him and calls him villain. Romeo, not being in the mood to quarrel with one of his bride's family, answers with soft words. Mercutio, one of Romeo's friends, angry at the latter's weakness, draws his sword and fights with Tybalt. The Capulet slays his opponent. Romeo in vengeance kills Tybalt and for this deed is banished from Verona by order of the Prince. Lord Capulet resolves to marry his daughter to Paris, a young nobleman and a kinsman. ACT IV In her distress, Juliet applies to Friar Laurence for advice. He counsels her to "go home, be merry, give consent to marry Paris," and on the night before the day set for the wedding to drink a liquor he gives her, the effect of which will be to throw her into a death-like sleep for forty-two hours; in accordance with the custom of the country she will be borne on an open bier to the family vault. He, himself, will notify Romeo, and when she wakes her husband will be waiting to take her away. At the appointed time Juliet drinks the drug and is laid away in the tomb. ACT V The friar's message telling Romeo that Juliet's death was but a sham never reached him and he hears from another source that she is dead. He buys a quick-acting poison and goes to Verona that he may die beside his wife. Before the tomb he meets Count Paris and they fight, Romeo slaying Paris. Then he enters the vault, drinks the poison, and dies. Juliet awakes in a few moments and learns the truth from Friar Laurence, who, having heard that his letter to Romeo had not been delivered, had come to release her. She refuses to leave the tomb with him and slays herself with Romeo's dagger. The Friar tells the story of Romeo and Juliet's love to their families and they bury their feud in the grave of their children. Chor. Two households, both alike in dignity, A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Do with their death bury their parents' strife. Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; "Prologue," omitted in Ff.-I. G. ( Enter Sampson and Gregory, of the house of Capulet, with swords and bucklers. Sam. Gregory, on my word, we'll not carry coals. Gre. No, for then we should be colliers. Sam. I mean, an we be in choler, we 'll draw. the collar. Sam. I strike quickly, being moved. Gre. But thou art not quickly moved to strike. me. Gre. To move is to stir, and to be valiant is to stand: therefore, if thou art moved, thou runn'st away. Sam. A dog of that house shall move me to 10 1. To "carry coals" is to put up with insults. Anciently, in great families, the scullions, turnspits, and carriers of wood and coals were esteemed the very lowest of menials. Such attendants upon the royal household, in progresses, were called the black-guard; and hence the origin of that term. Thus in May Day, a comedy by Chapman, 1608: "You must swear by no man's beard but your own; for that may breed a quarrel: above all things, you must carry no coals." And in Ben Jonson's Every Man in his Humour: “Here comes one that will carry coals; ergo will hold my dog."-H. N. H. stand: I will take the wall of any man or Gre. That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes to the wall. Sam. 'Tis true; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall: 20 therefore I will push Montague's men from the wall and thrust his maids to the wall. Gre. The quarrel is between our masters and us their men. Sam: 'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant: when I have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the maids; I will cut off their heads. Gre. The heads of the maids? Sam. Aye, the heads of the maids, or their 30 maiden-heads; take it in what sense thou wilt. Gre. They must take it in sense that feel it. Sam. Me they shall feel while I am able to stand: and 'tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh. Gre. 'Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou hadst been poor John. Draw thy tool; here comes two of the house of Montagues. Sam. My naked weapon is out: quarrel; I will 40 back thee. 27. "cruel"; so Qq. 4, 5; Qq. 2, 3, Ff. read "ciuil," and "civil."I. G. 39. "Montagues"; it should be observed that the partisans of the Gre. How! turn thy back and run? Sam. Fear me not. Gre. No, marry; I fear thee! Sam. Let us take the law of our sides; let them begin. Gre. I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it as they list. Sam. Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Sam. [Aside to Gre.] Is the law of our side, if Gre. No. Sam. No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir; but I bite my thumb, sir. Montague family wore a token in their hats in order to distinguish them from their enemies the Capulets. Hence throughout this play they are known at a distance. Gascoigne adverts to this in a Masque written for Viscount Montacute, in 1575: "And for a further proofe, he shewed in hys hat Thys token, which the Montacutes did beare always, for that 49. "Bite my thumb at them"; this was a common mode of insult, in order to begin a quarrel. Dekker, in his Dead Term, 1608, describing the various groups that daily frequented St. Paul's, says, "What swearing is there, what shouldering, what justling, what jeering, what byting of thumbs, to beget quarrels !" And Lodge, in his Wits Miserie, 1596: "Behold, next I see Contempt marching forth, giving me the fico with his thumbe in his mouthe." The mode in which this contemptuous action was performed is thus described by Cotgrave: "Faire la nique: to mocke by nodding or lifting up of the chinne; or, more properly, to threaten or defie, by putting the thumbe naile into the mouth, and with a jerke (from the upper teeth) make it to knacke."-H. N. H. |