| First Line | Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? |
| Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? | Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name, |
| Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name, | When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it? |
| When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it? | But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? |
| But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? | That villain cousin would have kill’d my husband: |
| That villain cousin would have kill’d my husband: | Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring; |
| Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring; | Your tributary drops belong to woe, |
| Your tributary drops belong to woe, | Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy. |
| Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy. | My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain; |
| My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain; | And Tybalt’s dead, that would have slain my husband: |
| And Tybalt’s dead, that would have slain my husband: | All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then? |
| All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then? | Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death, |
| Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death, | That murder’d me: I would forget it fain; |
| That murder’d me: I would forget it fain; | But, O, it presses to my memory, |
| But, O, it presses to my memory, | Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds: |
| Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds: | ‘Tybalt is dead, and Romeo.banished;’ |
| ‘Tybalt is dead, and Romeo.banished;’ | That ‘banished,’ that one word ‘banished,’ |
| That ‘banished,’ that one word ‘banished,’ | Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death |
| Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death | Was woe enough, if it had ended there: |
| Was woe enough, if it had ended there: | Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship |
| Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship | And needly will be rank’d with other griefs, |
| And needly will be rank’d with other griefs, | Why follow’d not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead,’ |
| Why follow’d not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead,’ | Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both, |
| Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both, | Which modern lamentations might have moved? |
| Which modern lamentations might have moved? | But with a rear-ward following Tybalt’s death, |
| But with a rear-ward following Tybalt’s death, | ‘Romeo is banished,’ to speak that word, |
| ‘Romeo is banished,’ to speak that word, | Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, |
| Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, | All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished!’ |
| All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished!’ | There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, |
| There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, | In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound |
Romeo and Juliet Monologue
November 30, 2019