Original: Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.
Modern: Goodbye! Only God knows when we’ll see each other again.

Original: I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins,
Modern: I feel a weak, cold fear running through my body,

Original: That almost freezes up the heat of life:
Modern: That almost freezes the warmth of life itself:

Original: I’ll call them back again to comfort me:
Modern: I’ll call them back to give me comfort:

Original: Nurse! What should she do here?
Modern: Nurse! But what could she do to help me here?

Original: My dismal scene I needs must act alone.
Modern: I have to go through this terrible situation by myself.

Original: Come, vial.
Modern: Come here, little bottle.

Original: What if this mixture do not work at all?
Modern: What if this potion doesn’t work at all?

Original: Shall I be married then to-morrow morning?
Modern: Will I have to marry Paris tomorrow morning then?

Original: No, no: this shall forbid it: lie thou there.
Modern: No, no: this dagger will prevent it: lie there.

Original: What if it be a poison, which the friar
Modern: What if this is actually poison, which the friar

Original: Subtly hath minister’d to have me dead,
Modern: Has secretly given me to kill me,

Original: Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour’d,
Modern: So that he won’t be disgraced by this marriage,

Original: Because he married me before to Romeo?
Modern: Since he already married me to Romeo before?

Original: I fear it is: and yet, methinks, it should not,
Modern: I’m afraid it might be poison: but yet, I think it shouldn’t be,

Original: For he hath still been tried a holy man.
Modern: Because he has always proven to be a holy man.

Original: How if, when I am laid into the tomb,
Modern: But what if, when I’m placed in the tomb,

Original: I wake before the time that Romeo
Modern: I wake up before Romeo

Original: Come to redeem me? there’s a fearful point!
Modern: Comes to rescue me? That’s a terrifying thought!

Original: Shall I not, then, be stifled in the vault,
Modern: Won’t I then suffocate in the tomb,

Original: To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in,
Modern: Where no fresh air can get into that disgusting opening,

Original: And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?
Modern: And die there from lack of air before Romeo arrives?

Original: Or, if I live, is it not very like,
Modern: Or, if I survive, isn’t it very likely that

Original: The horrible conceit of death and night,
Modern: The horrible thoughts of death and darkness,

Original: Together with the terror of the place,
Modern: Along with the terror of that place,

Original: As in a vault, an ancient receptacle,
Modern: Like in a tomb, an ancient burial chamber,

Original: Where, for these many hundred years, the bones
Modern: Where, for hundreds of years, the bones

Original: Of all my buried ancestors are packed:
Modern: Of all my dead relatives are crammed together:

Original: Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth,
Modern: Where bloody Tybalt, recently buried,

Original: Lies festering in his shroud; where, as they say,
Modern: Lies rotting in his burial cloth; where, people say,

Original: At some hours in the night spirits resort;
Modern: At certain hours of the night, ghosts gather;

Original: Alack, alack, is it not like that I,
Modern: Oh no, oh no, isn’t it likely that I,

Original: So early waking, what with loathsome smells,
Modern: Waking up so early, with all those disgusting smells,

Original: And shrieks like mandrakes’ torn out of the earth,
Modern: And screams like mandrake plants pulled from the ground,

Original: That living mortals, hearing them, run mad:
Modern: That make living people go insane when they hear them:

Original: O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,
Modern: Oh, if I wake up, won’t I go crazy,

Original: Environed with all these hideous fears?
Modern: Surrounded by all these horrible terrors?

Original: And madly play with my forefather’s joints?
Modern: And in my madness, play with my ancestors’ bones?

Original: And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud?
Modern: And pull Tybalt’s mangled body from his burial cloth?

Original: And, in this rage, with some great kinsman’s bone,
Modern: And, in this frenzy, with some relative’s bone,

Original: As with a club, dash out my desperate brains?
Modern: Use it like a club to bash out my own desperate brains?

Original: O, look! methinks I see my cousin’s ghost
Modern: Oh, look! I think I see my cousin’s ghost

Original: Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his body
Modern: Looking for Romeo, who ran his body through

Original: Upon a rapier’s point: stay, Tybalt, stay!
Modern: On the point of a sword: wait, Tybalt, wait!

Original: Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee.
Modern: Romeo, I’m coming! I drink this for you.

In Act IV, Scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet prepares to take Friar Lawrence’s potion in her bedchamber, accompanied by her mother Lady Capulet and the Nurse. After discussing final preparations for her wedding to Paris the following day, Juliet dismisses both women, claiming she needs to pray and prepare herself spiritually for the ceremony. Once alone, she retrieves the vial given to her by Friar Lawrence, which is intended to make her appear dead for forty-two hours so she can avoid marrying Paris and eventually reunite with Romeo.

Before drinking the potion, Juliet experiences intense fear and doubt about the plan. She worries that the potion might actually be poison, that she might wake up too early in the tomb before Romeo arrives, or that the terrifying environment of the Capulet burial vault might drive her mad. Despite these fears, she imagines she sees Tybalt’s ghost and, calling out Romeo’s name, drinks the potion and collapses on her bed. The scene ends with Juliet unconscious, the potion having taken effect as the household remains unaware of her desperate action.

“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.