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,
5
Torments 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
10
Any 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
. 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 knowspassado—the forward
thrust—the
punto reverso—the
backhand thrust—and the
hai—the thrust that goes
straight through.
