Act 3, Scene 1

A public Place.

[Enter Mercutio, Benvolio, Page, and Servants.]
Benvolio
1402 I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire:
1403 The day is hot, the Capulets abroad,
1404 And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl;
1405 For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.
Mercutio
1406 Thou art like one of these fellows that, when he enters the
1407 confines of a tavern, claps me his sword upon the table, and says
1408 'God send me no need of thee!' and by the operation of the second
1409 cup draws him on the drawer, when indeed there is no need.
Benvolio
1410 Am I like such a fellow?
Mercutio
1411 Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in
1412 Italy; and as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be
1413 moved.
Benvolio
1414 And what to?
Mercutio
1415 Nay, an there were two such, we should have none shortly, for
1416 one would kill the other. Thou! why, thou wilt quarrel with a
1417 man that hath a hair more or a hair less in his beard than thou
1418 hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no
1419 other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes;—what eye but such
1420 an eye would spy out such a quarrel? Thy head is as full of
1421 quarrels as an egg is full of meat; and yet thy head hath been
1422 beaten as addle as an egg for quarrelling. Thou hast quarrelled
1423 with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath wakened
1424 thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall
1425 out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter? with
1426 another for tying his new shoes with an old riband? and yet thou
1427 wilt tutor me from quarrelling!
Benvolio
1428 An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should buy
1429 the fee simple of my life for an hour and a quarter.
Mercutio
1430 The fee simple! O simple!
Benvolio
1431 By my head, here come the Capulets.
Mercutio
1432 By my heel, I care not.
[Enter Tybalt and others.]
Tybalt
1433 Follow me close, for I will speak to them.—Gentlemen, good-den:
1434 a word with one of you.
Mercutio
1435 And but one word with one of us? Couple it with something; make
1436 it a word and a blow.
Tybalt
1437 You shall find me apt enough to that, sir, an you will give
1438 me occasion.
Mercutio
1439 Could you not take some occasion without giving?
Tybalt
1440 Mercutio, thou consortest with Romeo,—
Mercutio
1441 Consort! what, dost thou make us minstrels? An thou make
1442 minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords: here's my
1443 fiddlestick; here's that shall make you dance. Zounds, consort!
Benvolio
1444 We talk here in the public haunt of men:
1445 Either withdraw unto some private place,
1446 And reason coldly of your grievances,
1447 Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us.
Mercutio
1448 Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze;
1449 I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I.
Tybalt
1450 Well, peace be with you, sir.—Here comes my man.
[Enter Romeo.]
Mercutio
1451 But I'll be hanged, sir, if he wear your livery:
1452 Marry, go before to field, he'll be your follower;
1453 Your worship in that sense may call him man.
Tybalt
1454 Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford
1455 No better term than this,—Thou art a villain.
Romeo
1456 Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee
1457 Doth much excuse the appertaining rage
1458 To such a greeting. Villain am I none;
1459 Therefore farewell; I see thou know'st me not.
Tybalt
1460 Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries
1461 That thou hast done me; therefore turn and draw.
Romeo
1462 I do protest I never injur'd thee;
1463 But love thee better than thou canst devise
1464 Till thou shalt know the reason of my love:
1465 And so good Capulet,—which name I tender
1466 As dearly as mine own,—be satisfied.
Mercutio
1467 O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!
1468 Alla stoccata carries it away.
[Draws.]
Mercutio
1469 Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?
Tybalt
1470 What wouldst thou have with me?
Mercutio
1471 Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives; that I
1472 mean to make bold withal, and, as you shall use me hereafter,
1473 dry-beat the rest of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out of
1474 his pitcher by the ears? make haste, lest mine be about your ears
1475 ere it be out.
Tybalt
1476 I am for you.
[Drawing.]
Romeo
1477 Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up.
Mercutio
1478 Come, sir, your passado.
[They fight.]
Romeo
1479 Draw, Benvolio; beat down their weapons.—
1480 Gentlemen, for shame! forbear this outrage!—
1481 Tybalt,—Mercutio,—the prince expressly hath
1482 Forbid this bandying in Verona streets.—
1483 Hold, Tybalt!—good Mercutio!—
[Exeunt Tybalt with his Partizans.]
Mercutio
1484 I am hurt;—
1485 A plague o' both your houses!—I am sped.—
1486 Is he gone, and hath nothing?
Benvolio
1487 What, art thou hurt?
Mercutio
1488 Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis enough.—
1489 Where is my page?—go, villain, fetch a surgeon.
[Exit Page.]
Romeo
1490 Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much.
Mercutio
1491 No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door;
1492 but 'tis enough, 'twill serve: ask for me to-morrow, and you
1493 shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this
1494 world.—A plague o' both your houses!—Zounds, a dog, a rat, a
1495 mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a rogue, a
1496 villain, that fights by the book of arithmetic!—Why the devil
1497 came you between us? I was hurt under your arm.
Romeo
1498 I thought all for the best.
Mercutio
1499 Help me into some house, Benvolio,
1500 Or I shall faint.—A plague o' both your houses!
1501 They have made worms' meat of me:
1502 I have it, and soundly too.—Your houses!
[Exit Mercutio and Benvolio.]
Romeo
1503 This gentleman, the prince's near ally,
1504 My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt
1505 In my behalf; my reputation stain'd
1506 With Tybalt's slander,—Tybalt, that an hour
1507 Hath been my kinsman.—O sweet Juliet,
1508 Thy beauty hath made me effeminate
1509 And in my temper soften'd valour's steel.
[Re-enter Benvolio.]
Benvolio
1510 O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead!
1511 That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds,
1512 Which too untimely here did scorn the earth.
Romeo
1513 This day's black fate on more days doth depend;
1514 This but begins the woe others must end.
Benvolio
1515 Here comes the furious Tybalt back again.
Romeo
1516 Alive in triumph! and Mercutio slain!
1517 Away to heaven respective lenity,
1518 And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now!—
[Re-enter Tybalt.]
Romeo
1519 Now, Tybalt, take the 'villain' back again
1520 That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio's soul
1521 Is but a little way above our heads,
1522 Staying for thine to keep him company.
1523 Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.
Tybalt
1524 Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here,
1525 Shalt with him hence.
Romeo
1526 This shall determine that.
[They fight; Tybalt falls.]
Benvolio
1527 Romeo, away, be gone!
1528 The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain.—
1529 Stand not amaz'd. The prince will doom thee death
1530 If thou art taken. Hence, be gone, away!
Romeo
1531 O, I am fortune's fool!
Benvolio
1532 Why dost thou stay?
[Exit Romeo.]
[Enter Citizens, &c.]
First Citizen
1533 Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio?
1534 Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he?
Benvolio
1535 There lies that Tybalt.
First Citizen
1536 Up, sir, go with me;
1537 I charge thee in the prince's name obey.
[Enter Prince, attended; Montague, Capulet, their Wives, and others.]
Prince Escalus
1538 Where are the vile beginners of this fray?
Benvolio
1539 O noble prince. I can discover all
1540 The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl:
1541 There lies the man, slain by young Romeo,
1542 That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio.
Lady Capulet
1543 Tybalt, my cousin! O my brother's child!—
1544 O prince!—O husband!—O, the blood is spill'd
1545 Of my dear kinsman!—Prince, as thou art true,
1546 For blood of ours shed blood of Montague.—
1547 O cousin, cousin!
Prince Escalus
1548 Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?
Benvolio
1549 Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay;
1550 Romeo, that spoke him fair, bid him bethink
1551 How nice the quarrel was, and urg'd withal
1552 Your high displeasure.—All this,—uttered
1553 With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd,—
1554 Could not take truce with the unruly spleen
1555 Of Tybalt, deaf to peace, but that he tilts
1556 With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast;
1557 Who, all as hot, turns deadly point to point,
1558 And, with a martial scorn, with one hand beats
1559 Cold death aside, and with the other sends
1560 It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity
1561 Retorts it: Romeo he cries aloud,
1562 'Hold, friends! friends, part!' and swifter than his tongue,
1563 His agile arm beats down their fatal points,
1564 And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm
1565 An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life
1566 Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled:
1567 But by-and-by comes back to Romeo,
1568 Who had but newly entertain'd revenge,
1569 And to't they go like lightning; for, ere I
1570 Could draw to part them was stout Tybalt slain;
1571 And as he fell did Romeo turn and fly.
1572 This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.
Lady Capulet
1573 He is a kinsman to the Montague,
1574 Affection makes him false, he speaks not true:
1575 Some twenty of them fought in this black strife,
1576 And all those twenty could but kill one life.
1577 I beg for justice, which thou, prince, must give;
1578 Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live.
Prince Escalus
1579 Romeo slew him; he slew Mercutio:
1580 Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?
Montague
1581 Not Romeo, prince; he was Mercutio's friend;
1582 His fault concludes but what the law should end,
1583 The life of Tybalt.
Prince Escalus
1584 And for that offence
1585 Immediately we do exile him hence:
1586 I have an interest in your hate's proceeding,
1587 My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding;
1588 But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine
1589 That you shall all repent the loss of mine:
1590 I will be deaf to pleading and excuses;
1591 Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses,
1592 Therefore use none: let Romeo hence in haste,
1593 Else, when he is found, that hour is his last.
1594 Bear hence this body, and attend our will:
1595 Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 1405cultural context
“these hot days, is the mad blood stirring”
Benvolio invokes the Elizabethan medical belief that heat literally inflamed the blood and made men quick to anger. Hot weather was thought to drive up the choleric humour, the bodily fluid associated with rage and violence. The line foreshadows the fatal fight ahead.
TLN 1408archaic vocab
“by the operation of the second cup draws him on the drawer”
Mercutio describes a man who swears off fighting in the tavern, then after a second drink attacks the barman who pours the wine. 'Drawer' means a tapster or barman (one who draws ale from a barrel). The joke is that Benvolio, who claims to hate quarrelling, is as predictably belligerent as a drunk.
TLN 1428archaic vocab
“any man should buy the fee simple of my life for an hour and a quarter”
A 'fee simple' is an outright, unconditional legal ownership of property — to buy it in fee simple means to own it absolutely, with no conditions attached. Benvolio's sardonic point: if he were as quarrelsome as Mercutio, his life expectancy would be so short that any man could buy full permanent ownership of it for about seventy-five minutes.
TLN 1441wordplay
“dost thou make us minstrels? An thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords”
Tybalt uses 'consort' to mean 'keep company with,' but Mercutio deliberately mishears it as 'consort' meaning a group of musicians. He spins the insult around: if they are musicians, Tybalt will hear 'discords' (musical dissonance, but also violent conflict). His sword is his 'fiddlestick.' The pun turns Tybalt's threat back on him.
TLN 1450wordplay
“Here comes my man”
Tybalt calls Romeo 'my man' meaning the person he wants to fight — his opponent. Mercutio seizes on a second meaning: a 'man' was also a servant or subordinate ('your man' = your lackey). He rebuts the implication that Romeo is Tybalt's inferior: if Romeo follows Tybalt 'to field' for a duel, it is as an equal challenger, not as a servant.
TLN 1457syntax grammar
“the appertaining rage to such a greeting”
Romeo says the reason he has to love Tybalt 'excuses the anger that properly belongs to [or: is naturally attached to] such an insult.' 'Appertaining' means belonging or appropriate to; the whole phrase means 'the anger that would naturally accompany being called a villain.' The inverted syntax places 'appertaining rage' in an unusual position and can trip a modern reader.
TLN 1465archaic vocab
“which name I tender as dearly as mine own”
'Tender' here means to hold dear, to value — not to offer or present something. Romeo is saying he values the name 'Capulet' as much as his own name 'Montague,' because he has just secretly married Juliet Capulet and Tybalt is now his kinsman. The audience understands his reason; Mercutio and Tybalt do not.
TLN 1468historical topical
“Alla stoccata carries it away”
'Alla stoccata' is Italian fencing terminology for a thrust with the point of the sword — the fashionable new Italian rapier technique that had swept England in the 1580s-90s. Mercutio is saying that this stylish Italian thrust has won the day — Romeo's submissive speech has surrendered the fight to Tybalt's imported swordsmanship.
TLN 1471historical topical
“Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives”
Mercutio calls Tybalt 'king of cats' because the name Tybalt (or Tibert) belonged to the cat in the old medieval beast-fable Reynard the Fox. The jibe about 'nine lives' mocks the convention that cats have nine lives: Mercutio wants only one of them to settle the duel, and will 'dry-beat' (thrash without drawing blood) the remaining eight afterward.
historical Tybalt, 'Prince of Cats'
TLN 1478historical topical
“Come, sir, your passado”
A 'passado' is an Italian fencing term for a forward lunge or pass of the foot while thrusting. Mercutio is daring Tybalt to make the attack — essentially calling 'come at me.' The word belongs to the same Italian rapier vocabulary as 'stoccata' (TLN 1468) and 'punto reverso,' the fashionable foreign style Mercutio earlier mocked.
TLN 1485cultural context
“A plague o' both your houses”
Mercutio curses both the Montagues and the Capulets with 'a plague' — a wish that epidemic disease destroy their families. In Shakespeare's England plague was a real and regular catastrophe; to curse someone with it was the worst wish imaginable. Mercutio, who belongs to neither house, is killed by the feud purely by accident, and this repeated curse (he says it three times before dying) drives the rest of the tragedy.
historical Plague and quarantine
TLN 1492wordplay
“you shall find me a grave man”
Mercutio makes his last pun on his own death: 'grave' means both solemn or serious and the hole in the ground he is about to occupy. He has just downplayed his wound ('a scratch') and now delivers this sardonic quibble as he feels himself dying — the wit continuing even as the life leaves him.
TLN 1496historical topical
“that fights by the book of arithmetic”
Mercutio condemns Tybalt for fighting according to the codified Italian fencing manuals — 'by the book' of measured, calculated technique rather than natural instinct. He has attacked Mercutio by the rules: precisely, coldly, and lethally. The phrase echoes Mercutio's earlier mockery of Tybalt as a man who 'fights as you sing prick-song' (reads music from the page rather than playing by ear).
TLN 1501archaic vocab
“They have made worms' meat of me”
Mercutio says both families have turned him into food for grave-worms — that is, they have killed him and left his body to rot in the earth. 'Worms' meat' was a common early modern expression for a corpse, playing on the grim fact that buried bodies decompose. It strips the feud of any glory: Mercutio is simply carrion.
TLN 1511archaic vocab
“That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds, which too untimely here did scorn the earth”
'Aspir'd' means soared upward to — the spirit has risen to the clouds. 'Scorn the earth' means regarded the earth with contempt, as too low a place. Benvolio is saying that Mercutio's great soul always belonged in the heavens; it has now ascended there, having left the earth behind too soon. The compliment uses height as a metaphor for nobility.
TLN 1531classical allusion
“O, I am fortune's fool”
Romeo cries out that he is the plaything of Fortune — the goddess imagined as spinning a great wheel that raises and crashes men at random. A 'fool' here means both a dupe and a court jester: someone made to look ridiculous by a power beyond his control. The exclamation comes the instant Romeo grasps that in killing Tybalt he has destroyed his own happiness.
classical Fortune and her wheel
TLN 1554archaic vocab
“the unruly spleen of Tybalt, deaf to peace”
In Elizabethan anatomy the spleen was believed to be the organ that produced angry, hasty, or melancholy emotions — 'spleen' was used as a word for bad temper or rage. Benvolio is saying that Tybalt's hot-tempered fury could not be reasoned with. The phrase 'deaf to peace' means he refused to hear any argument for restraint.
TLN 1588archaic vocab
“I'll amerce you with so strong a fine”
To 'amerce' means to punish by a financial penalty — to fine. It is a legal term from the old Norman-French word for a discretionary court-imposed payment. Prince Escalus declares he will hit both houses with heavy financial penalties for the brawl that has cost him a kinsman (Mercutio). The word signals the Prince acting as a judge levying a formal court punishment.
TLN 1595rhetorical device
“Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill”
The Prince closes the scene with a chiastic paradox: showing mercy (pardoning killers) is itself a form of murder, because it licenses more killing. The line is a sententia — a pithy, quotable moral maxim — and the scene's final word. It warns that leniency breeds violence, a principle the rest of the tragedy will put to the test.