No Fear Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet (by SparkNotes) -1-
Original Text Modern Text
Prologue
Enter CHORUS The CHORUS enters.
5
10
Two households, both alike in dignity
(In fair Verona, where we lay our scene),
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-marked love
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage—
The which, if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story
takes place, a long-standing hatred between two
families erupts into new violence, and citizens
stain their hands with the blood of their fellow
citizens. Two unlucky children of these enemy
families become lovers and commit suicide. Their
unfortunate deaths put an end to their parents'
feud. For the next two hours, we will watch the
story of their doomed love and their parents'
anger, which nothing but the children’s deaths
could stop. If you listen to us patiently, we’ll make
up for everything we’ve left out in this prologue
onstage.
Exit The CHORUS exits.
Act 1, Scene 1
Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY of the house of
Capulet, with swords and bucklers
SAMPSON and GREGORY, servants of the
Capulet family, enter carrying swords and small
shields.
Gregory, on my word, we’ll not carry coals.
Gregory, I swear, we can’t let them humiliate us.
We won’t take their garbage.
No, for then we should be colliers.
(teasing SAMPSON) No, because then we’d be
garbagemen.
I mean, an we be in choler, we’ll draw.
What I mean is, if they make us angry we’ll pull
out our swords.
Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of collar.
Maybe you should focus on pulling yourself out of
trouble, Sampson.
5
I strike quickly, being moved.
I hit hard when I’m angry.
But thou art not quickly moved to strike.
But it’s hard to make you angry.
A dog of the house of Montague moves me.
One of those dogs from the Montague house can
make me angry.
To move is to stir, and to be valiant is to stand.
Therefore if thou art moved thou runn’st away.
Angry enough to run away. You won’t stand and
fight.
10
A dog of that house shall move me to stand. I will
take the wall of any man or maid of Montague’s.
A dog from that house will make me angry
enough to take a stand. If I pass one of them on
the street, I’ll take the side closer to the wall and
let him walk in the gutter.
Q1: What information about the play’s story does the Prologue convey?
