An Excellent Conceited Tragedie of Romeo and Iuliet as it Hath been often (with Great Applause) Plaid Publiquely

Elizabeth Densen

1. Most worthie Prince, heare me but speake the truth,
2. And Ile informe you how these things fell out.¹
3. I will be briefe, for my short date of breath
4. Is not so long as is a tedious tale.
5. Ju’iet here slaine was married to that Romeo,
6. Without her Fathers or her Mothers grant:
7. The Nurse was privie² to the marriage.
8. I married them, and their stolne³ marriage day
9. Was Tybalts doomesday: for which Romeo
10. Was banished from hence to Mantua.
11. You, to remove that siege of Greefe from Her,
12. Betroth’d and would have married her perforce⁴
13. To marrie her to Paris: But her Soule
14. (Loathing a second Contract⁵) did refuse
15. To glue consent; and therefore did she urge me
16. Father⁶ to finde a meanes she might avoyd
17. What so her Father fought to force her too
18. Or in my Cell there would she kill her selfe.
19. Then gave I her (so Tutor’d⁷ by my Art)
20. A potion that should make her seeme as dead:
21. And told her that I would with all post speed
22. Send hence to Mantua for her Romeo,
23. To help to take her from her borrowed grave⁸,
24. Being the time the Potions force should cease.
25. But he which bore my Letter, Frier John,
26. Was slayed by the Searchers of the Towne,
27. But Romeo understanding by his man,
28. That Juliet was deceasd, returnde in post
29. Unto Verona for to see his love.
30. What after happened touching Paris death,
31. Or Romeos is to me unknown at all.
32. But when I came (some Minute ere the time
33. Of her awaking) heere untimely⁹ lay
34. The Noble Paris, and true Romeo dead.
35. She wakes, and I entreated her comeforth
36. And beare this worke of heaven with patience:
37. But then a noise did scare me from the Tombe,
38. And she (too desperate) would not go with me,
39. What after happened I am ignorant of.
40. But (as it seemes) did violence on her selfe.
41. And if ought in this miscarried by my fault,
42. Let my old life be sacrific’d, some houre¹⁰ before the time,
43. Unto the rigour of severest law––

FOOTNOTES:

1. These two lines are seen in the 1597 (original) edition of the play yet are entirely omitted from the 1609, 1622, and further versions of the play. I included them because I liked the way that they set up the rest of the speech while also not allowing for the Prince to receive any lines in this monologue (because I think that they take away from the Frier’s message and the overall themes within it).
2. “Privie to;” most modernly meaning to be aware of something, but in Old English: “Of an action, fact, circumstance, etc.: secret, confidential; kept from public knowledge.” Keep in mind the secretiveness of this connotation; while the Nurse was aware of the marriage, she was also actively keeping it from others.
3. Stolne: “To commit or practise theft.” Under the assumption that Juliet’s marriage and right to marry the person she loves was stolen from her, largely due to hers and Romeo’s families.
4. “To force, constrain, or oblige.” Juliet’s desire to marry is in the hands of her father and has a forceful connotation.
5. “To agree upon, establish by agreement, to undertake mutually, or enter upon  (a) a convention or treaty,  (b) a legal or business engagement. Now rare except as in 3.” This definition highlights the transactional nature of Juliet’s marriage, thus taking away any ounce of actual love in the marriage and emphasizing how it’s being thought of as a way for her family to gain something out of it.
6.  “A person who assumes the role of father of the bride at a wedding by giving her away at the altar.” I love this definition of “Father,” especially because it’s used in 2 different senses between these two lines. The first “Father” is interesting because it can mean that the Frier is her Father as in “priest,” or it can be because he is the one giving Juliet away at the altar as her biological father isn’t there. This feels a little punny, especially because the next line is in reference to Juliet’s biological father who wasn’t considered her actual father at her wedding to Romeo because he wasn’t there and did not approve.
7. “To take care or charge of.” This definition interests me because first, it shows how the Friar is not truly in charge of this potion, rather it is his Art. Second, the potion is created in an attempt to take control over the situation in which it seems that no one has power over.
8. “To take (a thing) on credit, on the understanding of returning it, or giving an equivalent; hence, to obtain or take the temporary use of (a thing recognized as being the property of another, to whom it is returnable).” Juliet’s grave that she was in while waiting for Romeo was not truly “hers” until she actually died. Rather, she was just temporarily using it, with the intention of returning it after the trickery succeeded, until she could give it back and it no longer served her.
9. “At an unsuitable or improper time; unseasonably, inopportunely… Not in common use before the end of the 16th cent.” or “Before the proper or natural time; prematurely.” This also feels like a pun to me, especially keeping in mind the use of the words “Minute” and “time” in the prior sentence.
10. “Belonging to or associated with the speaker and one or more other people previously mentioned or easily identified; belonging to or associated with people in general.” I’m going to view this as a pun on the word “time,” as the sacrifice belongs to the speaker (Frier), but also takes on the double meaning of an “untimely” death.

References

1. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. An Excellent Conceited Tragedie of Romeo and Iuliet as it Hath been often (with Great Applause) Plaid Publiquely, by the Right Honourable the L. of Hunsdon His Seruants London, Printed by Iohn Danter and Edward Allde?], 1597. http://ezproxy.trincoll.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/books/excellent-conceited-tragedie-romeo-iuliet-as-hath/docview/2240913904/se-2?accountid=14405. STC (2nd ed.) / 22322.
2. Shakespeare, W., 1564-1616. (1609). The most excellent and lamentable tragedie, of romeo and iuliet as it hath beene sundrie times publiquely acted, by the kings maiesties seruants at the globe. newly corrected, augmented, and amended: London, Printed by John Windet] for Iohn Smethvvick, and are to be sold at his shop in Saint Dunstanes Church-yard, in Fleetestreete vnder the Dyall. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.trincoll.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/books/most-excellent-lamentable-tragedie-romeo-iuliet/docview/2240922426/se-2?accountid=14405. STC (2nd ed.) / 22324.
3. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. 1623. Mr. VVilliam Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies Published According to the True Originall Copies London, Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed. Blount at the charges of W. Iaggard, Ed. Blount, I. Smithweeke, and W. Aspley]. http://ezproxy.trincoll.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/books/mr-vvilliam-shakespeares-comedies-histories/docview/2240890297/se-2?accountid=14405. STC (2nd ed.) / 22273.

Notes

The baseline for this text was STC (2nd ed.) / 22322 (1597).

Footnote definitions were definitions from the 17th century given by the Online Oxford English Dictionary.

Line numbers were not present in any of the three editions, but are included in this edition to help with organization.

Editorial Policy

When choosing between editions, I heavily relied on my first step of the process where I created an Excel sheet to easily compare the differences between texts. The first two lines were only seen in the 1597 edition, and I liked the way that they set up the rest of the monologue, so my decision to choose those lines was among the easiest. Additionally, I tried to include as much from the base text as possible because of the authenticity they provided, however if I saw particular aspects in either of the other two editions (1609 or 1622), I didn’t have much worry about using them as they still have some kind of textual authority because they were published when Shakespeare was still alive. Some examples of using the later editions because I liked the way that they were written include line 19, where the 1609 edition didn’t include parentheses but the 1622 edition did. I liked the inclusion of the parentheses because it helps me visualize it being performed on a stage as a type of aside, whereas commas (present in the 1609 edition) seem less secretive and exclusionary.

There were also many lines present in the 1597 edition that weren’t in the other two, and my favorite example of that is lines 5-9. First, line 5 starts off by putting Juliet’s name first in the sentence, whereas in the other editions she was put second behind Romeo. I liked the fact that Juliet was spoken about first and was given the role of a type of main character, instead of the other editions which read “Romeo there dead, was husband to that Juliet, / And she there dead, that’s Romeos faithfull wife” (1622). I like the agency that Juliet has in the 1597 version, so I included it in my own. I also appreciated that the 1597 version explicitly said that Romeo and Juliet’s marriage was without the “grant” of her parents; the fact that it was Juliet’s parents and not Romeo’s further emphasizes the point that Juliet is the main character here. The word “grant” is also interesting because it ties back to the idea that Juliet’s family sees her marriage as being a type of a transaction to further them in life, this is also not seen in the other editions. Finally in these lines, they mention the Nurse’s knowledge of the marriage far earlier than in the other editions (both of the other editions have her being “privie” to the marriage in line 37). I included it mentioned in the first 9 lines in my edition because I think that it adds an extra, secretive element, hence my inclusion of the footnote to draw attention to it.

Finally, my last editorial choice is also among my favorites: I chose to use the final line from the 1609 edition because of the grammar in the way that it ended (with a –––). I liked this em-dash because it signals to me that the story is not over just yet. With the other two editions, they ended with a period, which is a rather serious and abrupt end to the Friar’s monologue. I decided to have my edition continue on, in a sense, by having the em-dash; readers can choose to read it as it is being continued the next time he speaks, or, as my preferred way: the final lines of his monologue can be tied back together with the beginning of it. I like viewing it as the latter because it shows the cyclical nature of this short monologue and thus refers to the cyclical nature of the entire play.