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Act 2, Prologue
Romeo and Juliet Translation Act 2, Scene 1
ROMEO enters alone.
ROMEO
Can I go forward when my heart is here?Turn back, dull earth, and find thy center out.
ROMEO
Can I continue on while my heart stays here? I’ll be nothing but an empty body unless I go back to find my heart.
ROMEO moves away. BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO enter.
BENVOLIO
Romeo, my cousin Romeo! Romeo!
BENVOLIO
Romeo! Cousin Romeo! Romeo!
MERCUTIO
He is wise,And, on my life, hath stol’n him home to bed.
MERCUTIO
He’s smart. I’d bet on my life that he’s snuck off towards home to go to bed.
BENVOLIO
He ran this way and leapt this orchard wall.Call, good Mercutio.
BENVOLIO
He ran this way and jumped over this orchard wall. Call him, Mercutio.
MERCUTIO
Nay, I’ll conjure too! Romeo! Humours, madman, passion, lover! Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh! Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied. Cry but “Ay me!” Pronounce but “love” and “dove.” Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word, One nickname for her purblind son and heir, Young Abraham Cupid, he that shot so true When King Cophetua loved the beggar maid.— He heareth not, he stirreth not, he moveth not. The ape is dead, and I must conjure him.— I conjure thee by Rosaline’s bright eyes, By her high forehead and her scarlet lip, By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh, And the demesnes that there adjacent lie, That in thy likeness thou appear to us.
MERCUTIO
No, I’ll summon him as I would a spirit. Romeo! Humors! Madman! Passion! Lover! Appear to me in the form of a sigh. Speak just a single rhyme, and I’ll be satisfied. Cry out, “Ah me!” Say “love” and “dove.” Say one pretty word to my good gossiping friend Venus. Say the nickname of her blind son and heir, Cupid, who shot arrows so accurately and made King Cophetua fall in love with a beggar maid.—Romeo doesn’t hear me, stir, or move. The little monkey is dead, so I must conjure him to appear.— By Rosaline’s bright eyes, by her high forehead and her red lips, by her fine feet, straight legs, and trembling thighs, and by parts of her that lie next to her thighs, I summon you to appear before us in your actual form.
BENVOLIO
An if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him.
BENVOLIO
You’ll make him angry if he hears you.
MERCUTIO
This cannot anger him. ‘Twould anger him To raise a spirit in his mistress’ circle Of some strange nature, letting it there stand Till she had laid it and conjured it down. That were some spite. My invocation Is fair and honest. In his mistress’ name I conjure only but to raise up him.
MERCUTIO
This won’t make him angry. It would anger him if I conjured a strange spirit into Rosaline's room for her to have sex with. That would really anger him. But what I’m saying is fair and honest. I’m just saying the name of his love in order to call him out from the darkness.
BENVOLIO
To be consorted with the humorous night.Blind is his love and best befits the dark.
BENVOLIO
Come on. He’s hidden within these trees to be alone with the night. His love is blind, so it's fitting he share it with the dark.
MERCUTIO
If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark. Now will he sit under a medlar tree And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit As maids call medlars when they laugh alone.— O Romeo, that she were! Oh, that she were An open arse, and thou a poperin pear. Romeo, good night. I’ll to my truckle bed. This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep.— Come, shall we go?
MERCUTIO
If love is blind, it can’t hit the target. He’ll sit under a medlar tree and wish his love were one of its fruits, which women, when they’re alone, joke look like female genitals. Oh, Romeo, I wish she were one such fruit! I wish she was an open-arse, and that you were a “pop her in” pear. Good night, Romeo. I’m off to my little trundle bed. It’s too cold in this field for me to sleep here. Come on, Benvolio, shall we leave?
BENVOLIO
Go then, for 'tis in vainTo seek him here that means not to be found.
BENVOLIO
Yes, let's go, then. We'd be looking for Romeo in vain because he doesn't want to be found.
BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO exit.
