Romeo and Juliet
ACT II
| PROLOGUE | ||
| [Enter Chorus] | ||
| Chorus | Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie, | |
| And young affection gapes to be his heir; | ||
| That fair for which love groan’d for and would die, | ||
| With tender Juliet match’d, is now not fair. | ||
| Now Romeo is beloved and loves again, | ||
| Alike betwitched by the charm of looks, | ||
| But to his foe supposed he must complain, | ||
| And she steal love’s sweet bait from fearful hooks: | ||
| Being held a foe, he may not have access | ||
| To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear; | 10 | |
| And she as much in love, her means much less | ||
| To meet her new-beloved any where: | ||
| But passion lends them power, time means, to meet | ||
| Tempering extremities with extreme sweet. | ||
| [Exit] | ||
| ACT II SCENE I | A lane by the wall of Capulet’s orchard. | |
| [Enter ROMEO] | ||
| ROMEO | Can I go forward when my heart is here? | |
| Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out. | ||
| [He climbs the wall, and leaps down within it] | ||
| [Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO] | ||
| BENVOLIO | Romeo! my cousin Romeo! | |
| MERCUTIO | He is wise; | |
| And, on my life, hath stol’n him home to bed. | ||
| BENVOLIO | He ran this way, and leap’d this orchard wall: | |
| Call, good Mercutio. | ||
| MERCUTIO | Nay, I’ll conjure too. | |
| Romeo! humours! madman! passion! lover! | ||
| Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh: | 10 | |
| Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied; | ||
| Cry but ‘Ay me!’ pronounce but ‘love’ and ‘dove;’ | ||
| Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word, | ||
| One nick-name for her purblind son and heir, | ||
| Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim, | ||
| When King Cophetua loved the beggar-maid! | ||
| He heareth not, he stirreth not, he moveth not; | ||
| The ape is dead, and I must conjure him. | ||
| I conjure thee by Rosaline’s bright eyes, | ||
| By her high forehead and her scarlet lip, | 20 | |
| her fine foot, straight leg and quivering thigh | ||
| And the demesnes that there adjacent lie, | ||
| That in thy likeness thou appear to us! | ||
| BENVOLIO | And if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him. | |
| MERCUTIO | This cannot anger him: ‘twould anger him | |
| To raise a spirit in his mistress’ circle | ||
| Of some strange nature, letting it there stand | ||
| Till she had laid it and conjured it down; | ||
| That were some spite: my invocation | ||
| Is fair and honest, and in his mistress’ name | 30 | |
| I conjure only but to raise up him. | ||
| BENVOLIO | Come, he hath hid himself among these trees, | |
| To be consorted with the humorous night: | ||
| Blind is his love and best befits the dark. | ||
| MERCUTIO | If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark. | |
| Now will he sit under a medlar tree, | ||
| And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit | ||
| As maids call medlars, when they laugh alone. | ||
| Romeo, that she were, O, that she were | ||
| An open et caetera, thou a poperin pear! | 40 | |
| Romeo, good night: I’ll to my truckle-bed; | ||
| This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep: | ||
| Come, shall we go? | ||
| BENVOLIO | Go, then; for ’tis in vain | |
| To seek him here that means not to be found. | ||
| [Exeunt] | ||
Next: Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2