New Ending
Act V, Scene III
Verona. A churchyard; the monument of the Capulets.
Enter Romeo and Paris.
Paris: This is that banished haughty Montague, That murdered my love’s cousin. With which grief, it is supposed that fair creature died. And here he is come to do some villainous shame to the dead bodies. I will apprehend him. Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile Montague.”
Can vengeance be pursued beyond death? Condemned villain, I apprehend thee. Obey and come with me, for thou must die. Romeo: I must indeed, and therefore came I hither. Good gentle youth, do not tempt a desperate man. For thou nor any man shall prevent me from being with my love tonight. Do not put another sin upon my head by urging me to fury. O be gone, for I shall not know what I do but rather do what I must. A madman’s mercy bids thee, run away.” Paris: “I defy thee! For thou hast done my love great injustice.”
Romeo said, Her love is mine! Your love she shall never be!” They fought and Paris was slain. Romeo then said, “Forgive me, good sir, for again, I know not what I do.” Inside the tomb of Capulet, Romeo cried out, “O fair Juliet, why must thou torture me so? For even in death, thy beauty is paralleled only by the stars in the sky. O Lord, what great injustice hast thou done to thee? For my love is gone, and no greater crime against me can thou think of. Tis our families to blame, not us. For they are blinded by tradition and driven by hatred. O but it matters not.”
Soon shall I be with you and once again be merry. To live without you is not true life, but hell. Life with you is heaven. I have a choice to make, heaven or hell? This is a question for fools to ask. Heaven is my choice, fair Juliet. As I drink this poison, I do not think of death, but of the heavenly divine that will greet me once I am gone and reunited with Juliet. Romeo brings the poison to his lips. Juliet stops him and says, Halt! Gentle Romeo, the Lord does not call for you yet.”
For the death that has become me, let it be no more than a mask that I wear. Romeo, can it be true? Fair Juliet lives? Oh, thank the Lord! A love as great as yours cannot be grasped even by Death’s icy hand, for it looks death in the face and laughs. Juliet, dear love, it is true this occasion is a merry one, yet I fear happiness is not here. Hark, something yonder is astir. Enter Friar Laurence. Friar Laurence, thank the heavens a thousand-fold, for it was the worst that I feared for you. Lucky are you, the Lord be by your side, but haste must be made. Both houses of Capulet and Montague come hither, and joining them be none other than the Prince. I bid thee, flee from this place of death, for this godforsaken city brings thee no justice nor righteousness. Fashioned were the walls of Verona to house the devil’s minions, and that it does. And so begone, or thou shalt meet thy fate! Juliet, dear Friar, the Lord himself be in you. So good a man deserves not to be in such a place as you speak of. So I pray for thee to one day be amongst men of equal greatness. And so farewell, good man. Pray I our paths will cross in better days. Exit Romeo and Juliet. Enter Prince, Capulet, and Montague. Prince, good Friar, mistaken am I to say you know of the events taken place in this house of death. Friar Laurence, before thou can know that of the present, thou shalt learn that of the past. Romeo be husband to her Juliet. Married them I did, and yet their secret wedding day was also Tybalt’s doomsday. And faithful wife Juliet be was to wed to County Paris. And then with incredible sorrow, thou bid me devise some mean to rid her of this second marriage or slay herself immediately say she. A sleeping potion of thine own creation was to be her relief. Though I wrote to Romeo biding him to come hither to awake the sleeping Juliet this night, fail did he to receive it. So upon receiving my own letter back, I rushed hither to prevent the worst from occurring. Prince, and what be of Romeo now? Capulet, and what be of Juliet? Her body lay, did she wake? Friar Laurence, slain be them both. Montague, and by whose hand? Friar Laurence, pass Paris’s body did you not? Prince, we did. Friar Laurence, as Romeo arrived to see his departed love, followed he was by Paris, who was extremely angered at Romeo’s presence at his fiance’s grave. Challenged Romeo to a duel. As fighting began, Juliet rushed to stop it. The blade of Paris delivered a death blow to fair Juliet instead of Romeo. Enraged at the loss of his love, Romeo slew Paris, then turned the blade to the heart of his own and ran himself through. Paris, and where be the bodies of Juliet and Romeo? Friar Laurence, buried, yonder, beneath those trees. Together be they, in death and in life. Prince, Capulet, Montague, see what a scourge is laid upon your hate. The heavens find means to kill your joys with love. All are punished! Capulet, oh brother Montague, forgive me for all the injustices I have done to you and to all Montagues alike. Montague, and dear Capulet, realized have I the error in my ways. Punishment of any kind befit for the behavior such as that that has been displayed between the twain of our houses. Prince, go hence then, to have more talk of these sad things. Some shall be pardoned, and some shall be punished. For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo. Shakespeare Essays.
