Act 1, Scene 5

A Hall in Capulet's House.

[Musicians waiting. Enter Servants.]
First Servant
585 Where's Potpan, that he helps not to take away?
586 he shift a trencher! he scrape a trencher!
Second Servant
587 When good manners shall lie all in one or two men's
588 hands, and they unwash'd too, 'tis a foul thing.
First Servant
589 Away with the join-stools, remove the court-cupboard, look
590 to the plate:—good thou, save me a piece of marchpane; and as
591 thou loves me, let the porter let in Susan Grindstone and Nell.—
592 Antony! and Potpan!
Second Servant
593 Ay, boy, ready.
First Servant
594 You are looked for and called for, asked for
595 and sought for in the great chamber.
Second Servant
596 We cannot be here and there too.—Cheerly, boys;
597 be brisk awhile, and the longer liver take all.
[They retire behind.]
[Enter Capulet, &c. with the Guests the Maskers.]
Capulet
598 Welcome, gentlemen! ladies that have their toes
599 Unplagu'd with corns will have a bout with you.—
600 Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all
601 Will now deny to dance? she that makes dainty, she,
602 I'll swear hath corns; am I come near you now?
603 Welcome, gentlemen! I have seen the day
604 That I have worn a visard; and could tell
605 A whispering tale in a fair lady's ear,
606 Such as would please;—'tis gone, 'tis gone, 'tis gone:
607 You are welcome, gentlemen!—Come, musicians, play.
608 A hall—a hall! give room! and foot it, girls.—
[Music plays, and they dance.]
Capulet
609 More light, you knaves; and turn the tables up,
610 And quench the fire, the room is grown too hot.—
611 Ah, sirrah, this unlook'd-for sport comes well.
612 Nay, sit, nay, sit, good cousin Capulet;
613 For you and I are past our dancing days;
614 How long is't now since last yourself and I
615 Were in a mask?
Second Capulet
616 By'r Lady, thirty years.
Capulet
617 What, man! 'tis not so much, 'tis not so much:
618 'Tis since the nuptial of Lucentio,
619 Come Pentecost as quickly as it will,
620 Some five-and-twenty years; and then we mask'd.
Second Capulet
621 'Tis more, 'tis more: his son is elder, sir;
622 His son is thirty.
Capulet
623 Will you tell me that?
624 His son was but a ward two years ago.
Romeo
625 What lady is that, which doth enrich the hand
626 Of yonder knight?
Servant
627 I know not, sir.
Romeo
628 O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
629 It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
630 Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear;
631 Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
632 So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows
633 As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
634 The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand
635 And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
636 Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
637 For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.
Tybalt
638 This, by his voice, should be a Montague.—
639 Fetch me my rapier, boy:—what, dares the slave
640 Come hither, cover'd with an antic face,
641 To fleer and scorn at our solemnity?
642 Now, by the stock and honour of my kin,
643 To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.
Capulet
644 Why, how now, kinsman! wherefore storm you so?
Tybalt
645 Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe;
646 A villain, that is hither come in spite,
647 To scorn at our solemnity this night.
Capulet
648 Young Romeo, is it?
Tybalt
649 'Tis he, that villain, Romeo.
Capulet
650 Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone,
651 He bears him like a portly gentleman;
652 And, to say truth, Verona brags of him
653 To be a virtuous and well-govern'd youth:
654 I would not for the wealth of all the town
655 Here in my house do him disparagement:
656 Therefore be patient, take no note of him,—
657 It is my will; the which if thou respect,
658 Show a fair presence and put off these frowns,
659 An ill-beseeming semblance for a feast.
Tybalt
660 It fits, when such a villain is a guest:
661 I'll not endure him.
Capulet
662 He shall be endur'd:
663 What, goodman boy!—I say he shall;—go to;
664 Am I the master here, or you? go to.
665 You'll not endure him!—God shall mend my soul,
666 You'll make a mutiny among my guests!
667 You will set cock-a-hoop! you'll be the man!
Tybalt
668 Why, uncle, 'tis a shame.
Capulet
669 Go to, go to!
670 You are a saucy boy. Is't so, indeed?—
671 This trick may chance to scathe you,—I know what:
672 You must contrary me! marry, 'tis time.—
673 Well said, my hearts!—You are a princox; go:
674 Be quiet, or—More light, more light!—For shame!
675 I'll make you quiet. What!—cheerly, my hearts.
Tybalt
676 Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting
677 Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting.
678 I will withdraw: but this intrusion shall,
679 Now seeming sweet, convert to bitter gall.
[Exit.]
[To Juliet.]
Romeo
680 If I profane with my unworthiest hand
681 This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this,—
682 My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
683 To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
Juliet
684 Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
685 Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
686 For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
687 And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.
Romeo
688 Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
Juliet
689 Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
Romeo
690 O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
691 They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
Juliet
692 Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
Romeo
693 Then move not while my prayer's effect I take.
694 Thus from my lips, by thine my sin is purg'd.
[Kissing her.]
Juliet
695 Then have my lips the sin that they have took.
Romeo
696 Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urg'd!
697 Give me my sin again.
Juliet
698 You kiss by the book.
Nurse
699 Madam, your mother craves a word with you.
Romeo
700 What is her mother?
Nurse
701 Marry, bachelor,
702 Her mother is the lady of the house.
703 And a good lady, and a wise and virtuous:
704 I nurs'd her daughter that you talk'd withal;
705 I tell you, he that can lay hold of her
706 Shall have the chinks.
Romeo
707 Is she a Capulet?
708 O dear account! my life is my foe's debt.
Benvolio
709 Away, be gone; the sport is at the best.
Romeo
710 Ay, so I fear; the more is my unrest.
Capulet
711 Nay, gentlemen, prepare not to be gone;
712 We have a trifling foolish banquet towards.—
713 Is it e'en so? why then, I thank you all;
714 I thank you, honest gentlemen; good-night.—
715 More torches here!—Come on then, let's to bed.
716 Ah, sirrah
[to 2 Capulet]
Capulet
717 , by my fay, it waxes late;
718 I'll to my rest.
[Exeunt all but Juliet and Nurse.]
Juliet
719 Come hither, nurse. What is yond gentleman?
Nurse
720 The son and heir of old Tiberio.
Juliet
721 What's he that now is going out of door?
Nurse
722 Marry, that, I think, be young Petruchio.
Juliet
723 What's he that follows there, that would not dance?
Nurse
724 I know not.
Juliet
725 Go ask his name: if he be married,
726 My grave is like to be my wedding-bed.
Nurse
727 His name is Romeo, and a Montague;
728 The only son of your great enemy.
Juliet
729 My only love sprung from my only hate!
730 Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
731 Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
732 That I must love a loathed enemy.
Nurse
733 What's this? What's this?
Juliet
734 A rhyme I learn'd even now
735 Of one I danc'd withal.
[One calls within, 'Juliet.']
Nurse
736 Anon, anon!
737 Come, let's away; the strangers all are gone.
[Exeunt.]

Reading mode

Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 590archaic vocab
“save me a piece of marchpane”
Marchpane is marzipan: a sweet confection of ground almonds and sugar, shaped and often painted to look like fruit or animals. In the Elizabethan period it was a luxury item served at feasts and celebrations rather than an everyday sweet.
TLN 597cultural context
“the longer liver take all”
A proverbial saying meaning that whoever outlives the others inherits everything. The servant is making a rough joke: finish the work fast, because in the scramble of a busy feast, survival is its own reward.
TLN 604archaic vocab
“I have worn a visard”
A visard (or vizard) is a mask worn at a masquerade or revel. Capulet is nostalgically remembering the days when he too came to parties in disguise and could whisper compliments to women without being recognised.
TLN 629rhetorical device
“she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear”
Romeo compares Juliet to a bright jewel set against a dark ear: the darkness of the room and the crowd makes her beauty stand out the way a white diamond shines against dark skin. 'Ethiop' was the period word for a person from sub-Saharan Africa.
TLN 636archaic vocab
“forswear it, sight”
To forswear something is to swear it off, to formally renounce it. Romeo is telling his own eyes to renounce any earlier claim to have loved -- to take back the oath that said his heart was in love before this moment.
TLN 640archaic vocab
“cover'd with an antic face”
An 'antic face' is a grotesque or fantastical mask -- 'antic' meant wild, bizarre, or clownishly distorted. Tybalt spots Romeo by his voice alone, since the mask (the 'antic face') hides him visually.
TLN 641archaic vocab
“To fleer and scorn at our solemnity”
'Fleer' means to sneer or grin mockingly. 'Solemnity' here does not mean sadness; it means a solemn ceremony or formal celebration -- in this case the feast itself. Tybalt believes Romeo has crashed the party specifically to make fun of the Capulets.
TLN 673archaic vocab
“You are a princox”
A 'princox' (or princock) was an Elizabethan slang word for a pert, insolent, self-important young man -- a cocky upstart. Capulet is insulting Tybalt to his face: you are an impertinent brat who thinks he knows better than his elders.
TLN 676rhetorical device
“Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting Makes my flesh tremble”
'Patience perforce' means patience imposed by force -- the patience of someone who has no choice but to hold back. 'Choler' is hot anger (one of the four humors, associated with fire and the colour yellow). Tybalt is saying that forced restraint and boiling rage are colliding inside him, and the conflict makes him physically shake.
TLN 680cultural context
“If I profane with my unworthiest hand This holy shrine”
Romeo and Juliet's first fourteen lines of dialogue together form a complete sonnet built around the language of Christian pilgrimage: her hand is a 'holy shrine,' his lips are two 'pilgrims' come to venerate it, and a kiss is the devotional touch exchanged between a palmer and a saint. The word 'palmer' punned on the palm of the hand, so pressing palms together became a kind of prayer.
historical Pilgrims, palmers, and holy shrines
TLN 698wordplay
“You kiss by the book”
To do something 'by the book' meant to follow the rules perfectly, to the letter -- today we might say 'by the textbook.' Juliet is teasing Romeo: he uses the pilgrim-prayer argument so precisely, so fluently, that he must have it memorised. The joke runs two ways -- it is both a compliment (you are very good at this) and a gentle mockery (you are a practiced flatterer).
TLN 706archaic vocab
“Shall have the chinks”
'The chinks' is slang for money -- specifically the coins that clink (chink) together in a purse. The Nurse is telling Romeo, not very subtly, that whoever marries Juliet will be rich: Capulet's daughter is a wealthy catch.
TLN 708wordplay
“my life is my foe's debt”
Romeo means that his life is now owed to his enemy: because Juliet is a Capulet, loving her has put him in debt to the house that wishes him dead. 'Debt' here carries both its financial sense (something owed) and a darker sense that one life must pay for another.
TLN 731archaic vocab
“Prodigious birth of love it is to me”
'Prodigious' in Shakespeare's time meant monstrous, ominous, or unnatural -- a prodigy was a sign of disaster -- not merely impressive as the word implies today. Juliet is saying that this love was born as an omen of doom: it came into being already monstrous and ill-starred.