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Romeo and Juliet: Act II, Scene 1

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Romeo and Juliet
Act II, Scene 1

A lane by the wall of Capulet’s orchard.

He ran this way and leapt this orchard wall.

John Gilbert, circa 1873

  1. Enter Romeo alone.

Romeo

1 - 2
  1. Can I go forward when my heart is here?
  2. Turn back, dull earth, and find thy center out.
  1. Enter Benvolio with Mercutio. Romeo withdraws.

Benvolio

3
  1. Romeo! My cousin Romeo! Romeo!

Mercutio

4 - 5
  1.                                He is wise,
  2. And, on my life, hath stol’n him home to bed.

Benvolio

6 - 7
  1. He ran this way and leapt this orchard wall.
  2. Call, good Mercutio.

Mercutio

8 - 23
  1.                      Nay, I’ll conjure too.
  2. Romeo! Humors! Madman! Passion! Lover!
  3. Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh!
  4. Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied;
  5. Cry but “Ay me!”, pronounce but “love” and “dove”,
  6. Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word,
  7. One nickname for her purblind son and heir,
  8. Young Abraham Cupid, he that shot so trim,
    Feb 16, 2021 Miko
    Modern editions provide various explanations for this use of “Abraham”. The Folger edition says it means “old”, meaning that Cupid is an old god, even though he is portrayed as young. The Norton edition provides a similar definition. The Riverside edition says that “Abraham” refers to an “Abraham Man”, which the Oxford English dictionary defines as a beggar. Finally, the New Oxford edition changes the word to “Adam”, saying that it's a reference to Adam Bell, an archer. The First Folio has the word “Abraham”.
  9. When King Cophetua lov’d the beggar-maid!
    Feb 16, 2021 Miko
    According to folklore, King Cophetua was an African king who fell in love with a beggar woman.
  10. He heareth not, he stirreth not, he moveth not,
  11. The ape is dead, and I must conjure him.
  12. I conjure thee by Rosaline’s bright eyes,
  13. By her high forehead and her scarlet lip,
  14. By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh,
  15. And the demesnes that there adjacent lie,
  16. That in thy likeness thou appear to us!

Benvolio

24
  1. And if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him.

Mercutio

25 - 31
  1. This cannot anger him; ’twould anger him
  2. To raise a spirit in his mistress’ circle,
  3. Of some strange nature, letting it there stand
  4. Till she had laid it and conjur’d it down.
  5. That were some spite. My invocation
  6. Is fair and honest; in his mistress’ name
  7. I conjure only but to raise up him.

Benvolio

32 - 34
  1. Come, he hath hid himself among these trees
  2. To be consorted with the humorous night.
  3. Blind is his love and best befits the dark.

Mercutio

35 - 43
  1. If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark.
  2. Now will he sit under a medlar tree,
  3. And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit
  4. As maids call medlars, when they laugh alone.
  5. O, Romeo, that she were, O that she were
  6. An open-arse, thou a pop’rin pear!
  7. Romeo, good night, I’ll to my truckle-bed,
  8. This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep.
  9. Come, shall we go?

Benvolio

44 - 45
  1.                    Go then, for ’tis in vain
  2. To seek him here that means not to be found.
  1. Exit with Mercutio.
William Thomas Lewis as Mercutio

William Thomas Lewis as Mercutio

Gainsborough Dupont, 1794

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