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    Romeo and Juliet
    Romeo and Juliet
    Romeo and Juliet
    Ebook198 pages2 hours

    Romeo and Juliet

    By William Shakespeare

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Romeo and Juliet is a tragic play written early in the career of William Shakespeare about two teenage "star-cross'd lovers" whose untimely deaths ultimately unite their feuding households. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal "young lovers". (From Wikipedia)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBooklassic
    Release dateJun 17, 2015
    ISBN9789635236480
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest playwright the world has seen. He produced an astonishing amount of work; 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 5 poems. He died on 23rd April 1616, aged 52, and was buried in the Holy Trinity Church, Stratford.

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    Reviews for Romeo and Juliet

    3.5/5

    7,428 ratings90 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Romeo and Juliet. William Shakespeare. Folger Shakespeare Library. 1992. As I said above, this was a book club selection. Cannot remember when I last read this play, but I loved reading it this time. How can I forget how much I love Shakespeare?!! After I read the play, I found a BBC Radio production with Kenneth Branagh playing Romeo and Judie Dench playing Nurse! I really enjoyed reading along as I listened and got more out of the play the second reading. I sort of wanted to listen to it again, but instead decided to watch Zeffierlli’s movie and am so glad I did. A great way to enjoy Shakespeare!
    • 5/5
      O teach me how I should forget to think

      I was prepared to be underwhelmed by a jaded near fifty return to this plethora of love-anchored verse. It was quite the opposite, as I found myself steeled with philosophy "adversity's sweet milk" and my appreciation proved ever enhanced by the Bard's appraisal of the human condition. How adroit to have situated such between two warring tribes, under a merciful deity, an all-too-human church and the wayward agency of hormonal teens. Many complain of this being a classic Greek drama adapted to a contemporary milieu. There is also a disproportionate focus on the frantic pacing in the five acts. I can appreciate both concerns but I think such is beyond the point. The chorus frames matters in terms of destiny, a rumination on Aristotelian tragedy yet the drama unfolds with caprice being the coin of the realm. Well, as much agency as smitten couples can manage. Pacing is a recent phenomenon, 50 episodes for McNulty to walk away from the force, a few less for Little Nell to die.

      Shakespeare offers insights on loyalty and human frailty as well as the Edenic cursing of naming in some relative ontology. Would Heidegger smell as sweet? My mind's eye blurs the poise of Juliet with that of Ophelia; though no misdeeds await the Capulet, unless being disinherited by Plath's Daddy is the road's toll to a watery sleep. The black shoe and the attendant violent delights.
    • 4/5
      Ah, my favorite classic.
    • 3/5
      Publiekslieveling, maar ik vond het niet altijd overtuigend, soms zelfs stroef. Bevat uiteraard weergaloze passages. Vertaling van Komrij.1595, bekend verhaal, midden XV², maar wel afstand van moralistische behandeling,exuberante poêzie, evolutie van romantische komedie naar tragedie, maar heel vlot alsof het door Shakespeare zelf niet serieus werd bevonden. Twee stijlen: hoogdraven-maniëristisch en rijper en sober. Thema is de roekeloze hartstocht; daarom een noodlottragedie: ondergang buiten hun wil om (bij de andere tragedies komt de ondergang door een tekort aan krachten of een gebrek).Huis van Montague tegen het huis van Capulet in Verona. Julia is 14 jaar.Boodschap van de prins tegen geweld I,1 (“Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace…, p 1012); omschrijving liefde I,1 (“Love is a smoke rais’d with the fume of sighs:/Beining purg’d, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes;/Being vex’d, a sea nourish’d with lovers’ tears:/What is it else? A madness most discreet,/A choking gall and a preserving sweet.”, 1013)Hoogtepunt: de dialoog Romeo-Julia II,2 en III,5Vlottere taal dan de vorige, maar toch ook stroeve delen; opvallend korte, komische entractes.
    • 5/5
      This review is for the 2012 edition of The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet as annotated by Demitra Padadinas, founder and producing art director of the New England Shakespeare Festival.I’ve been a big fan of Shakespeare ever since high school when a clever English teacher pointed out that, in his day, Shakespeare was looked on as anything but high-brow. His audiences were more likely to consist of pickpockets, tavern-goers and whores than fine lords and ladies. Consequently, his scripts had to be snappy and laced with bawdy humor and innuendo to keep the audience coming back. While some of Shakespeare’s double entendres have survived the editors’ quills over the centuries, most of what we see in the editions taught in schools is muted and laced with safe footnotes that do more to conceal Shakespeare’s intent than to illuminate it. As an example, in Act 1 scene 3, the nurse, a comic character known for her bawdy humor, swears by “by my holidam” which Folger describes as referring to a holy relic while Papidinis explains that what she was swearing on was her “holy place”, an oath that, if accompanied by appropriate body language from the performer, could have an entirely different meaning.This version of Romeo and Juliet is as it appeared when the First Folio was first published in 1623 so its spelling and punctuation is a little more challenging to read than the modernized versions. It doesn’t take long, though, for the reader to catch on that, if read phonetically, such lines as “sailes upon the bosome of the ayre” are easily understood.I also like that Papadinis carries on the format seen in Folger editions of putting the text of the play on the left page and the annotations on the right. This makes it a lot easier to read the annotations and still keep you place.*Quotations are cited from an advanced reading copy and may not be the same as appears in the final published edition. The review copy of this book was obtained from the publisher via the LibraryThing Early Reader Program.
    • 3/5
      Beautiful language, classic Shakespeare.
    • 5/5
      great classic
    • 5/5
      "Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things.Some shall be pardoned, and some punishèd.For never was a story of more woeThan this of Juliet and her Romeo."So ends the play Romeo and Juliet which is probably the most popular play by William Shakespeare. You will have a hard time finding someone who has never heard of its plot. It is a timeless tragedy of two star-crossed lovers finding eternal love in death. While it is one thing to read the script on paper, it is a truly amazing experience to see it performed on stage. The play explores themes that will never be out of date: friendship, love, family rivalry, desperation, and mourning, to name but a few. It is well worth having a closer look at Romeo's relation to love and whether he is really in love with Rosaline or Juliet or just in love with the feeling of being in love. Then there is Romeo's unlikely friendship to Mercutio, two very different characters. Generally, there are many aspects to explore and with every new reading I discover yet another one. You might want to watch the 2014 Broadway performance with Orlando Bloom as Romeo. At least I enjoyed it very much. 5 stars. A true masterpiece.
    • 5/5
      As long as you remind yourself that this is teen melodrama and not tragedy the essential vapidity of the central relationship and the frustratingly buried deeper and more complex relationships--actually all Romeo's, with Mercutio but also Benvolio, Tybalt, the priest--don't get in the way of good tawdry enjoyment. Now I think about it, Romeo's like a cryptohomoerotic sixteenth-century Archie.
    • 5/5
      Teenage Proclivity for Conjugation: "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, J.A. Bryant Jr. Published 1998.

      Upon each re-reading I always wonder why Shakespeare does not reveal the reason that the families hate each other. We are told that the households are alike in dignity (social status). We are even provided with a "spoiler alert" when we learn that the "star crossed lovers" will commit suicide, resulting in a halt to the feuding between the two families. In addition, we receive the clue that the feud has gone on for a long time (ancient grudge) However, the omission of the reason for the feud leaves us wondering and imagining a variety of scenarios--just as Shakespeare must have intended. I think it is important for an author to leave a mystery for the reader to explore. In Star Wars there was a sense of mystery about the Force, what was it. Are there any reasons needed, ever? The humankind's history is filled with feuds which are completely pointless... "Ancient grudge", servants' street fight -- and general desire to feel better than someone else. Isn't this very pointlessness that Shakespeare intended the viewers to see?

      The rest of this review can be read elsewhere.
    • 2/5
      I love Shakespeare. I simply detest this play.
    • 4/5
      Classic story of love and loss. ;) It's Shakespeare, and it's beautiful.
    • 4/5
      Found this very easy to use and understand. I think my family is tired of me quoting the play then explaining it according to the book. As a theater major I found this book fascinating.
    • 5/5
      This review is for the Frankly Annotated First Folio Edition, with annotations by Demitra Papadinis.The layout of the book is fantastic, making it easy to keep your place in the play when checking on the notes. The notes themselves are fantastic, going in depth and not leaving out the dirty jokes. A thoroughly enjoyable and educational edition!
    • 2/5
      Easily one of my least favorite of The Bard's works. Reading this in high school very nearly put me off Shakespeare for good. One of the first books I ever remember reading that made me want to smack both main characters upside the head and ask them "What the heck are you thinking?!"
    • 4/5
      For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.Reading a Shakespeare-play and seeing one is two entirely different things. Having been to the Globe in London and experienced the magic of an evening with Shakespeare it seems a dry thing to "just" read the play. Still, reading it offers time to stop and contemplate and enjoy and savour all the famous quotes and lines of poetry.In this romantic tragedy there's plenty of over-the-top emotions, frantic pace, overwhelming love-songs and declarations of eternal bliss or eternal sorrow - it's just a thing you accept coming to Shakespeare. This is his world and it's just for us to drink it in.And although it's exaggerated the theme is eternal and universal - love - mixed with infatuation and madness - it's a force too powerful to be kept down - and it's explosive in the midst of a feud between two families. This emotional tour de force between Romeo and Juliet is something to be appraised and lamented at the same time. I'm not sure what Shakespeare does most. But both things are there. The admiration of such head-over-the-heels love and the warning against it's power to overwhelm and blinding the persons involved. Good Night, Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow
    • 3/5
      It's a classic, but not really a favorite of mine.
    • 2/5
      overly compressed, beautifully-written play in which two teenagers fall in love, marry, fuck, and die, all in the span of three days. concessions should be made to late 16th century literary convention, but still...
    • 3/5
      Classic... what else is there to say?
    • 5/5
      Romeo and Juliet is fairly far down on my list of Shakespeare's plays (compared, say, with The Tempest, Macbeth, and Twelfth Night at the top), so my five***** rating of this book (ISBN 978-0786447480) is not for the play itself but for the editorial work. I snagged Demitra Papadinis's "Frankly Annotated First Folio Edition" as an Early Reviewer, and after browsing it I've definitely wish-listed her similar edition of As You Like It (ISBN 978-0786449651, which I didn't win as an Early Reviewer) as well as her pre-order edition of Macbeth (ISBN 978-0786464791).I was particularly curious to see how Papadinis's "Frankly Annotated" editions would stack up versus the Norton Critical Editions (generically, that is, because there is no NCE of Romeo and Juliet to the best of my knowledge). There is simply no comparison between the two, and I say this in praise of both Papadinis and NCE. The strength of NCE is in its supplementary materials, which are completely lacking to Papadinis, while the strength of Papadinis is in her highly detailed line-by-line annotation. Papadinis and NCE, in other words, complement rather than compete with each other.Papadinis's annotation is highly detailed and presented in facing-page format, with the play's text on the left-hand page and the corresponding annotation on the right. What this means is that some left-hand text pages may contain only four or five lines while a corresponding right-hand annotation page will be completely filled, so that Papadinis's "Frankly Annotated" editions are not for a newcomer or casual reader, who will most likely find the design cumbersome and the trade paperback edition's price higher than a beginner would like. (Leaving out introduction and bibliography, both quite short, Papadinis's text/annotations for Romeo and Juliet run from pages 28 through 447 inclusive.)Another Early Reviewer has expressed some objection that these annotations represent a "tendentious study of the vulgar in Shakespeare's play." In reality, though, Romeo and Juliet (like Twelfth Night) in fact is one of Shakespeare's most bawdy plays, so I have to object to such a criticism. On the other hand, I also have to admit that I have not studied Papadinis's annotations that comprehensively, considering the time limit in posting an Early Review. In fact, this is not the kind of book that you are likely to read cover-to-cover, but rather one that you'll browse through, maybe just a scene (or even a few lines) at a time to savor the wealth of annotation that Papadinis provides. For that matter, I'm not such a Shakespeare specialist that I'd necessarily pick up on small annotational glitches anyway, so here's hoping some other ER can comment with more specificity on this subject.Papadinis's "Frankly Annotated" editions are available in both trade paperback and Kindle, but this does not seem like the kind of text that could be properly formatted for eBook reading, given the need for facing-page capability. I did download a Kindle sample, but it was too short (it included only some of the introduction, with none of the facing-page text/annotation) to be sure of this, but I'd definitely recommend the trade paperback edition. It's a bit pricey but worth it, though not recommended for a first-timer to the play.
    • 3/5
      I'm giving Romeo and Juliet 3 stars because the writing was brilliant. I must admit, Shakespeare was a master in this aspect; in others, not so much. Oh how much I loathe the characters of Romeo and Juliet. But Mercutio was pretty awesome.
    • 4/5
      I listened to an audiobook version by the BBC. It was very well done and a pleasure to listen to. It was also very short, only about 3 hours long. I enjoyed the story and am glad that I have finally experienced it. Would like to see the play performed live some day.
    • 4/5
      Bruce Colville’s retells Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in story form. It includes a narration of the major plot points in a clear and easy to follow language that is appropriate for younger children (as early as third grade or so). The book also contains beautiful pictures that capture the important parts of the story and help to tell the story. What I like most about this book is that it incorporates quotes from the play itself. The way that it is mixed in with the easy-to-follow narration of the book would, I believe, help children develop a basic understanding of Shakesperian language that will be helpful to them as they advance into higher grades. This book could also be useful to students in middle and high school. This book could be helpful to me in my current situation as a high school English tutor: Many of the students I tutor are completely thrown off by the language that Shakespeare uses, which inhibits their understanding of the entire story. Supplementing a lesson on Romeo and Juliet with this book would be a good way to get students to grasp the basics of the play and also to ease them into the complex language of the play. Great Book!
    • 3/5
      Bekannte Geschichte.Junge trifft Mädchen und sie verlieben sich. Eltern sind dagegen. Tragisches Ende. Der Stoff aus dem heute noch jeder dritte Liebesfilm besteht.
    • 5/5
      While designing a board game based in Verona, Italy in the 1400's, I ended up reading the play 14 times. It stands up very well. If you're looking for a brilliant treatment in a film, the Francesco Zefferelli version is near perfect. Try to get a version that doesn't edit the Tibault/Mercutio sword-fight, a magnificent dramatic sequence. But for reading aloud in an evening, this is a great experience as well. Should I tell you that the male brain isn't fully matured until the age of 26? It is germane to the plot.
    • 5/5
      This is a great romantic tragedy, which I had to read for my Intro. to Drama class. This is one of those works of Shakespeare that has been done in a multitude of forms and variations, so it is quite likely that everyone has a rough idea of the story. Still, you really cannot replace the original. There is a lot of unbelievable story to it, which can overdo it to the point of being distracting, but overall the language and story are so supremely memorable that it automatically qualifies as a must-read. As to the edition itself, I found it to be greatly helpful in understanding the action in the play. It has a layout which places each page of the play opposite a page of notes, definitions, explanations, and other things needed to understand that page more thoroughly. While I didn't always need it, I was certainly glad to have it whenever I ran into a turn of language that was unfamiliar, and I definitely appreciated the scene-by-scene summaries. Really, if you want to or need to read Shakespeare, an edition such as this is really the way to go, especially until you get more accustomed to it.
    • 3/5
      Thanks to TV and movies, I knew the basic premise of this book before even reading it. Thus, when I read it I was not really impressed. To be fair, I skimmed through it, but nothing stood out that made me want to read it. Damn Hollywood.
    • 3/5
      Romeo and Juliet is a huge tragedy. It is a good romance novel though. I liked reading it because I was able to understand all of those classic lines used in the novel. like romeo oh romeo where for out thou romeo.
    • 4/5
      Brilliant. I am not a fan of love stories or romances or even stories of betrayal and family dynamics. However, this is a stunning book, one of the best ever written I suppose. (I also liked the movie with Leonardo di Caprio and John Leguizamo by this name. It seemed to have all the original writing or a good chunk of it in a modern movie which I've never seen done well before -- I liked it much better than the Liam Neeson ones). The story is basic compared to many of his other books but the writing's as good or better.
    • 4/5
      This is not my favorite of the tragedies...perhaps too much memory of Ninth Grade English cramming comparisons of it and West Side Story down my throat. Seriously though, while I've reread it twice and can love the language, I can't overlook the essential silliness of the whole situation.Recommended because there's no Shakespeare I've yet read that I wouldn't recommend, I don't think it's the most enjoyable thing he's written.

    Book preview

    Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare

    978-963-523-648-0

    Act I

    Prologue

    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-cross'd lovers take their life;

    Whole misadventured piteous overthrows

    Do with their death bury their parents' strife.

    The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,

    And the continuance of their parents' rage,

    Which, but their children's end, nought 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.

    SCENE I. Verona. A public place.

    Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, of the house of Capulet, armed with swords and bucklers

    SAMPSON

    Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals.

    GREGORY

    No, for then we should be colliers.

    SAMPSON

    I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw.

    GREGORY

    Ay, while you live, draw your neck out o' the collar.

    SAMPSON

    I strike quickly, being moved.

    GREGORY

    But thou art not quickly moved to strike.

    SAMPSON

    A dog of the house of Montague moves me.

    GREGORY

    To move is to stir; and to be valiant is to stand:

    therefore, if thou art moved, thou runn'st away.

    SAMPSON

    A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will

    take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's.

    GREGORY

    That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes

    to the wall.

    SAMPSON

    True; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels,

    are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push

    Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids

    to the wall.

    GREGORY

    The quarrel is between our masters and us their men.

    SAMPSON

    'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant: when I

    have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the

    maids, and cut off their heads.

    GREGORY

    The heads of the maids?

    SAMPSON

    Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads;

    take it in what sense thou wilt.

    GREGORY

    They must take it in sense that feel it.

    SAMPSON

    Me they shall feel while I am able to stand: and

    'tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh.

    GREGORY

    'Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou

    hadst been poor John. Draw thy tool! here comes

    two of the house of the Montagues.

    SAMPSON

    My naked weapon is out: quarrel, I will back thee.

    GREGORY

    How! turn thy back and run?

    SAMPSON

    Fear me not.

    GREGORY

    No, marry; I fear thee!

    SAMPSON

    Let us take the law of our sides; let them begin.

    GREGORY

    I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it as

    they list.

    SAMPSON

    Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them;

    which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it.

    Enter ABRAHAM and BALTHASAR

    ABRAHAM

    Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

    SAMPSON

    I do bite my thumb, sir.

    ABRAHAM

    Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

    SAMPSON

    [Aside to GREGORY] Is the law of our side, if I say

    ay?

    GREGORY

    No.

    SAMPSON

    No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I

    bite my thumb, sir.

    GREGORY

    Do you quarrel, sir?

    ABRAHAM

    Quarrel sir! no, sir.

    SAMPSON

    If you do, sir, I am for you: I serve as good a man as you.

    ABRAHAM

    No better.

    SAMPSON

    Well, sir.

    GREGORY

    Say 'better:' here comes one of my master's kinsmen.

    SAMPSON

    Yes, better, sir.

    ABRAHAM

    You lie.

    SAMPSON

    Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember thy swashing blow.

    They fight

    Enter BENVOLIO

    BENVOLIO

    Part, fools!

    Put up your swords; you know not what you do.

    Beats down their swords

    Enter TYBALT

    TYBALT

    What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?

    Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.

    BENVOLIO

    I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword,

    Or manage it to part these men with me.

    TYBALT

    What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,

    As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:

    Have at thee, coward!

    They fight

    Enter, several of both houses, who join the fray; then enter Citizens, with clubs

    First Citizen

    Clubs, bills, and partisans! strike! beat them down!

    Down with the Capulets! down with the Montagues!

    Enter CAPULET in his gown, and LADY CAPULET

    CAPULET

    What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!

    LADY CAPULET

    A crutch, a crutch! why call you for a sword?

    CAPULET

    My sword, I say! Old Montague is come,

    And flourishes his blade in spite of me.

    Enter MONTAGUE and LADY MONTAGUE

    MONTAGUE

    Thou villain Capulet,—Hold me not, let me go.

    LADY MONTAGUE

    Thou shalt not stir a foot to seek a foe.

    Enter PRINCE, with Attendants

    PRINCE

    Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,

    Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,—

    Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts,

    That quench the fire of your pernicious rage

    With purple fountains issuing from your veins,

    On pain of torture, from those bloody hands

    Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground,

    And hear the sentence of your moved prince.

    Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,

    By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,

    Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,

    And made Verona's ancient citizens

    Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,

    To wield old partisans, in hands as old,

    Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate:

    If ever you disturb our streets again,

    Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.

    For this time, all the rest depart away:

    You Capulet; shall go along with me:

    And, Montague, come you this afternoon,

    To know our further pleasure in this case,

    To old Free-town, our common judgment-place.

    Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.

    Exeunt all but MONTAGUE, LADY MONTAGUE, and BENVOLIO

    MONTAGUE

    Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach?

    Speak, nephew, were you by when it began?

    BENVOLIO

    Here were the servants of your adversary,

    And yours, close fighting ere I did approach:

    I drew to part them: in the instant came

    The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared,

    Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears,

    He swung about his head and cut the winds,

    Who nothing hurt withal hiss'd him in scorn:

    While we were interchanging thrusts and blows,

    Came more and more and fought on part and part,

    Till the prince came, who parted either part.

    LADY MONTAGUE

    O, where is Romeo? saw you him to-day?

    Right glad I am he was not at this fray.

    BENVOLIO

    Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun

    Peer'd forth the golden window of the east,

    A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;

    Where, underneath the grove of sycamore

    That westward rooteth from the city's side,

    So early walking did I see your son:

    Towards him I made, but he was ware of me

    And stole into the covert of the wood:

    I, measuring his affections by my own,

    That most are busied when they're most alone,

    Pursued my humour not pursuing his,

    And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me.

    MONTAGUE

    Many a morning hath he there been seen,

    With tears augmenting the fresh morning dew.

    Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs;

    But all so soon as the all-cheering sun

    Should in the furthest east begin to draw

    The shady curtains from Aurora's bed,

    Away from the light steals home my heavy son,

    And private in his chamber pens himself,

    Shuts up his windows, locks far daylight out

    And makes himself an artificial night:

    Black and portentous must this humour prove,

    Unless good counsel may the cause remove.

    BENVOLIO

    My noble uncle, do you

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