Romeo and Juliet before the Mask, Page 2

Juliet before Romeo

  Just before the mask at the Capulet mansion begins, Juliet's cousin Rosaline visits Juliet in her room.

  Rosaline:

  Sweet cousin Jule, so early at your prayers?

  Whatever sin could stain such blanche-pure breast?

  Juliet:

  Oh, Rosaline! So late! Thou art not dressed?

  Rosaline:

  I cover what God dressed me in; these tears

  Are necessary portals for what bears

  Their owner; not for me at man's behest

  To primp and paint and prop these up for best

  Like alley strumpet showing off her wares.

  Juliet:

  But Rose, my thorny Rose, what canchre cares

  Infest your heart's new bud? Tonight's the feste!

  Rosaline:

  Belime yourself then; you may better snare

  The peacock with the brightest plume or crest.

  Present yourself as Vanity's bouquet;

  I would not be man’s chattel on display.

  Juliet:

  Oh cousin, is it true then? You're sworn chaste?

  Rosaline:

  With Dian's bow the love-fay I outvie

  To aim at hearts where I am said to lie,

  For I would fain lay all true hearts to waste

  Than any man come near to me to taste.

  Juliet:

  You ever were a maid to make men sigh.

  But when your lord, my nuncle, sets his eye

  On thee undressed, he’ll make thee cinque-pace!

  Rosaline:

  This meal-cloth motley better suits my mood,

  For I care not by gallants to be wooed.

  Let me be foil to your single stone,

  The brighter you may glimmer on your own.

  Tonight like Venus’ star on earth you’ll tread,

  And soon have suitors for your maidenhead.

  Juliet:

  Fie Rose, you are too frank. But think you so?

  Rosaline:

  This night with suitors is your house replete;

  For hand, and dower, do they each compete.

  You father fully plans you to bestow;

  Here Hymen shall not uncontracted go.

  And I did hear your sire with Paris meet

  In counsel close, and also in the street.

  Juliet:

  What? Paris! Is it true?

  Rosaline:

  ‘Tis true enow

  He’d seize you as his Helen and away.

  The sum is settled, but remains the day

  ‘Fore God the contract to complete.

  This evening’s feste is but a masquerade;

  The sum for maidenhead’s already paid.

  In one week are you given in receipt.

  Juliet:

  So soon? Ay me, dear cuz, what can I do?

  Within a fortnight am I to be wed?

  Rosaline:

  And each night after lie in county’s bed.

  Juliet:

  This morning I rejoiced and now I rue.

  I would the man who weds me first would woo.

  This forward feast now fills me up with dread.

  No choice of husband? Rather I were dead

  Of towny plague or tropical ague.

  Rosaline:

  Herein you see the aim of my disguise;

  That you, dear Jule, be fairest to all eyes.

  (Especially, as I would have it so,

  The eyes of my annoyance, Romeo!)

  This grain within my shoe affects a corn

  And thus am I from dancing duty shorn;

  Like dog-star in a salty sailor’s eye

  You’ll be the light all steer their courses by.

  (And spaniel Montague make you his shrine--

  To redirect his doting’s my design.)

  (Juliet’s Nurse calls from offstage.)

  Nurse:

  O Jule! O precious bauble! Lady mine!

  Juliet (to Rosaline):

  You will not dance? My banquet’s also thine.

  Rosaline:

  I would remain unseen. Tonight you shine,

  And wedding shroud you’ll soon incarnadine!

  (Rosaline steps onto balcony, unnoticed by the Nurse. Nurse enters. Rosaline overhears.)

  Nurse:

  O dearest Jules! Your father bids you come.

  There suitors lack but you to make their sum.

  Rosaline (spoken on the balcony outside Juliet’s window):

  Among them may you number Romeo;

  His love-plaints from me come and to you go.

  Descend thee now, sweet cousin, to your mask,

  As I climb up to take the moon to task.

  About the Author

  Nadd is a semi-retired technical writer who, after writing thousands of pages of user documentation over the span of a quarter century for Silicon Valley's high tech industry, is at last turning to the more fun fare of poetry and fiction. Like many socially inept bookworms, he likes to read Elizabethan drama.

  Other Works

  If you liked this, please consider having a gander at some or all of these other works by Nadd:

  Banalects of Mediocritus

  Sophomoric musings of a fictional middle-aged philosopher (iambic pentameter verse; prose)

  Box of Lovely Chocolates

  Scurrilous verse upon the feminine charms of chocolate (iambic pentameter)

  Erecting a Limerick

  Shows and explains the limerick rhythm pattern. Includes charts, real-world examples ("Nantucket" limericks) and original limericks. Disambiguates the prosody of the limerick (anapest-based) from that of Shakespeare (iamb-based). For the slightly squeamish, which includes the author, curse words are shown partially obscured and are restricted to the quoted examples.

  State My Name

  US state guessing game. Identify each of the states based on their nicknames.

  Zombie Squirrels

  Noon-time walkers dissuaded from their perambulations by the furry undead; dancers with deadly good looks (verse)

  (All except State My Name and Zombie Squirrels currently available through Kindle only.)