Original: Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Modern: Should I say bad things about the man who is my husband?

Original: Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name,
Modern: Oh, my poor husband, who will defend your reputation,

Original: When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?
Modern: When I, your wife of only three hours, have already damaged it?

Original: But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?
Modern: But why, you villain, did you kill my cousin?

Original: That villain cousin would have kill’d my husband:
Modern: That villain cousin would have killed my husband:

Original: Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring;
Modern: Stop, foolish tears, go back to where you came from;

Original: Your tributary drops belong to woe,
Modern: Your drops should flow for sorrow,

Original: Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
Modern: But you’re confused and flowing for happiness instead.

Original: My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain;
Modern: My husband is alive, though Tybalt would have killed him;

Original: And Tybalt’s dead, that would have slain my husband:
Modern: And Tybalt is dead, who would have killed my husband:

Original: All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?
Modern: All of this should comfort me; so why am I crying?

Original: Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,
Modern: There was some word that was worse than Tybalt’s death,

Original: That murder’d me: I would forget it fain;
Modern: That killed me inside: I wish I could forget it;

Original: But, O, it presses to my memory,
Modern: But oh, it pushes itself into my memory,

Original: Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds:
Modern: Like terrible guilty actions haunt sinners’ minds:

Original: ‘Tybalt is dead, and Romeo.banished;’
Modern: ‘Tybalt is dead, and Romeo is banished;’

Original: That ‘banished,’ that one word ‘banished,’
Modern: That word ‘banished,’ that single word ‘banished,’

Original: Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death
Modern: Has killed ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt’s death

Original: Was woe enough, if it had ended there:
Modern: Was painful enough, if it had stopped there:

Original: Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
Modern: Or, if bitter sorrow enjoys company

Original: And needly will be rank’d with other griefs,
Modern: And must be grouped together with other sorrows,

Original: Why follow’d not, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead,’
Modern: Why didn’t the Nurse also say, when she said ‘Tybalt’s dead,’

Original: Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both,
Modern: Your father, or your mother, or even both,

Original: Which modern lamentations might have moved?
Modern: Which would have caused ordinary grief?

Original: But with a rear-ward following Tybalt’s death,
Modern: But coming right after Tybalt’s death,

Original: ‘Romeo is banished,’ to speak that word,
Modern: ‘Romeo is banished,’ to say that word,

Original: Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
Modern: Is like father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,

Original: All slain, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished!’
Modern: All killed, all dead. ‘Romeo is banished!’

Original: There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,
Modern: There is no end, no limit, no way to measure,

Original: In that word’s death; no words can that woe sound.
Modern: The death that word brings; no words can express that pain.

In Act III, Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet eagerly awaits nightfall and her wedding night with Romeo. She delivers a passionate soliloquy calling upon night to come quickly so she can be reunited with her new husband. Juliet expresses her anticipation for losing her virginity and consummating their secret marriage, using imagery of night, stars, and darkness to convey her longing. She speaks of Romeo as belonging to her and imagines him cut into stars after death, making the night sky beautiful.

The Nurse arrives in distress, carrying rope ladder that was meant to allow Romeo to climb to Juliet’s balcony. Initially, the Nurse’s lamentations and cryptic words about death and blood lead Juliet to believe that Romeo has been killed. However, the Nurse eventually reveals that Romeo has killed Tybalt and has been banished from Verona as punishment. Juliet experiences conflicted emotions - briefly cursing Romeo for killing her cousin, then immediately defending her husband and lamenting his banishment, which she considers worse than the death of ten thousand Tybalts. The scene ends with the Nurse promising to find Romeo so that he can come to Juliet for their wedding night before he must leave Verona.

“Romeo and Juliet” tells the story of two young lovers from feuding families in Verona. Romeo Montague attends a Capulet feast in disguise, where he meets and instantly falls in love with Juliet Capulet. They meet secretly that night on her balcony and decide to marry the next day. Friar Lawrence agrees to perform the ceremony, hoping their union might end the family feud.

After the secret wedding, Romeo encounters Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, who challenges him to a duel. When Romeo refuses to fight, his friend Mercutio accepts the challenge and is killed by Tybalt. In revenge, Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished from Verona by Prince Escalus. Meanwhile, Juliet’s parents, unaware of her secret marriage, arrange for her to wed Count Paris.

Desperate to avoid this second marriage, Juliet seeks help from Friar Lawrence, who gives her a potion that will make her appear dead. The plan is for Romeo to return and take her away when she awakens in the Capulet tomb. However, Romeo never receives the friar’s message explaining the scheme. Believing Juliet truly dead, he purchases poison and drinks it beside her tomb.

Juliet awakens to find Romeo’s lifeless body and, in despair, kills herself with his dagger. The tragic deaths of their children finally reconcile the Montague and Capulet families, who vow to end their ancient hatred. Prince Escalus concludes that all are punished by this sorrowful outcome of the families’ bitter feud.