Overview
Context
Juliet is speaking to her Nurse in her bedchamber
to read the context for this monologue from Romeo and Juliet and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Text
Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name
When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?
That villain cousin would have killed my husband.
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring!
Your tributary drops belong to woe,
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain;
And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband.
All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death,
That murd'red me. I would forget it fain;
But O, it presses to my memory
Like damnèd guilty deeds to sinners' minds!
'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo--banishèd!'
That 'banishèd,' that one word 'banishèd,'
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death
Was woe enough, if it had ended there;
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be ranked with other griefs,
Why followèd not, when she said 'Tybalt's dead,'
Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentation might have moved?
But with a rearward following Tybalt's death,
'Romeo is banishèd'--to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. 'Romeo is banishèd'--
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,
In that word's death; no words can that woe sound.
William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet Act 3, sc.2, ll.97-127
Performance Tips
- Focus on the internal debate of the speech,
Emotional Beat Breakdown
1. Turning on Herself
- What shifts:
Videos
Links
Related Learning Modules
More Monologues
All monologues are the property and copyright of their owners.
Monologues are presented on StageAgent for educational purposes only.