Please see the bottom of the page for explanatory notes.
| ACT V SCENE III | A churchyard; in it a tomb belonging to the Capulets. | |
| [Enter PARIS, and his Page bearing flowers and a torch] | ||
| PARIS | Give me thy torch, boy: hence, and stand aloof: | |
| Yet put it out, for I would not be seen. | ||
| Under yond yew-trees lay thee all along, | ||
| Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground; | ||
| So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread, | ||
| Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves, | ||
| But thou shalt hear it: whistle then to me, | ||
| As signal that thou hear'st something approach. | ||
| Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee, go. | ||
| PAGE | [Aside] I am almost afraid to stand alone | 10 |
| Here in the churchyard; yet I will adventure. | ||
| [Retires] | ||
| PARIS | Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew,-- | |
| O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones;-- | ||
| Which with sweet water nightly I will dew, | ||
| Or, wanting that, with tears distill'd by moans: | ||
| The obsequies that I for thee will keep | ||
| Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep. | [The Page whistles] | |
| The boy gives warning something doth approach. | ||
| What cursed foot wanders this way to-night, | ||
| To cross my obsequies and true love's rite? | 20 | |
| What with a torch! muffle me, night, awhile. | ||
| [Retires] | ||
| [ Enter ROMEO and BALTHASAR, with a torch, mattock, etc. ] | ||
| ROMEO | Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron. | |
| Hold, take this letter; early in the morning | ||
Explanatory Notes for Act 5, Scene 3
From Romeo and Juliet. Ed. K. Deighton. London: Macmillan.
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Stage Direction. A churchyard. "It is clear that Shakespeare, or some writer whom he followed, had in mind the churchyard of Saint Mary the Old in Verona, and the monument of the Scaligers which stood in it. We have nothing in England which corresponds to this scene, and no monument or vault in which such scenes as this could be exhibited" . (Hunter).
1. aloof, away, at a distance; "from a, prep. + loof, luff, weather-gage, windward direction; perhaps immediately from Du. loef, in te loef, to the windward". (Murray, Eng. Dict.).
2. Yet, contradicting his first order to give him the torch.
3. lay . along, lie down at full length.
4. Holding . ground, in which position the tread of any one approaching would be more easily heard; hollow, and therefore more readily reverberating to any sound; so T. S., Ind. ii. 48, "And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth."
6. Being, it being.
7. But thou . it, without your hearing it.
10. to stand alone, to be alone; there being no reference to his standing or his lying down as directed by Paris.
13. canopy, covering. is dust and stones, i.e. not a fitting canopy for one like you.
14. Which, sc. the "bridal bed": sweet water, scented, perfumed, water.
15. distill'd by moans, forced from the eyes by grief.
16. obsequies, funeral rites; Lat. obsequiae, funeral rites, literally 'following close upon': keep, observe, pay.
9. cursed, because interrupting him.
20. To cross my obsequies, to hinder the obsequies I am paying.
21. Muffle, wrap me in darkness; Steevens compares the word, used in a neuter sense, Comus, 330, "Unmuffle, ye faint stars"; and Dyce points out that a 'muffler' "is a sort of wrapper worn by women, which generally covered the mouth and chin, but sometimes almost the whole face." In M. W. iv. 2. 73, one is produced by Mrs. Ford to disguise Falstaff in.
22. mattock, a kind of pick-axe for tearing up the earth.
26. all aloof, quite away; so that he might not witness what was done.
28. Why I descend, my reason for descending.
32. In dear employment, in a matter of the greatest importance; "'dear' is used of whatever touches us nearly either in love or hate, joy or sorrow" (Cl. Pr. Edd. on Haml. i. 2. 182, "my dearest foe").
33. jealous, suspicious; cp. Lear, i. 4. 75, "which I have rather blamed as mine own jealous curiosity."
34. shall intend to do, may have an intention of doing; shall indicating some further intention he certainly will have.
35. joint by joint, piecemeal, each joint from the other.
36. hungry, as though the churchyard was for ever longing for fresh corpses, never satisfied however many might be buried in it.
37. The time . savage-wild, the thoughts in my mind are wild even to savageness and this midnight hour well accords with them.
39. empty, starving.
41. that, giving him money.
43. For all this same, in spite of all these injunctions and threats.
44. His looks I fear, not as regards his own personal safety, but as regards Romeo's intentions against himself.
45. Detestable. Accented on the first syllable, as in iv. 5. 56, K. J. iii. 4. 29.
48. And, in despite . food, out of hatred to you, not to satisfy your gluttonous voracity, I will cram you with my own body also.
50. with which grief, owing to which grief.
52. is come, the omission of the nominative is most common with 'has,' 'is,' 'was'; see Abb. § 400.
55. Can vengeance . death? is it possible that you are not satisfied with the vengeance you have already taken in killing Tybalt? a particular, not a general, question.
56. Condemned, not merely condemned by law, but accursed for his intentions.
58. therefore, for that very purpose.
59. Good gentle youth. "The gentleness of Romeo was shown before as softened by love, and now it is doubled by love and sorrow, and awe of the place where he is" (Coleridge).
60. gone, dead; a euphemism.
61. Let them affright thee, let their deaths deter you from such a rash act as that of seizing a man so desperate as myself.
62. another sin, i.e. of killing him.
67. A madman's . away, a madman in a lucid interval of mercy bade you run away, and thus you escaped to tell the tale.
68. conjurations, earnest appeals, entreaties; cp. R. II. iii. 2. 23, H. V. i. 2. 29; the verb in this sense is common enough.
70. have at thee, see note on i. 1. 59.
71. the watch, the police, as we should now say.
74. peruse, examine closely; originally meaning to use thoroughly or carefully.
76. betossed, storm-tossed, violently agitated.
77. attend him, pay heed to his words.
78. should have, was to have; see Abb. § 325.
81. To think, in thinking; the infinitive used indefinitely.
82. One writ . book, one, like myself, entered as a debtor in misfortune's account-book; or perhaps only enrolled in the list of the unfortunate.
83. triumphant, glorious, splendid; cp. A. C. ii. 2. 189, "a most triumphant lady."
84. a lantern. "A spacious round or octagonal turret full of windows, by means of which cathedrals, and sometimes halls, are illuminated. See the beautiful lantern at Ely Minster" (Steevens).
86. a feasting presence, a stateroom in all the splendour of a feast; cp. R. II. i. 3. 289, "Suppose . The grave whereon thou tread'st the presence strewed"; H. VIII. iii. 1. 17, "the two great cardinals Wait in the presence."
87. Death, the abstract for the concrete; Lettsom conjectures Dead, and Dyce so reads: a dead man, sc. himself, whom he now regards as nothing better than dead.
89. keepers, attendants.
90. A lightning before death. "A proverbial phrase, partly deduced from observation of some extraordinary effort of nature, often made in sick persons just before death; and partly from a superstitious notion of an ominous and preternatural mirth, supposed to come on at that period, without any ostensible reason." So in Addison's pathetic description of Sir Roger's death, Spectator No. 115, "Indeed we were once in great hope of his recovery, upon a kind message that was sent him from the widow lady whom he had made love to the forty last years of his life; but this only proved a lightning before death."
90-2. How may I . Death, but my merry mood (sc. as exhibited in 1. 89) has none of the brightness which lights up the minds of dying men: the honey . breath, your honeyed breath; cp. Haml. iii. 1. 164, "That suck'd the honey of his music vows."
93. no power . upon, no power to deface.
94, 5. beauty's ensign . cheeks, beauty's ensign, the roseate flush of youth and health, still flies proudly in your cheeks; a metaphor from a flag flying bravely on the walls of a fortress that defies its besiegers.
96. is not advanced there, has not yet been able to displace the ensign of your beauty; advanced, a technical term for the waving of standards, as in M. W. iii. 4. 85, "I must advance the colours of my love. And not retire;" K. J. ii. 1. 207, "These flags of France, that are advanced here Before the eye and prospect of your town."
97. sheet, winding-sheet, in which it is customary to wrap a corpse, as in iii. H. VI. i. 1. 129, ii. 5. 114.
101. Forgive me, cousin. "Inexpressibly beautiful and moving is this gentleness of Romeo's in his death hour. His yearning to be at peace with his foe, his beseeching pardon of him and calling him kinsman in token of final atonement, his forbearance and even magnanimity towards Paris, his words of closing consideration and kindly farewell to his faithful Balthasar, all combine to crown Romeo as the prince of youthful gentlemen and lovers" (Clarke).
103. unsubstantial, immaterial, incorporeal; cp. Lear, iv. 1. 7, "Thou unsubstantial air that I embrace."
107. this palace of dim night, the darkness of the tomb.
109. thy chamber-maids, your attendants; in Hamlet the imagery regarding worms is of a very different type; see iv. 2. 20 et seqq.
110. Will I set up . rest, I am determined to find my last long home. The origin of the phrase 'to set up one's rest' has been much debated. According to Steevens, it is taken from the manner of firing the harquebuses, which was so heavy that a supporter, called a rest, was fixed in the ground before the piece was levelled to take aim. Others derive it from a term used in games at cards, more particularly primero, in which the rest was the stake laid down, and 'to set up one's rest' was to announce the highest stake that the player was prepared to make on the cards he held in his hand. Probably the two ideas were combined to express a settled resolution.
111, 2. And shake . flesh, and, weary as I am of life, no longer submit to be driven hither and thither as my ill-starred fate may choose.
115. A dateless . death, an eternal bargain with death that sooner or later seizes on everything; dateless is here used in a legal sense; and in R. II. i. 2. 151, "The sly slow hours shall not determinate The dateless limit of thy dear exile," both "dateless" and "determinate" are allusive to the same phraseology: so too engrossing in the sense of purchasing or seizing in the gross.
116. conduct, conductor; as above, iii. 1. 120; here the drug he is about to swallow. Possibly, from the combination of conduct, pilot, and bark, Shakespeare, as in R. III. i. 4. 46, was thinking of Charon, the ferryman of souls over the river Styx . conductor of the dead.
118. sea-sick, life being commonly compared to an ocean.
119. true, sc. in having said that the effect of the drug would be instantaneous, and perhaps with the sense of his being a true physician of his (Romeo's) evils.
121. be my speed, guide and help me.
122. stumbled. In those days of omens considered an unlucky accident; so in R. III. iii. 4. 86, Hastings, when on his way to death, after speaking of an ill dream of Stanley's, continues, "Three times to-day my foot-cloth horse did stumble. And startled, when he look'd upon the Tower, As loath to bear me to the slaughter-house"; on which Tawney quotes Melton's Astrologaster, "That if a man stumbles in the morning, as soon as he comes out of doores, it is a sign of ill lucke."
125. yond, that which I see yonder.
126. grubs, insects, worms, etc.: as I discern, as well as I can judge.
132. My master . hence, my master fancies I have gone home.
135. Fear, not the physical fear of some danger to himself, but a presentiment of some evil befallen Romeo.
137-9. As I did sleep . him. Balthasar believes that what he had actually seen was nothing but a dream, or possibly he may not like to confess that he really witnessed the combat.
142. masterless. that no longer own a master; again applied to swords in Cymb. ii. 4. 60.
143. To lie discolourd, by lying stained with blood; the infinitive used indefinitely; see Abb, § 356: this place of peace, this place which should be sacred from all quarrels.
145. what an unkind hour, what a cruel hour is this which is, etc.
148. comfortable. In speaking of "certain words dealing with the agent," Walker, Crit. Exam. etc., pp. 99, 100, says "comfortable — and in like manner uncomfortable and discomfortable — are uniformly applied to a person, or to a thing personified, the idea of will and purpose being always implied in them." Among other passages which he quotes in illustration are Tim. iv. 3. 497, A. W. i. 1. 86, Lear, i. 4. 327, R. II. iii. 2. 36, and that in the text.
151. that nest, as we should say, 'that den,' though nest gives a fuller idea of abundance. In "a nest of traitors," W. T. ii. 3. 81, there is the same idea of fullness.
152. unnatural. Steevens says that the sleep of Juliet was unnatural as being brought on by drugs, and this has always seemed to me to be the sense. Delius and Schmidt interpret "where it is unnatural to sleep."
153. contradict, contend against.
155. Thy husband . dead, your husband lying there in your arms is dead.
156. dispose of thee, make arrangements for your living.
158. to question, to talk, to discuss what is best.
162. timeless, untimely, premature.
163. O churl, said in loving reproach.
164. To help me after, to enable me to follow you.
166. a restorative, a medicine which will restore me to the truest life, a life of union with you in death.
169. there rust, not in your own natural sheath, but in the sheath of my breast; the first quarto gives rest, which many editors prefer, and possibly this is supported by the antithesis with Let me die, though to me rust seems the more expressive word.
172. whoe'er. For neglect of the inflection of who, see Abb. § 274: attach, apprehend; a legal term.
175. this two days, see note on iv. 3. 40.
177. some others search, let some seek out others.
178. these woes, these miserable ones.
179. ground, with a wretched pun.
180. circumstance, further detail, particulars, or perhaps inquiry into such detail; cp. above, ii. 5. 36.
186. A great suspicion. Said with true Dogberry solemnity.
187. is so early up. As if the misadventure, like himself, had risen early from bed, was stirring early; cp., for the quasi-personification, K. J. v. 5. 21, "The day shall not be up so soon as I.'
189. should it be, can it possibly be.
192. With open outcry, like dogs in full cry after game.
193. startles, suddenly bursts forth; this intransitive use is now obsolete, to 'start' being used in its stead.
195. dead before, as she had been supposed to be.
197. know, ascertain by inquiry.
202. hath mista'en, has mistaken its proper abode: his house, its sheath.
203. on the back, daggers being worn behind the back.
204. And it mis-sheathed, for it, the reading of the second quarto, most editors prefer is, which the other copies give. In this case the words "for, lo, . Montague" are parenthetical.
205. 6. is as a bell . sepulchre, is like a bell summoning me to my death: cp. K. J. ii. 1. 201, "Who is it that hath warned us to the walls?" and Macb. ii. 1. 62-4. "the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell."
208. down, struck down in death; with a play on the words up and down.
211. conspires . age, conspires to put an end to an old man like me.
213. O thou untaught! O ill-disciplined one! manners, regarded as a singular in thought; see Abb. § 335.
214. To press . grave? comparing the rudeness to that of pressing before a father into a room, etc.
215. the mouth of outrage, your passionate exclamations. Staunton compares i. H. VI. iv. 1. 126, "are you not ashamed With this immodest clamorous outrage To trouble and disturb the king and us?". where the reference is to the "audacious prate" of York, Somerset, etc.
216. ambiguities, obscure relation of events; now generally used of language which may bear two meanings.
217. descent, origin; carrying on the metaphor of a stream that flows downward from its source.
218, 9. will I . death, I will put myself at the head of your grievances and lead you on to vengeance, even if that vengeance be the death of those to whom those grievances are due.
220. And let . patience, and let calamity submit patiently to calm endurance; patiently control your sense of injury.
221. parties of suspicion, those suspected, those who have a part, share, in the suspicion that is abroad.
222. I am . least, I, though least capable (physically) of such a deed, am most suspected of having committed it.
224. Doth make against me, tell against me, as witnesses against me; time and place is to be taken as a single idea.
225, 6. both to impeach . excused, to accuse myself while pleading my excuse, and at the same time to clear myself while decreeing my condemnation; i.e. to accuse myself on account of my actions, to excuse myself on account of my intentions. For a similar collocation, cp. A. C. iv. 12, 8, 9, "His fretted fortunes give him hope, and fear, Of what he has, and has not"; W. T. iii. 6. 165, "though I with death, and with Reward, did threaten and encourage him Not doing it, and being done." In impeach the original idea is that of hindering, F. empecher, to hinder, the first step in an accusation being to hinder the accused from evading jurisdiction.
227. in this, in, or of, this matter.
228, 9. for my short . tale, for the short time I have to live is not long enough for a tedious tale; my short date of breath = the short date of my breath; cp. for the transposition, A. C. iv. 6. 39, "My latter part of life," i.e. the latter part of my life; Haml. iv. 5. 213, "His means of death," i.e. the means of his death; and see Abb. § 423.
232. their stol'n marriage-day, the day of their stolen marriage, of their marriage stealthily celebrated.
234. Banish'd, caused to be banished.
236. siege, attack, assault; cp. above, i. 1. 218. and K. J. V. 7. 16, "his (sc. death's) siege is now Against the mind." So Lamb talks of "an obsession of grief."
239. bid, past tense.
240. rid her from, enable her to escape from.
245. form, appearance.
246. as this dire night. Allen on Temp. i. 2. 70, "as at this time," considers as in such expressions to mark a greater or less precision or emphasis; Abbott, § 114, though regarding as in definitions of time as apparently redundant, thinks that here it may mean 'as (he did come),' which seems to me to be a great forcing of language.
247. borrowed grave, grave not properly her own.
248. Being the time. "This belongs to 'as this dire night'" (Delius).
250. stay'd, prevented.
252. hour, metrically a dissyllable; see Abb. § 480.
254. closely, in secrecy.
256. some minute, a minute or so.
258. true, faithful in his love.
260. this work of heaven, i.e. Romeo's death.
262. too desperate, sc. to care for life without Romeo: would not go, refused to go.
263. as it seems. The Friar having left her was not actual witness of her suicide.
267. some hour, some short time. i.e. for it cannot be long before I shall die in the course of nature.
269. still, ever: for, as being.
270. what can . this? what evidence can he give as to this matter?
272. in post, see note on v. i. 21.
275. going in the vault, as he entered the vault.
278. raised, summoned, called up.
279. what made your master, what was your master doing here? what business or object had he in coming here.
282. Anon, suddenly; see note on ii. 2. 137.
283. by and by, presently, after a short interval.
285. make good, confirm, substantiate.
291. See, what . hate, see how your hatred is punished.
292. That heaven . love! in the fact that heaven employs the love that was exchanged between Romeo and Juliet (and which should have been a bond of union to the two families) as a means to crush all happiness out of your lives.
293. winking at, partially closing my eyes to, not taking that vigorous notice which, as the head of the state, I was bound to take.
296. This is . jointure, the only dowry you can make my daughter; jointure, properly the property estated on the wife by the husband when they are joined in marriage.
299. by that name, as 'Verona.'
300. at such rate be set, be valued at so high a price.
302. As rich, in equal splendour.
303. Poor . enmity, an inadequate atonement for our hatred.
304. glooming, gloomy; which the fourth folio gives. The participle seems more forcible from its notion of activity.
305. for sorrow, on account of sorrow.
306. Go hence, to have, accompanying me hence, in order that we may have.
307. Some . punished. In the novel from which the plot is taken, says Steevens, we find that the Nurse was banished for concealing the marriage, Balthasar set at liberty as having only acted in obedience to Romeo's orders, the Apothecary tortured and hanged, and the Friar allowed to retire to a hermitage near Verona.
How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Ed. K. Deighton. London: Macmillan, 1916. Shakespeare Online. 20 Feb. 2010. .