Monologue

Romeo Monologue from Romeo and Juliet

From Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

male · philosophical · 1:52 min

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Alas that love, whose view is muffled still, Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will! Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here? Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all. Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love: Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate! O anything, of nothing first create! O heavy lightness! serious vanity! Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms! Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health! Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is! This love feel I, that feel no love in this. Dost thou not laugh? (BENVOLIO: No coz, I rather weep.) Good heart, at what? (BENVOLIO: At thy good heart’s oppression.) Why such is love’s transgression. Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, Which thou wilt propagate to have it prest With more of thine. This love that thou hast shown Doth add more grief to too much of mine own. Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs; Being 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. Farewell, my coz. (Going.)

About this piece

Romeo reflects on the paradoxes of love and the turmoil it brings, expressing his inner conflict amidst a backdrop of familial strife.

teens · confusion · love · hate · conflict · identity

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