What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks

Romeo and Juliet

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ACT Two SCENE Ii	Capulet's orchard.
[Enter ROMEO]
ROMEO	He jests at scars that never felt a wound.
[JULIET appears above at a window]
	Merely, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
	Information technology is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
	Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
	Who is already sick and pale with grief,
	That thou her maid fine art far more fair than she:
	Exist not her maid, since she is envious;
	Her vestal livery is but ill and green
	And none just fools do wear it; cast it off.
	Information technology is my lady, O, it is my dear!	10
	O, that she knew she were!
	She speaks yet she says nada: what of that?
	Her centre discourses; I will respond it.
	I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks:
	Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
	Having some concern, practice entreat her eyes
	To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
	What if her eyes were there, they in her caput?
	The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
	Every bit daylight doth a lamp; her optics in sky	20
	Would through the airy region stream so bright
	That birds would sing and think it were not dark.
	Come across, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
	O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
	That I might touch that cheek!
JULIET	Ay me!
ROMEO	She speaks:
	O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art
	As glorious to this night, being o'er my head
	As is a winged messenger of sky
	Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes
	Of mortals that fall dorsum to gaze on him	30
	When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds
	And sails upon the bust of the air.
JULIET	O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
	Deny thy father and refuse thy proper noun;
	Or, if one thousand wilt not, be but sworn my honey,
	And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
ROMEO	[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
JULIET	'Tis but thy proper name that is my enemy;
	Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
	What's Montague? information technology is nor hand, nor foot,	40
	Nor arm, nor face, nor whatsoever other role
	Belonging to a man. O, be some other proper noun!
	What's in a name? that which we call a rose
	Past any other proper noun would smell as sweet;
	So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
	Retain that dear perfection which he owes
	Without that title. Romeo, doff thy proper noun,
	And for that name which is no function of thee
	Take all myself.
ROMEO	I take thee at thy word:
	Telephone call me merely dearest, and I'll be new baptized;	50
	Henceforth I never volition be Romeo.
JULIET	What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night
	So stumblest on my counsel?
ROMEO	Past a proper name
	I know non how to tell thee who I am:
	My proper name, love saint, is hateful to myself,
	Because information technology is an enemy to thee;
	Had I it written, I would tear the word.
JULIET	My ears have non yet drunk a hundred words
	Of that tongue'due south utterance, still I know the sound:
	Fine art one thousand not Romeo and a Montague?	60
ROMEO	Neither, off-white saint, if either thee dislike.
JULIET	How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?
	The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
	And the place death, considering who thou fine art,
	If any of my kinsmen find thee here.
ROMEO	With love's calorie-free wings did I o'er-perch these walls;
	For stony limits cannot hold love out,
	And what love can exercise that dares dearest endeavour;
	Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me.
JULIET	If they do see thee, they will murder thee.	70
ROMEO	Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye
	Than 20 of their swords: wait g but sweet,
	And I am proof against their enmity.
JULIET	I would not for the world they saw thee hither.
ROMEO	I take night's cloak to hide me from their sight;
	And just thou dearest me, allow them find me here:
	My life were amend ended past their detest,
	Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.
JULIET	Past whose direction found'st thou out this place?
ROMEO	Past honey, who first did prompt me to inquire;	80
	He lent me counsel and I lent him eyes.
	I am no pilot; nevertheless, wert one thousand equally far
	As that vast shore wash'd with the farthest body of water,
	I would hazard for such merchandise.
JULIET	Thousand know'st the mask of night is on my face,
	Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek
	For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night
	Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny
	What I take spoke: just goodbye compliment!
	Dost chiliad dear me? I know thou wilt say 'Ay,'	90
	And I will take thy discussion: still if yard swear'st,
	Thou mayst prove false; at lovers' perjuries
	Then say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo,
	If g dost love, pronounce it faithfully:
	Or if k think'st I am too quickly won,
	I'll frown and exist perverse an say thee nay,
	So thou wilt woo; simply else, not for the world.
	In truth, fair Montague, I am also fond,
	And therefore 1000 mayst think my 'havior lite:
	But trust me, admirer, I'll evidence more than truthful	100
	Than those that take more cunning to be strange.
	I should have been more foreign, I must confess,
	But that thou overheard'st, ere I was ware,
	My true dearest'due south passion: therefore pardon me,
	And non impute this yielding to light honey,
	Which the nighttime night hath so discovered.
ROMEO	Lady, past yonder blessed moon I swear
	That tips with silverish all these fruit-tree tops--
JULIET	O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,
	That monthly changes in her circled orb,	110
	Lest that thy dearest evidence likewise variable.
ROMEO	What shall I swear by?
JULIET	Exercise non swear at all;
	Or, if g wilt, swear by thy gracious self,
	Which is the god of my idolatry,
	And I'll believe thee.
ROMEO	If my heart's honey love--
JULIET	Well, exercise not swear: although I joy in thee,
	I take no joy of this contract to-dark:
	Information technology is as well rash, likewise unadvised, too sudden;
	Likewise like the lightning, which doth cease to be
	Ere one can say 'It lightens.' Sweet, good night!	120
	This bud of honey, by summer's ripening breath,
	May prove a beauteous blossom when adjacent we come across.
	Skilful dark, good night! equally sweet repose and residuum
	Come up to thy heart equally that within my breast!
ROMEO	O, wilt thou exit me and so unsatisfied?
JULIET	What satisfaction canst thou accept to-night?
ROMEO	The substitution of thy love's faithful vow for mine.
JULIET	I gave thee mine before thou didst request information technology:
	And nonetheless I would it were to give again.	129
ROMEO	Wouldst thou withdraw information technology? for what purpose, beloved?
JULIET	But to be frank, and requite it thee again.
	And yet I wish but for the thing I accept:
	My bounty is as boundless as the ocean,
	My honey as deep; the more I give to thee,
	The more I accept, for both are space.
[Nurse calls within]
	I hear some noise inside; dear love, adieu!
	Anon, good nurse! Sugariness Montague, be true.
	Stay just a niggling, I volition come once again.
[Exit, above]
ROMEO	O blessed, blessed nighttime! I am afeard.
	Existence in nighttime, all this is merely a dream,	140
	Besides flattering-sugariness to exist substantial.
[Re-enter JULIET, to a higher place]
JULIET	Three words, dearest Romeo, and good night indeed.
	If that thy aptitude of love exist honourable,
	Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow,
	By one that I'll procure to come to thee,
	Where and what fourth dimension thousand wilt perform the rite;
	And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay
	And follow thee my lord throughout the world.
Nurse	[Within] Madam!
JULIET	I come, anon.-- Only if thou hateful'st not well,	150
	I do beseech thee--
Nurse	[Within] Madam!
JULIET	Past and past, I come:--
	To stop thy suit, and get out me to my grief:
	To-morrow will I send.
ROMEO	Then thrive my soul--
JULIET	A thousand times adept night!
[Exit, above]
ROMEO	A thousand times the worse, to want thy light.
	Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from
	their books,
	But love from dear, toward school with heavy looks.
[Retiring]
[Re-enter JULIET, to a higher place]
JULIET	Hist! Romeo, hist! O, for a falconer'due south vox,
	To lure this tassel-gentle back again!	160
	Bondage is hoarse, and may non speak aloud;
	Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies,
	And brand her airy natural language more hoarse than mine,
	With repetition of my Romeo'due south proper noun.
ROMEO	It is my soul that calls upon my name:
	How silverish-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,
	Like softest music to attending ears!
JULIET	Romeo!
ROMEO	My dear?
JULIET	At what o'clock to-morrow
	Shall I send to thee?
ROMEO	At the hr of nine.
JULIET	I will not fail: 'tis twenty years till and then.	170
	I take forgot why I did call thee back.
ROMEO	Let me stand here till thou retrieve it.
JULIET	I shall forget, to have thee nevertheless stand at that place,
	Remembering how I dearest thy visitor.
ROMEO	And I'll still stay, to accept thee still forget,
	Forgetting any other home just this.
JULIET	'Tis well-nigh morning; I would have thee gone:
	And yet no further than a wanton's bird;
	Who lets it hop a trivial from her hand,
	Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,	180
	And with a silk thread plucks it dorsum once more,
	Then loving-jealous of his liberty.
ROMEO	I would I were thy bird.
JULIET	Sugariness, and then would I:
	Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
	Good nighttime, good night! parting is such
	sugariness sorrow,
	That I shall say good dark till it be morrow.
[Get out above]
ROMEO	Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy chest!
	Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to residual!
	Hence will I to my ghostly father'due south prison cell,
	His aid to require, and my dear hap to tell.
[Exit]

Next: Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 3

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Explanatory Notes for Deed 2, Scene ii
From Romeo and Juliet. Ed. K. Deighton. London: Macmillan.

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Prologue

i. He jests ... wound, Mercutio, who never felt the wound of honey, may well jest at the scars which Cupid'due south arrows accept left in my eye. That this is not a general, but a detail, remark is, I call up, proved by the answering rhyme, as Staunton has noticed. And as neither the folios nor the quartos make whatsoever division of scene, such division, originally due to Rowe, seems clearly wrong.

2. soft! he bids himself 'hush,' cautions himself to talk in a lower vocalisation.

4. envious, jealous.

7. Be not her maid, no longer serve her, no longer keep a vow to live unmarried; as Diana'south votaries pledged themselves to do.

8. Her vestal ... green, the life of chastity to which she binds her priestess is ane of sickly, jaundiced, hue. In ill and green in that location is probably, as Delius suggests, an allusion to the "greenish-sickness" of which Shakespeare often speaks, and which in iii. 5. 157, below, Capulet applies equally an epithet to Juliet in his acrimony at her refusal of Paris, "Out, you green-sickness feces! out, you luggage! You lot tallow-face," — an ailment of languishing girls characterized by a pale complexion. The reading of the showtime quarto is stake for sick, and this is preferred by many editors. Collier would change sick into white, seeing in the line an allusion to the white and dark-green livery formerly worn by the Court fools; but it seems unlikely that Shakespeare would use the word fools in this literal sense when referring to Juliet, while, as Grant White points out, if such an allusion were intended, information technology would be obtained from the reading of the offset quarto, stake, without the violent change to white; vestal livery. Vesta was the Roman goddess of the hearth, corresponding with the Greek Hestia, and her priestesses were vowed to a life of chastity and celibacy; cp. Per. iii. 4. 10, "A vestal livery will I have me to, And never more accept joy."

12. what of that? but that matters picayune.

xiii. discourses, is eloquent in its mere look.

16. some business, some individual affairs of their own which would be hindered by their having to perform their nightly duty of lighting up the sky.

17. in their spheres. According to the Ptolemaic system of astronomy, circular about the world, which was the centre of the organization, were ix hollow spheres, consisting of the seven planets, the stock-still stars or empyrean, and the Primum Mobile; the spheres with the stars and planets in them existence whirled round the earth in xx-four hours past the driving power, the Primum Mobile.

21. the airy region, the upper air; region, was originally a division of the sky marked out by the Roman augurs. In afterwards times the atmosphere was divided into three regions, upper, middle, and lower. Cp. also Haml. ii. 2. 509.

24, v. O, that ... cheek, cp. Tennyson, The Miller'south Daughter, 169-186.

28. winged messenger, angel.

29. white-upturned, turned up in adoration so that the pupils are scarcely seen.

30. fall dorsum, stand back in awe, and also in order to become a clearer view.

31. lazy-pacing, slowly drifting. Grant White compares Macb. i. 7. 21-v; lazy-pacing is Pope's conjecture for lasie pacing, of the first quarto; the remaining quartos and the folios give lazie, or lazy, puffing.

34. refuse, disown, disclaim; cp. T. C. iv. five. 267, "Nosotros accept had pelting wars, since you refused The Grecians' cause."

37. speak at this, reply her without allowing her to go further, interrupt her at this indicate.

39. One thousand art ... Montague. Staunton explains "That is, every bit she afterwards expresses it, you would even so retain all the perfections which ardorn you lot, were not chosen Montague"; so substantially Grant White, though Dyce calls such an explanation "unintelligible." Others follow Malone in putting the comma subsequently though, as used in the sense of however, with the explanation that Juliet is only endeavouring to account for Romeo's being amiable and first-class though he is a Montague, to prove which she asserts that he merely bears the proper name, but has none of the qualities of that house. Various emendations have also been proposed, only Staunton's explanation seems to me quite satisfactory.

42. be some other name, be somebody else in proper name than Montague. Lettsom objects that Shakespeare could not accept written "be another name"; but after the expression "What's Montague?", where "Montague" is used as though it were a matter, there seems no reason why we should non have "be another name."

46. owes, owns; as oft in Elizabethan literature, the last north of the M. E. owen, to pcssess, being dropped. The modernistic sense of the word 'to be in debt,' 'to be obliged,' comes from the sense of possessing another's property, but the word has no etymological connexion with to 'own' = to possess; it existence from the A.S. agan, to have, while the latter is from the A.S. agnian, to appropriate, claim as i'southward ain, from agn, contracted grade of agen, i'south own (Skeat, Ety. Dict.).

47. doff, put off; do off, every bit don, do on; dup, exercise up; dout, do out.

48. for thy name, in exchange for your name.

53. So stumblest on my counsel, come up then unexpectedly upon my secret thouglits; cp. 1000. North. D. i. 1. 216, "Elimination our bosoms of their counsel sweet," i.e. confiding to each other our inmost thoughts.

53, four. By a proper noun... am, if I could let you lot know who I am without using a name, I would gladly do so, for it is impossible for me to name myself without distressing yous.

55. saint. Delius points out that this word recalls their first meeting when, equally a pilgrim, Romeo had thus greeted Juliet.

58. drunk, unconsciously acknowledging the avidity with which she had listened to his words.

61. if either thee dislike, if either be unpleasant to your ears; dislike is really impersonal, equally in Oth. 2. 3. 49, "I'll do't; but it mislike'due south me."

64. And the place death, and to venture here is to risk your life.

66. o'er-perch these walls, wing over these walls and settle here, as a bird settles upon a branch after a flying from some other spot; a perch is literally a rod, bar, then a bough or twig on which a bird settles.

67. stony limits, limits formed of rock, i.e. walls; stony, more commonly used as = of the nature of.

69. are no let to me, are no hindrance to me, cannot bar my way and continue me out.

71. Alack, co-ordinate to Skeat, either a corruption of 'ah! lord,' or, which seems more likely, from ah! and M. E. lak, loss, failure.

73. proof confronting, able to endure, hold out against; encounter notation on i. 1. 216.

76. merely thou love me ... here, except, unless, you love me, I am quite willing that they should find me here and kill me; without your love, life to me is not worth living.

78. Than death ... honey, than that my decease should be delayed if I am to be without your love; prorogued, the Lat. prorogare was to propose a farther extension of office, lience to defer, though literally meaning just to ask publicly, from pro-, publicly, and rogare, to ask.

81. counsel, advice.

83. vast shore. "Lat. vastus, empty, waste material" (Walker).

84. I would adventure for, I would make my voyage in quest of, however great the danger.

88. Fain ... form, gladly would I, if it were possible, stand up on anniversary with you lot, care for yous with afar formality; Fain, properly an adjective.

89. simply farewell compliment, "but abroad with formality and punctilio" (Staunton); I now cast such things to the winds.

93. laughs, adept-humouredly disdains to punish them. Douce compares Marlowe'south translation of Ovid's Art of Beloved, i. 633, "For Jove himself sits in the azure skies, And laughs below at lover'due south perjuries," from which he thinks that Shakespeare borrowed.

94. pronounce it faithfully, assure me of your love without adding an oath to confirm your words.

97. So, provided that.

98. addicted, foolishly loving; fond, originally fonned, the by participle of the verb fonnen, to act foolishly, from the substantive fon, a fool.

99. calorie-free, full of levity, wanton.

101. more cunning ... strange, more skill in affecting coyness.

104. passion, passionate confession; the word was formerly used of any strong emotion.

106. Which the dark ... discovered, which (beloved) has been revealed to you past the darkness of the night whose office should exist to conceal; which you have discovered thanks to the darkness of the night.

110. circled, revolving; non, I think, 'round,' as Schmidt explains.

111. too, as.

113. gracious, attractive, finding favour in my eyes; cp. T. A. i. one. 429, "if ever Tamora Were gracious in those princely eyes of thine." This is the reading of the first quarto, the other old copies giving glorious, which Grant White thinks more than suitable to the context.

114.of my idolatry, that I worship.

117. I have ... to-night, I feel no joy in now ratifying with oaths a contract between us. Similar Romeo, i. 4. 106-11, she has a presentiment of some evil befalling their plighted love.

118. unadvised, imprudent, formed without sufficient consideration.

121, 2. This bud of love ... meet, this new love of ours, cherished in our hearts, may expand into full growth by the time we side by side meet, every bit beneath the summer'south warmth the bud expands into a beauteous blossom. as that ... chest, "as to that center within my breast" (Delius).

126. satisfaction, Delius points out the double sense here of payment and condolement.

129. And still ... once more, and yet I wish I had non given it, in society that I might now once more take the joy of giving information technology.

131. frank, liberal, free of hand; cp. Lear, iii. 4. 20, "Your quondam kind father, whose frank heart gave all."

132. the affair I accept. sc. her own infinite beloved.

143. If that ... honourable, if your dear is honourable in its intentions; for that, as a conjunctional affix, come across Abb. § 287.

145. procure to come, arrange to have sent.

146. the rite, sc. of marriage.

152. By and by, in a minute, straight.

153. suit. Malone quotes from Brooke's poem, Romeus and Juliet, "and at present your Juliet y'all beseekes To cease your sute, and suffer her to live emong her likes."

154. So thrive my soul — may my soul prosper (according as I mean well to you), the concluding words being cleaved off past Juliet's farewell.

156. A thousand ... low-cal, in answer to Juliet's wish of good-dark he says, nay, non good nighttime but bad night, dark made a thousand times the worse past the absence of y'all who are its only low-cal.

158. toward ... looks, sc. as schoolboys go toward, etc.

159. Hist! Mind!

159, 60. O, for ... once again! would that I had a voice that would bring back my gentle Romeo as surely every bit the falconer's vocalisation brings ack the tassel-gentle! "The tassel or tiercel (for so information technology should be spelled) is the male of the gosshawk; so called because it is a tierce or tertiary less than the female...This species of militarist had the epithet gentle annexed to it, from the ease with which it was tamed, and its zipper to man" (Steevens). "It appears," adds Malone, "that sure hawks were considered as appropriated to certain ranks. The tercel-gentle was appropriated to the prince, and thence was chosen past Juliet as an appellation for her beloved Romeo."

161. Bondage ... aloud, one fettered, constrained by fright of being overheard, like me, is as much unable to call aloud as one whose vocalism is stopped by hoarseness of the throat.

162. Else ... lies, otherwise by my loud cries I would rend the cave in which Repeat dwells; Echo, an Oread who by Juno was changed into a being neither able to speak until somebody had spoken, nor to be silent when anybody had spoken.

163. And make ... mine, and, past compelling her to repeat my cries, make her hoarser than myself even. Dyce compares Comus, 208, "And airy tongues that syllable men'south names On sands and shores and desert wildernesses."

166. silvery-sweet, in innuendo to the sweet tone of bells made of argent.

167. attention, attentive.

173. to accept ... there, in guild to keep you continuing there.

175. to have ... forget, so that you may continue to forget.

176. Forgetting ... this, forgetting that I have whatsoever dwelling house simply this, forgetting that this is not really my dwelling house.

178. a wanton'southward bird, the pet bird of a mischievous girl, a girl that loves to tease her pets.

180. gyves, chains, fetters.

182. So loving-jealous ... liberty, so fond of it and yet so jealous of its getting its freedom.

186. shall say adept dark, shall continue saying 'skilful night.'

188. so sweetness to rest, having so sweetness a resting place.

189. ghostly father, spiritual begetter; male parent, a title given to cosmic priests.

190. my love hap, the proficient fortune that has befallen me; hap, fortune, chance, blow, from which we get to 'happen' and 'happy.'

How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Ed. M. Deighton. London: Macmillan, 1916. Shakespeare Online. twenty Feb. 2013. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/romeo_2_2.html >.
How to cite the sidebar:
Mabillard, Amanda. Notes on Shakespeare. Shakespeare Online. 20 Feb. 2013. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/romeo_2_2.html >.

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Notes on Romeo and Juliet

Juliet appears above at a window (stage direction). Shakespeare did not include this stage direction and it is not in Q1 or the First Folio. It was added in the 17th century and has remained ever since, although some editors cull to place the management right after Romeo'south line "He jests at scars that never felt a wound" (1), while others insert it right before Romeo says "It is my lady, O information technology is my love" (10). ____

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ill and green ] The phrase sick and dark-green refers to the anaemic status known as chlorosis, or green sickness. The goddess Diana (the moon personified) is sickly stake and envious of Juliet's beauty (6). Juliet, likewise, as a follower of Diana (i.e,. a virgin) is looking quite sickly pale herself.

As Helen King argues in her book The disease of virgins: green sickness, chlorosis and the bug of puberty, "...for an early modern reader, the disease label 'green sickness' - similar 'the disease of virgins' - could incorporate within itself the cure: sexual feel" (35). Read on...

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Notes on Shakespeare...

Richard Shakespeare, Shakespeare's paternal grandfather, was a farmer in the modest hamlet of Snitterfield, located 4 miles from Stratford. Records show that Richard worked on several different farms which he leased from diverse landowners. Coincidentally, Richard leased land from Robert Arden, Shakespeare'southward maternal grandfather. Read on...
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Shakespeare caused substantial wealth thanks to his acting and writing abilities, and his shares in London theatres. The going rate was £10 per play at the turn of the sixteenth century. And then how much money did Shakespeare make? Read on...

Henry Bolingbroke, the eldest son of John of Gaunt and the grandson of King Edward III, was born on April 3, 1367. Henry usurped the throne from the ineffectual King Richard 2 in 1399, and thus became King Henry IV, the commencement of the three kings of the House of Lancaster. Read on...
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Known to the Elizabethans as ague, Malaria was a mutual malady spread by the mosquitoes in the marshy Thames. The swampy theatre commune of Southwark was always at hazard. Male monarch James I had information technology; so too did Shakespeare'southward friend, Michael Drayton. Read on...
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Shakespeare was familiar with seven foreign languages and often quoted them directly in his plays. His vocabulary was the largest of any author, at over xx-four thousand words. Read on...