Original: Hold thy desperate hand:
Modern: Stop yourself from doing something rash:

Original: Art thou a man? thy form cries out thou art:
Modern: Are you a man? Your body certainly looks like one:

Original: Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote
Modern: Your tears are like a woman’s; your crazy behavior shows

Original: The unreasonable fury of a beast:
Modern: The senseless rage of a wild animal:

Original: Unseemly woman in a seeming man!
Modern: You’re an inappropriate woman disguised as what appears to be a man!

Original: Or ill-beseeming beast in seeming both!
Modern: Or an unnatural beast pretending to be both woman and man!

Original: Thou hast amazed me: by my holy order,
Modern: You’ve shocked me: I swear by my religious vows,

Original: I thought thy disposition better temper’d.
Modern: I thought you had better self-control than this.

Original: Hast thou slain Tybalt? wilt thou slay thyself?
Modern: You killed Tybalt—now will you kill yourself?

Original: And stay thy lady too that lives in thee,
Modern: And also kill your wife who lives through you,

Original: By doing damned hate upon thyself?
Modern: By committing this cursed act of self-hatred?

Original: Why rail’st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth?
Modern: Why are you cursing your existence, heaven, and the world?

Original: Since birth, and heaven, and earth, all three do meet
Modern: Since your existence, heaven, and earth all come together

Original: In thee at once; which thou at once wouldst lose.
Modern: In you at the same time; and you want to throw them all away at once.

Original: Fie, fie, thou shamest thy shape, thy love, thy wit;
Modern: Shame on you, you disgrace your body, your love, and your intelligence;

Original: Which, like a usurer, abound’st in all,
Modern: You have an abundance of all these things, like a rich moneylender,

Original: And usest none in that true use indeed
Modern: But you’re not using any of them properly

Original: Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit:
Modern: In the way that would honor your body, your love, and your mind:

Original: Thy noble shape is but a form of wax,
Modern: Your fine body is just a wax figure,

Original: Digressing from the valour of a man;
Modern: Turning away from true manly courage;

Original: Thy dear love sworn but hollow perjury,
Modern: Your precious vows of love are just empty lies,

Original: Killing that love which thou hast vow’d to cherish;
Modern: Destroying the very love you promised to protect;

Original: Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love,
Modern: Your intelligence, which should enhance your body and love,

Original: Misshapen in the conduct of them both,
Modern: Is twisted in the way you’re handling both of them,

Original: Like powder in a skitless soldier’s flask,
Modern: Like gunpowder in an unskilled soldier’s container,

Original: Is set afire by thine own ignorance,
Modern: Is set on fire by your own foolishness,

Original: And thou dismember’d with thine own defence.
Modern: And you’re blown apart by your own weapon.

Original: What, rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive,
Modern: Come on, pull yourself together, man! Your Juliet is alive,

Original: For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead;
Modern: The very person for whom you were just willing to die;

Original: There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee,
Modern: That’s one reason to be happy: Tybalt wanted to kill you,

Original: But thou slew’st Tybalt; there are thou happy too:
Modern: But you killed Tybalt instead; there’s another reason to be happy:

Original: The law that threaten’d death becomes thy friend
Modern: The law that threatened to execute you has become your friend

Original: And turns it to exile; there art thou happy:
Modern: And changed your sentence to banishment; there’s yet another reason to be happy:

Original: A pack of blessings lights up upon thy back;
Modern: A whole bundle of good fortune has landed on your shoulders;

Original: Happiness courts thee in her best array;
Modern: Happiness is pursuing you dressed in her finest clothes;

Original: But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench,
Modern: But, like a bratty and moody girl,

Original: Thou pout’st upon thy fortune and thy love:
Modern: You’re sulking about your good luck and your love:

Original: Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.
Modern: Be careful, be careful, because people like that die unhappy.

Original: Go, get thee to thy love, as was decreed,
Modern: Go, go to your love, as we planned,

Original: Ascend her chamber, hence and comfort her:
Modern: Climb up to her bedroom and console her:

Original: But look thou stay not till the watch be set,
Modern: But make sure you don’t stay until the night guards begin their patrol,

Original: For then thou canst not pass to Mantua;
Modern: Because then you won’t be able to get to Mantua;

Original: Where thou shalt live, till we can find a time
Modern: That’s where you’ll stay, until we can find the right moment

Original: To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends,
Modern: To announce your marriage publicly, make peace between your families,

Original: Beg pardon of the prince, and call thee back
Modern: Ask the Prince for forgiveness, and bring you back home

Original: With twenty hundred thousand times more joy
Modern: With countless times more happiness

Original: Than thou went’st forth in lamentation.
Modern: Than the sorrow you’re leaving with now.

Original: Go before, nurse: commend me to thy lady;
Modern: Go ahead, Nurse: give my regards to your lady;

Original: And bid her hasten all the house to bed,
Modern: And tell her to hurry everyone in the house off to bed,

Original: Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto:
Modern: Which their deep sadness makes them ready to do anyway:

Original: Romeo is coming.
Modern: Romeo is on his way.

In Act III, Scene 3 of “Romeo and Juliet,” Romeo hides in Friar Laurence’s cell after killing Tybalt. The Friar informs Romeo that the Prince has banished him from Verona rather than sentencing him to death, which the Friar considers merciful. However, Romeo responds with despair, claiming that banishment is worse than death because it separates him from Juliet. He throws himself on the ground in anguish, refusing to be comforted by the Friar’s reasoned arguments that he should be grateful to be alive. Romeo declares that being banished from Verona—and thus from Juliet—is a fate worse than dying.

The Nurse arrives with news from Juliet, who is similarly distraught. When the Nurse mentions that Juliet weeps for Tybalt and calls Romeo’s name, Romeo becomes convinced that Juliet hates him for killing her cousin. In his desperation, he attempts to stab himself, but the Friar and Nurse stop him. Friar Laurence then sharply rebukes Romeo for his unmanly behavior and devises a plan: Romeo will spend the night with Juliet, then flee to Mantua before dawn. The Friar promises to work toward reconciling the families, obtaining the Prince’s pardon, and eventually reuniting the couple publicly. Romeo accepts this plan and, with renewed spirits, prepares to go to Juliet before his departure from 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.