Romeo and Juliet

by: William Shakespeare

Act 2 Scene 4

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Original Text	Modern Text
Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO	BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO enter.
MERCUTIO Where the devil should this Romeo be? Came he not home tonight?	MERCUTIO Where the devil can Romeo be? Didn’t he come home last night?
BENVOLIO Not to his father’s. I spoke with his man.	BENVOLIO Not to his father’s house. I asked a servant.
MERCUTIO Why, that same pale hard-hearted wench, that Rosaline, 5Torments him so, that he will sure run mad.	MERCUTIO That fair-skinned, hard-hearted hussy, Rosaline is going to torment him until he goes insane.
BENVOLIO Tybalt, the kinsman to old Capulet, Hath sent a letter to his father’s house.	BENVOLIO Tybalt, old Capulet’s nephew, has sent a letter to Romeo’s father’s house.
MERCUTIO A challenge, on my life.	MERCUTIO I bet it’s a challenge.
BENVOLIO Romeo will answer it.	BENVOLIO Romeo will answer the challenge.
MERCUTIO 10Any man that can write may answer a letter.	MERCUTIO Any man who knows how to write can answer a letter.
BENVOLIO Nay, he will answer the letter’s master, how he dares, being dared.	BENVOLIO No, Romeo will respond to the letter’s writer, telling him whether he accepts the challenge.
MERCUTIO Alas, poor Romeo! He is already dead, stabbed with a white wench’s black eye, shot through the ear with a love song, the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy’s butt shaft. And is he a man to encounter Tybalt?	MERCUTIO Oh, poor Romeo! He’s already dead. He’s been stabbed by a white girl’s black eye. He’s been cut through the ear with a love song. The center of his heart has been split by blind Cupid’s arrow. Is he man enough at this point to face off with Tybalt?
BENVOLIO Why, what is Tybalt?	BENVOLIO Why, what’s Tybalt’s story?
MERCUTIO More than Prince of Cats. Oh, he’s the courageous captain of compliments. He fights as you sing prick-song, keeps time, distance, and proportion. He rests his minim rests—one, two, and the third in your bosom. The very butcher of a silk button, a duelist, a duelist, a gentleman of the very first house of the first and second cause. Ah, the immortal passado, the punto reverso, the hai!	MERCUTIO He’s tougher than the Prince of Cats The Prince of Cats is a figure from Medieval lore whose first name was also Tybalt. Prince of Cats. He does everything by the book. He fights like you sing at a recital, paying attention to time, distance, and proportion. He takes the proper breaks: one, two, and the third in your heart. He’s the butcher who can hit any silk button. A master of duels. He’s a gentleman from the finest school of fencing. He knows how to turn any argument into a swordfight. He knows Mercutio lists Italian terms for fencing moves. He knows passado—the forward thrust—the punto reverso—the backhand thrust—and the hai—the thrust that goes straight through.

Read the Summary of Act 2, scenes 4–5

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