Problem-free Philosophy

終於把Romeo and Juliet劇本看完了,不過當然不是原文版啦(笑)

 
RJ算是讀過的第一部莎士比亞作品, 之前接觸都是改寫版或電影,所以很多原文才有的內容都是讀過才知道

RJ劇本比我想像中還要繁複,尤其是有不少搞笑、俏皮,甚至是汙辱人的對話
可以想像當時為了緩衝劇情,不時得穿插一些活潑的橋段
而這些橋段又得迎合"觀眾"口味,個人覺得蠻粗俗的啦!(笑) 
少了演員肢體表演,這些勒勒長的台詞會讓人感到"囉唆", 像是奶媽、僕役、Mercutio都常常出現這樣的情況

故事結尾也和一般認知不同(來自電影&故事書的認知)
看完後附的考證才知到電影是取自另一個版本的結尾,
也就是Juliet在Romeo氣絕前就甦醒,個人是比較偏好這個結局的,
不知道以前劇本大概都是怎樣的走向啦! 不過就學劇本一段時間下來的經驗,結尾真的該「見好就收」
原作兩位主角死後,還有很長一大段的內容(其中還包括陳述一遍剛剛所發生的事)
反而使戲劇張力降低,我就有沒耐心看下去的感覺(笑)

後記有附註到RJ算是莎士比亞還沒十分成熟的作品,好險是先讀這部,這樣才可以看出莎翁後來的轉變
下一部要看Hamlet,也是算比較熟悉故事的一部作品,到時候再來發下一篇

下面是一些蠻喜歡的台詞摘錄和現代英文版翻譯(來源)
可惜是大概掃過去找的,看的時候忘記做筆記

喜歡的部份,通常都是比喻的句子,很喜歡莎士比亞的譬喻,文字很美
以後讀完原文版再發一篇完整的摘錄

Act 1, Scene 1

ROMEO

Why, such is love’s transgression.

Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,

Which thou wilt propagate, to have it pressed

With more of thine. This love that thou hast shown

Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.

Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;

Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;

Being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears.

What is it else? A madness most discreet,

A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.

Farewell, my coz.

 

《Yes, this is what love does. My sadness sits heavy in my chest, and you want to add your own sadness to mine so there’s even more. I have too much sadness already, and now you’re going to make me sadder by feeling sorry for you. Here’s what love is: a smoke made out of lovers' sighs. When the smoke clears, love is a fire burning in your lover’s eyes. If you frustrate love, you get an ocean made out of lovers' tears. What else is love? It’s a wise form of madness. It’s a sweet lozenge that you choke on. Goodbye, cousin.》

 

Act 1, Scene 4

 

ROMEO

I fear too early, for my mind misgives

Some consequence yet hanging in the stars

Shall bitterly begin his fearful date

With this night’s revels, and expire the term

Of a despisèd life closed in my breast

By some vile forfeit of untimely death.

But he that hath the steerage of my course,

Direct my sail. On, lusty gentlemen.

 

《I’m worried we’ll get there too early. I have a feeling this party tonight will be the start of something bad, something that will end with my own death. But whoever’s in charge of where my life’s going can steer me wherever they want. Onward, lover boys 》

Act 2, Scene 2

 JULIET

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy.

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other word would smell as sweet.

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,

And for that name, which is no part of thee

Take all myself.

《It’s only your name that’s my enemy. You’d still be yourself even if you stopped being a Montague. What’s a Montague anyway? It isn’t a hand, a foot, an arm, a face, or any other part of a man. Oh, be some other name! What does a name mean? The thing we call a rose would smell just as sweet if we called it by any other name. Romeo would be just as perfect even if he wasn’t called Romeo. Romeo, lose your name. Trade in your name—which really has nothing to do with you—and take all of me in exchange. 》

 

ROMEO

A thousand times the worse to want thy light.

Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books,

But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.

《Leaving you is a thousand times worse than being near you. A lover goes toward his beloved as enthusiastically as a schoolboy leaving his books, but when he leaves his girlfriend, he feels as miserable as the schoolboy on his way to school.》

 

Act 2, Scene 6

FRIAR LAWRENCE

These violent delights have violent ends

And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,

Which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honey

Is loathsome in his own deliciousness

And in the taste confounds the appetite.

Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so.

Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.Here comes the lady. Oh, so light a foot

　　　　Enter JULIET, somewhat fast, and embraceth ROMEO

Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint.

A lover may bestride the gossamers

That idles in the wanton summer air,

And yet not fall. So light is vanity.

 

《These sudden joys have sudden endings. They burn up in victory like fire and gunpowder. When they meet, as in a kiss, they explode. Too much honey is delicious, but it makes you sick to your stomach. Therefore, love each other in moderation. That is the key to long-lasting love. Too fast is as bad as too slow. (這句讓我想到The long love that in my thought doth harbor)
JULIET enters in a rush and embraces ROMEO.

Here comes the lady. Oh,a footstep as light as hers will never endure the rocky road of life. Lovers are so light they can walk on a spiderweb floating on a summer breeze, and yet not fall. That’s how flimsy and unreal pleasure is. 》

 Act 3, Scene 2

 JULIET

Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,Toward Phoebus' lodging. Such a wagonerAs Phaeton would whip you to the west

And bring in cloudy night immediately.

Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,

That runaways' eyes may wink, and Romeo

Leap to these arms, untalked of and unseen.

Lovers can see to do their amorous rites

By their own beauties, or, if love be blind,

It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,

Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,

And learn me how to lose a winning match

Played for a pair of stainless maidenhoods.

Hood my unmanned blood bating in my cheeks,

With thy black mantle, till strange love, grow bold,

Think true love acted simple modesty.

Come, night. Come, Romeo. Come, thou day in night,

For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night

Whiter than new snow upon a raven’s back.

Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-browed night,

Give me my Romeo. And when I shall die,

Take him and cut him out in little stars,

And he will make the face of heaven so fine

That all the world will be in love with night

And pay no worship to the garish sun.

Oh, I have bought the mansion of a love,

But not possessed it, and though I am sold,

Not yet enjoyed. So tedious is this day

As is the night before some festival

To an impatient child that hath new robes

And may not wear them.

《I wish the sun would hurry up and set and night would come immediately. When the night comes and everyone goes to sleep, Romeo will leap into my arms, and no one will know. Beauty makes it possible for lovers to see how to make love in the dark. Or else love is blind, and its best time is the night. I wish night would come, like a widow dressed in black, so I can learn how to submit to my husband and lose my virginity. Let the blood rushing to my cheeks be calmed. In the darkness, let me, a shy virgin, learn the strange act of sex so that it seems innocent, modest, and true. Come, night. Come, Romeo. You’re like a day that comes during the night. You’re whiter than snow on the black wings of a raven. Come, gentle night. Come, loving, dark night. Give me my Romeo. And when I die, turn him into stars and form a constellation in his image. His face will make the heavens so beautiful that the world will fall in love with the night and forget about the garish sun. Oh, I have bought love’s mansion, but I haven’t moved in yet.I belong to Romeo now, but he hasn’t taken possession of me yet. This day is so boring that I feel like a child on the night before a holiday, waiting to put on my fancy new clothes. 》

 

Act 3, Scene 5

JULIET

O God, I have an ill-divining soul.

Methinks I see thee now, thou art so low

As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.

Either my eyesight fails, or thou look’st pale.

《Oh God, I have a soul that predicts evil things! Now that you are down there, you look like someone dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyesight is failing me, or you look pale. 》

Act 4, Scene 5

CAPULET

Ready to go, but never to return.

O son! The night before thy wedding day

Hath death lain with thy wife. There she lies,

Flower as she was, deflowered by him.

Death is my son-in-law. Death is my heir.

My daughter he hath wedded. I will die,

And leave him all. Life, living, all is Death’s.

《She’s ready to go, but she’ll never return. Oh son! On the night before your wedding day, death has taken your wife. There she lies. She was a flower, but death deflowered her. Death is my son-in-law. Death is my heir. My daughter married death. I will die and leave Death everything. Life, wealth, everything belongs to Death. 》

CAPULET

All things that we ordained festival

Turn from their office to black funeral.

Our instruments to melancholy bells,

Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast.

Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change,

Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse,

And all things change them to the contrary.

 

《All the things that we prepared for the wedding party will now be used for the funeral. Our happy music will now be sad. Our wedding banquet will become a sad burial feast. Our celebratory hymns will change to sad funeral marches. Our bridal flowers will cover a buried corpse. And everything will be used for the opposite purpose from what we intended. 》

 

FRIAR LAWRENCE

For though some nature bids us all lament,

Yet nature’s tears are reason’s merriment.

《It’s natural for us to shed tears for her, but the truth is, we should be happy for her.》

 

Act 5, Scene 1

ROMEO

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.

 

《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.》