No Fear Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare

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Act 5, Scene 1, Page 4

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APOTHECARY
My poverty, but not my will, consents.
APOTHECARY
I agree because I’m poor, not because I want to.

ROMEO
I pay thy poverty and not thy will.
ROMEO
I pay you because you’re poor, not because you want me to buy this.

80

APOTHECARY
(gives ROMEO poison) Put this in any liquid thing you will
And drink it off; and, if you had the strength
Of twenty men, it would dispatch you straight.
APOTHECARY
(gives ROMEO poison) Put this in any kind of liquid you want and drink it down. Even if you were as strong as twenty men, it would kill you immediately.



85




90
ROMEO
(gives APOTHECARY money)
There is thy gold, worse poison to men’s souls,
Doing more murder in this loathsome world,
Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell.
I sell thee poison. Thou hast sold me none.
Farewell. Buy food, and get thyself in flesh.—
Come, cordial and not poison, go with me
To Juliet’s grave, for there must I use thee.
ROMEO
(gives APOTHECARY money) There is your gold. Money is a worse poison to men’s souls, and commits more murders in this awful world, than these poor poisons that you’re not allowed to sell. I’ve sold you poison. You haven’t sold me any. Goodbye. Buy yourself food, and put some flesh on your bones. I’ll take this mixture, which is a medicine, not a poison, to Juliet’s grave. That’s where I must use it.
Exeunt
They exit.

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