![]() ![]() This is only one of a catalogue of disasters that haunts that night. Somehow, with the friar’s help, he makes it through the scene. When the nurse enters and asks where Romeo is, the friar tells her: “There on the ground, with his own tears made drunk.” Drunk? Can it be that Romeo, with all the nerves surrounding this performance, has actually got pissed? Unfortunately, unbeknown to me, exiting from the previous scene with the line “O, I am fortune’s fool!” Romeo had crashed straight into the wall in the wings, knocked his head and passed out. The Friar seems to be holding Romeo up, and Romeo seems to have forgotten his lines, and is muttering the tirade incomprehensibly. Romeo flies at Tybalt, stabs him to death, and prompted by Benvolio flees, exiting downstage left.Ī scene later, in Friar Laurence’s cell, I can’t understand what is happening. That king of cats, Tybalt, has just accused Mercutio of sleeping with Romeo, and prompted a fight in which Mercutio is killed. It’s the start of Act 3, and in these hot days in the square in Verona, the mad blood is stirring. Banquo’s sons, kings! Rather than let that happen, I’ll invite fate to come into the battleground and fight it to the death.O, I am fortune’s fool! It’s the opening night of my production of Romeo and Juliet, at the Mayfair theatre in London, and Romeo has just fainted. ![]() I’ve given my eternal soul to the devil so that they could become kings. If what the witches say is true, then everything I’ve done has been for the benefit of Banquo’s children-dishonoring myself, murdering gracious Duncan, destroying my peace of mind, all for them. ![]() My crown and scepter will be taken from me by someone from outside my family. The witches put a crown on my head and a scepter in my hand, but then said that I would never pass them on. Then, like prophets, they said his descendants would form a line of kings. When the witches first said I would be king, Banquo scolded them, and told them to speak with him. In his presence, my guardian spirit is intimidated, just as they say Mark Antony’s spirit was intimidated by Octavius Caesar. He’s a risk-taker, and yet in addition to his unbreakable courage, he also has the wisdom to act with care and forethought. I’m deeply afraid of Banquo-he has a natural nobility about him that makes him a threat to me. If my position isn’t safe, then being king is worthless. If ’t be so, For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered Put rancors in the vessel of my peace Only for them and mine eternal jewel Given to the common enemy of man, To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings! Rather than so, come fate into the list, And champion me to th’ utterance. Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown And put a barren scepter in my grip, Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand, No son of mine succeeding. Then, prophetlike, They hailed him father to a line of kings. He chid the sisters When first they put the name of king upon me And bade them speak to him. There is none but he Whose being I do fear, and under him My genius is rebuked, as it is said Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. ‘Tis much he dares, And to that dauntless temper of his mind He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valor To act in safety. Our fears in Banquo Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature Reigns that which would be feared. ![]() To be thus is nothing, But to be safely thus. ![]()
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