worse with those words than the tears ever did.

Juliet

That is no slander, sir, which is a truth,

And what I spake, I spake it to my face.35

It isn't slander, sir, if it's the truth — and what I said, I said to my own face.

Paris

Thy face is mine, and thou hast slander’d it.

Your face is mine, and you have slandered it.

Juliet

It may be so, for it is not mine own.

That may well be, since it doesn't belong to me.

Are you at leisure, holy father, now,

Or shall I come to you at evening mass?

— Holy father, are you free now, or should I come back to you at evening mass?

Friar Lawrence

My leisure serves me, pensive daughter, now.40

I have time now, my troubled daughter.

My lord, we must entreat the time alone.

— My lord, we must ask to have this time alone.

Paris

God shield I should disturb devotion!

God forbid I should disturb your devotions!

Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouse ye,

Juliet, on Thursday morning I'll come early to wake you.

Till then, adieu; and keep this holy kiss.

Until then, goodbye — and keep this holy kiss.

_Exit._

Juliet

O shut the door, and when thou hast done so,45

Come weep with me,

Oh, shut the door — and once you have, come weep with me.

past hope, past cure, past help!

This is past hope, past cure, past help!

Friar Lawrence

O Juliet, I already know thy grief;

It strains me past the compass of my wits.

Oh, Juliet, I already know your trouble — it strains my mind past the limits of my wits.

I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it,

On Thursday next be married to this County.50

I hear that on Thursday you must be married to this Count, and that nothing can postpone it.

Juliet

Tell me not, Friar, that thou hear’st of this,

Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it.

Don't tell me you've heard about it, Friar, unless you can also tell me how to prevent it.

If in thy wisdom, thou canst give no help,

Do thou but call my resolution wise,

And with this knife I’ll help it presently.55

If with all your wisdom you can offer no help, then just call my decision a wise one, and with this knife I'll take care of everything right now.

God join’d my heart and Romeo’s, thou our hands;

God joined my heart and Romeo's; you joined our hands.

And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo’s seal’d,

Shall be the label to another deed,

Or my true heart with treacherous revolt

Turn to another, this shall slay them both.60

And before this hand, which you sealed to Romeo's, becomes the signature on some other contract, or my faithful heart treacherously turns to another man, this knife will kill them both.

Therefore, out of thy long-experienc’d time,

Give me some present counsel, or behold

’Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife

Shall play the empire, arbitrating that

Which the commission of thy years and art65

Could to no issue of true honour bring.

So, out of your long years of experience, give me some advice this moment — or watch: between me and my desperate situation, this bloody knife will sit as judge, settling the case that all your age and skill couldn't bring to any honorable resolution.

Be not so long to speak.

Don't take so long to speak.

I long to die,

If what thou speak’st speak not of remedy.

I long for death, if what you have to say offers no remedy.

Friar Lawrence

Hold, daughter.

Stop, daughter.

I do spy a kind of hope,

Which craves as desperate an execution70

As that is desperate which we would prevent.

I see a kind of hope — but it demands an action as desperate as the situation we're trying to prevent.

If, rather than to marry County Paris

Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself,

Then is it likely thou wilt undertake

A thing like death to chide away this shame,75

That cop’st with death himself to scape from it.

If, rather than marry Count Paris, you truly have the strength of will to kill yourself, then you'll probably be willing to undergo something like death to drive off this disgrace — since you're prepared to face death itself to escape it.

And if thou dar’st, I’ll give thee remedy.

And if you dare, I'll give you the remedy.

Juliet

O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,

From off the battlements of yonder tower,

Or walk in thievish ways, or bid me lurk80

Where serpents are.

Oh, rather than marry Paris, tell me to leap from the battlements of that tower over there, or to walk down streets where thieves wait, or to hide where snakes live.

Chain me with roaring bears;

Or hide me nightly in a charnel-house,

O’er-cover’d quite with dead men’s rattling bones,

With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls.

Chain me up with roaring bears, or shut me at night inside a charnel house, buried completely under dead men's rattling bones, under stinking shin-bones and yellow jawless skulls.

Or bid me go into a new-made grave,85

And hide me with a dead man in his shroud;

Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble,

And I will do it without fear or doubt,

To live an unstain’d wife to my sweet love.

Or tell me to climb into a freshly dug grave and hide with a dead man inside his burial shroud — things that made me tremble just to hear described — and I will do it without fear or hesitation, to remain an unstained wife to my sweet love.

Friar Lawrence

Hold then.90

Hold on, then.

Go home, be merry, give consent90

To marry Paris.

Go home, act cheerful, and agree to marry Paris.

Wednesday is tomorrow;

Tomorrow is Wednesday.

Tomorrow night look that thou lie alone,

Let not thy Nurse lie with thee in thy chamber.

Tomorrow night, make sure you sleep alone — don't let the Nurse stay with you in your room.

Take thou this vial, being then in bed,

And this distilled liquor drink thou off,95

When you're in bed, take this vial and drink down the distilled liquid inside it.

When presently through all thy veins shall run

A cold and drowsy humour; for no pulse

Shall keep his native progress, but surcease.

At once a cold, drowsy fluid will run through all your veins; your pulse will stop its natural rhythm and go still.

No warmth, no breath shall testify thou livest,

The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade100

To paly ashes; thy eyes’ windows fall,

Like death when he shuts up the day of life.

No warmth, no breath will show that you're alive. The roses in your lips and cheeks will fade to pale ash, and the windows of your eyes will fall shut, the way death closes out the daylight of life.

Each part depriv’d of supple government,

Shall stiff and stark and cold appear like death.

Every part of your body, robbed of its power to move, will turn stiff, rigid, and cold — exactly like death.

And in this borrow’d likeness of shrunk death105

Thou shalt continue two and forty hours,

And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.

You'll remain in this borrowed likeness of shriveled death for forty-two hours, and then wake up as if from a pleasant sleep.

Now when the bridegroom in the morning comes

To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead.

Now — when the bridegroom comes in the morning to rouse you from your bed, there you'll be: dead.

Then as the manner of our country is,110

In thy best robes, uncover’d, on the bier,

Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault

Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.

Then, as the custom of our country is, you'll be carried in your best clothes, uncovered on the funeral bier, to the same ancient vault where all the Capulet dead lie.

In the meantime, against thou shalt awake,

Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift,115

In the meantime, before you wake, my letters will let Romeo know our plan.

And hither shall he come, and he and I

Will watch thy waking, and that very night

Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.

He'll come here, and he and I will keep watch for your waking, and that very night Romeo will carry you away to Mantua.

And this shall free thee from this present shame,

If no inconstant toy nor womanish fear120

Abate thy valour in the acting it.

That will free you from this looming disgrace — as long as no fickle mood-swing or womanish fear weakens your courage when it's time to act.

Juliet

Give me, give me!

Give it to me, give it to me!

O tell not me of fear!

Oh, don't talk to me about fear!

Friar Lawrence

Hold;

Here, take it.

get you gone, be strong and prosperous

In this resolve.

Now off you go — be strong and successful in this decision.

I’ll send a friar with speed

To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.125

I'll send a friar quickly to Mantua with my letters to your husband.

Juliet

Love give me strength, and strength shall help afford.

Love will give me strength, and strength will see me through.

Farewell, dear father.

_Exeunt._

Famous lines in this scene

“Come weep with me, past hope, past cure, past help!” line 46

Juliet says this to Friar Lawrence the instant Paris leaves, dropping her polite mask. The triple repetition — hope, cure, help — measures her total desperation: banishment and the forced marriage have closed off every option. It marks the turning point where Juliet, failed by everyone else, will accept any risk the Friar proposes.

“Take thou this vial, being then in bed,” line 94

The Friar hands Juliet the sleeping potion that drives the rest of the play: the drink will make her seem dead for forty-two hours so she can escape marrying Paris. The plan's famous weakness — it depends entirely on a letter reaching Romeo in Mantua — makes this moment the hinge of the whole tragedy.

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