Present death – but the shop is closed (5.1.49-56)

ROMEO           Noting this penury, to myself I said,                         ‘And if a man did need a poison now,                         Whose sale is present death in Mantua,                         Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him’.                         O this same thought did but forerun my need,                         And this same needy man must sell it […]

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A stuffed alligator – but why? (why indeed?) (5.1.40-48)

ROMEO                                   … meagre were his looks,                         Sharp misery had worn him to the bones;                         And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,                         An alligator stuffed, and other skins                         Of ill-shaped fishes, and about his shelves                         A beggarly account of empty boxes,                         Green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds,                         […]

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I will lie with thee tonight – but how? (5.1.34-40)

ROMEO           Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight.                         Let’s see for means. O mischief, thou art swift                         To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!                         I do remember an apothecary,                         And hereabouts ’a dwells, which late I noted                         In tattered weeds, with overwhelming brows,                         Culling of simples… (5.1.34-40) […]

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Balthasar, out of his depth, and, misadventure (5.1.27-33)

BALTHASAR   I do beseech you, sir, have patience:                         Your looks are pale and wild, and do import                         Some misadventure. ROMEO                                               Tush, thou art deceived.                         Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do.                         Hast thou no letters for me from the Friar? BALTHASAR   No, my good lord. ROMEO                                   No matter, […]

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THEN I DEFY YOU, STARS! (5.1.20-26)

BALTHASAR   I saw her laid low in her kindred’s vault,                         And presently took post to tell it you.                         O pardon me for bringing these ill news,                         Since you did leave it for my office, sir. ROMEO           Is it e’en so? then I defy you, stars!                         Thou knowest my lodging, get me […]

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News from Verona! (5.1.12-19)

Enter Romeo’s man [BALTHASAR, booted]. ROMEO           News from Verona! How now, Balthasar?                         Dost thou not bring me letters from the Friar?                         How doth my lady? Is my father well?                         How doth my Juliet? That I ask again,                         For nothing can be ill if she be well. BALTHASAR   Then she is well and […]

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Romeo’s dreamy dream (5.1.6-11)

ROMEO           I dreamt my lady came and found me dead                         (Strange dream that gives a dead man leave to think!),                         And breathed such life with kisses in my lips                         That I revived and was an emperor.                         Ah me, how sweet is love itself possessed,                         When but love’s shadows are so […]

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Romeo, rested and refreshed (5.1.1-5)

[5.1]    Enter ROMEO. ROMEO           If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep, My dreams presage some joyful news at hand. My bosom’s lord sits lightly in his throne, And all this day an unaccustomed spirit Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts. (5.1.1-5) Finally, Romeo has got some sleep. It’s Wednesday afternoon, his first […]

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Musical banter #3 (4.5.129-138)

PETER                                    Prates too! What say you, James Soundpost? THIRD MUSICIAN      Faith, I know not what to say. PETER                        O, I cry you mercy, you are the singer; I will say for you: It is ‘music with her silver sound’ because musicians have no gold for sounding.                                                 ‘Then music with her silver sound                                                 With […]

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Musical banter #2 (4.5.118-128)

PETER                        Then have at you with my wit! I will dry-beat you with an iron wit, and put up my iron dagger. Answer me like men:                                                 ‘When griping griefs the heart doth wound,                                                 And doleful dumps the mind oppress,                                                 Then music with her silver sound—’ Why ‘silver sound’? why ‘music with her […]

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