Internet Shakespeare Editions

Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: Roger Apfelbaum
Not Peer Reviewed

Romeo and Juliet (Quarto 1, 1597)

of Romeo and Iuliet.

Will you goe to them?
Iul.I, I, when theirs are spent,
1785Mine shall he shed for Romeos banishment.
Nur.Ladie, your Romeo will be here to night,
1795Ile to him, he is hid at Laurence Cell.
Iul.Doo so, and beare this Ring to my true Knight,
And bid him come to take his last farewell. Exeunt.

Enter Frier.
1800Fr:Romeo come forth, come forth thou fearfull man,
Affliction is enamourd on thy parts,
And thou art wedded to Calamitie.
1803.1Enter Romeo.
Rom:Father what newes, what is the Princes doome,
What Sorrow craues acquaintance at our hands,
Which yet we know not.
Fr:Too familiar
Is my yong sonne with such sowre companie:
1810I bring thee tidings of the Princes doome.
Rom.What lesse than doomes day is the Princes doome?
Fr:A gentler iudgement vanisht from his lips,
Not bodies death, but bodies banishment.
1815Rom:Ha, Banished? be mercifull, say death:
For Exile hath more terror in his lookes,
Than death it selfe, doo not say Banishment.
Fr:Hence from Verona art thou banished:
Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.
1820Rom:There is no world without Verona walls,
But purgatorie, torture, hell itselfe.
Hence banished, is banisht from the world:
And world exilde is death. Calling death banishment,
1825Thou cutst my head off with a golden axe,
And smilest vpon the stroke that murders me.
Fr:Oh monstrous sinne, O rude vnthankfulnes:
Thy fault our law calls death, but the milde Prince
(Taking thy part) hath rushd aside the law,
And