"No." "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." "I cannot let you do this." "Then you'll have to raise a sword to me, and that, my father would kill you for." "You came." "I'm here." "I love you." "I love you." "I'm sure as a serving girl, it must thrill you to no end to see the rules of Veronan society flouted before your very eyes." "As it happens, my Lord, I am both a servant and a Capulet." "You don't approve of this union?" " I do not." " Nor do I." "Benvolio Montague." "Rosaline Capulet." "Shall we begin?" "This is madness, Friar." "I know not why you'd perform a wedding" " between Capulet and Montague." " Rosaline." "Because I have performed too many funerals for both your families this summer." "And who's to say that love won't succeed where violence has failed?" "Come, Romeo, Juliet." "Join hands in front of God and your witnesses." "I'll tell my father." "And I'll tell mine." "Go now." "Tell him it's done." "Y-You made the proclamation?" "As I instructed?" "That any man accused..." "Accused of murder in the city of Verona will be executed without trial." "I did it." "It's done.- " "Father." "Escalus, my son." "I came as soon as I heard." "I'm so sorry." "For what?" "Death comes to us all." "Isabella." "When you marry... you will strengthen Verona in the face of all her enemies." "Father..." "Listen to me, my son." "It has been a bloody summer." "Worse than any I remember." "Never forget... that if either house... is permitted to gain the upper hand, their next target will be the Crown." "You must always put Verona first." "Yes, Father." "Tybalt hates you more than the rest of us put together." "I did kill his cousin." "For stealing his horse." "Maybe I should've killed Tybalt, too." "Oh, come, Mercutio." "Does every Capulet really deserve to die?" "Lord Montague." "Ah, Father." "Romeo." "Late night?" "A night with friends is one well spent, indeed." "There's breakfast upstairs." "Enough for you, too, Mercutio." "Thank you, my Lord." "And as for you, nephew, you broke off your betrothal to Minola's daughter." "Because I don't love her." "Love?" "The Minolas are rich and powerful, and you were meant to bring their blood into our house." "But instead, you shamed our family name with your drinking and your whoring." "If you paid anything for the betrothal," "I'll find a way to repay you." "You have nothing that isn't mine!" "My Lord." "Yes, Mauricio?" "News from the palace..." "Prince Cosimo is dead." "So Escalus will rule Verona... a young man, untested, still learning his place on the throne." "If you had a single thought in that wine-soaked head of yours for politics, it might occur to you what an opportunity this is for House Montague." "But you don't." "Go, Benvolio." "Wash the stink of the night off you." "Escalus and his sister..." "They're going to let us go." "They're never going to let us go." "...to bring them to the ball is..." "Is what, Giuliana?" "Compassionate?" "They are our nieces." "My brother's children, rest his soul!" "And after their parents died, we took them in." "As servants!" "A decision that has weighed on my soul ever since." "I am lady of this house." "It was not your decision to make." "Do you hear her?" "She hate us." "She'd rather die than bring us." "Oh, we can hope." "I love that you can always hope." "...if it wasn't for our compassion." "Escalus and his sister were their friends" " when the girls were at Court." " And?" "A new young prince, properly managed, could improve our fortunes and diminish those of the Montagues!" "It's just a ball." "Just a ball?" "Mm." "It's the prince's ball." "I need a rich husband, and I'm never going to find him stuck in here." "And if I don't find a husband who'll pay your bride price and mine, you'll never get to go be with your beloved nuns." "I'd hardly call them beloved." "Then why on Earth do you wish to go join them?" "Praying all day and never having any fun again." "A prayer here and there." "But you don't see the fun in being your own mistress?" "Of reading your own books, of sleeping in your own bed." "Of never being at the whim of whichever man happens to be in charge of you." "A man who might love you, who might want you to be happy." "His Lordship wants to see you both." "You requested us, my Lord?" "It is a great kindness we show you tonight to allow you to attend the Prince's ball." "Really?" "Mother, Father." "Rosaline, Livia." "Darling, why aren't you dressed for the ball?" "You look tired." "I am... tired." "Ill." "I thought I would get some rest." "What a shame." "Very well." "We'll miss you." "Do you need help, my Lady?" "No, thank you, Rosaline." "I'm fine." "Tired... but fine." "I'll tell them later." "Lord Capulet." "Lord Montague." "So, it's true." "The Prince really did invite everyone." "It's worse than it's ever been." "Montagues and Capulets have always fought." "Not like this, Brother." "Never like this." "Capulet's fields were burned in June." "No proof, of course, but it was Montague's work." "It goes on from there." "A Capulet stabs a Montague in the streets, a Montague bludgeons a Capulet in the hills." "Until our father proclaimed..." "That anyone who commits murder will be executed without trial." "I am well aware of what Father proclaimed." "But Father is dead, and I've come home." "The sovereign of our fair Verona," "His Grace, Prince Escalus and his sister, Her Grace, Princess Isabella!" "Thank you, Your Grace, for this beautiful night." "You're welcome, Livia." "Enjoy." "Greetings, My Princess." "You know you don't have to be so formal." "Really?" "I thought everything in this court was about following rules." " Rosaline..." " Thank you, Your Grace, for giving your loyal subjects this ball." "It's good to see you back in Verona, Your Grace." "Rosaline." "Prince Escalus." "How disconcerting this must be." "When last you saw my niece, Rosaline, she was your peer." "She is my guest, and a welcome one here at the palace." "I was so sorry to hear of your parents' deaths." "Thank you, Your Grace." "Aren't you even the least bit excited to dance and drink and do as we please?" "Not quite as we please." "Unlike you, sweet sister, the idea of finding a husband doesn't actually displease me." "Somewhere out here is my one true love." "What if we meet a man who falls in love with you instead?" "Would you marry so we could both be free?" "That is not a question that I'll ever have to answer." "And why not?" "Because if the choice were between the two of us, sweet sister, there's not a man on this earth who would be foolish enough to choose me." "I thought we'd start out with the taverns on Via Fratta." "After that, there's a new girl at Angioletta's." "That is if your father won't kill me first for taking you to a brothel." "Men who love their wives don't go to brothels." "And just like that, you ruined your life." "How?" "By marrying the woman I love instead of whoever my father forced on me?" "Look what I found." "A pair of Montagues." "Tybalt, we want no trouble with you." "Trouble is all Verona has when the Montagues burn our fields and try and turn themselves into a respectable family." "You think no one remembers that your people came from nothing?" "I will not fight you, Tybalt." "The Montagues are many things, but I never thought of them as cowards!" "I am no coward." "I'm family." "As of tonight, we're family." "I will not fight my own blood." "Your blood is no family of mine!" "Romeo!" "Mercutio!" " Mercutio!" " No!" "You'll die for this." "I thought you said you couldn't fight me." "Aah!" "I changed my mind." "Mercutio." "Mercutio, stay with us." "Stay with us." "A plague on both your houses." "Ask for me tomorrow... and you shall find me a grave man." "Romeo." "What have you done?" "Capulets have owned this land since before there were records to keep." "And Montague's grandfather was nothing but a shepherd on my family's hills." "Well, a smart shepherd to save up for his own flock." "Or was my grandfather a foolish lord to allow it?" "What's done is done, though, in truth, it seems cruel that so many should die for our petty squabbles." "Are money and power so petty?" "Says the man who comes to give me money so he may add the power of my family to his own." "My father is the Prince of Mantua, my Lord." "I am his heir." "And the Capulet name is older even than that of your royal house, Paris." "You think I don't know what my own blood is worth?" "Juliet will be well cared for in Mantua." "I give my consent." "Good morning, Mother." " Father." " I'm glad you're in a good mood." "It's a beautiful morning." "And a happy one for you, my daughter." "Your father has arranged for you to be wed." "Sorry." "Wed?" "To Count Paris of Mantua..." "a good match." "I cannot marry a man I've never met." "Sweet girl, I know of youth and inexperience." "It can be frightening to think of having a husband." "That's..." "But the wedding won't be until the spring." "That's plenty of time to learn how it all works." "I saw a messenger leave the house earlier." "What news?" "I didn't want to spoil the morning." "Seems Montague's son, Romeo, has stabbed one of our own in the streets last night." "What?" "!" "Another Capulet dead at a Montague's hand?" "Justice will be served." "The law is clear." "Young Romeo Montague will be put to death... when they catch him." "Find him!" "Romeo and Mercutio were practically brothers." "It shouldn't be a crime for one to avenge the other's death." "But it is a crime, and making it one has given us peace." "If Romeo Montague committed murder on our soil, then he should be put to death at the Crown's hand." "There he is!" "We have too many enemies outside our city walls to turn the families within them against us." "I cannot simply execute Lord Montague's only son." "Then what do our laws mean, brother, if we won't enforce them?" "How long will it take before our own heads sit on spikes outside the palace walls?" "Find me Romeo Montague." "This way!" "You can see that we can't just let him die." "Are you really so caught up in your own desires that you care so little for my happiness?" "My own desires?" "To marry off Livia." "To join a nunnery, to turn your back on your own house." "He's my husband!" "A secret known only by people who aren't likely to reveal it." "Paris is said to be a handsome man." "Romeo is a handsome man." "And to be married to two men at once would be a sin." "There's no sin in being a widow, and a virgin widow at that." "I'm not... a virgin." "Do you think me a fool?" "I think you are young." "And so is your husband." "In truth, there is only one man I blame for this." "Take this potion, girl, and your body will go cold and still and you will appear to be dead until you wake in the Capulet tomb as if from a pleasant sleep." "Only take one drop." "More than that and you will die." "What dark magic is this, Friar?" "It is better, my child, that you do not ask." "Wait with me." "I'll wait with you." "Fair Rosaline." "Thou art a true friend." "Juliet." "Juliet!" "Help us!" "Somebody, please!" "What?" "!" "Benvolio." "Where is Romeo?" "I got him a horse, told him to flee, but once I said his wife was dead, he rode off into the night." "Just tell me..." "Where has Romeo gone?" "Juliet." "Sweet flower." "Who goes there?" "Romeo Montague." "I come to mourn my wife." "Your wife?" "She's my fiancée!" "No, I assure you, stranger," "Juliet belongs to no man but me." "Why do you lie about the virtue of the dead?" " Aah!" " That is not a lie!" "Juliet is my wife." "Aah!" "And with a kiss..." "I die." "No, no!" "How can it be that my own daughter is dead while you and your sister continue to live?" "It is generous of me, is it not, to allow you to attend my daughter's funeral?" "Is it not?" "It's no more than Juliet would have wanted." "My Lady." "Livia is so very gracious." "But you..." "You never seem to appreciate anything I've done for you." "And what exactly have you done for us?" "I'm sorry?" "You keep us in this house not out of generosity but out of jealousy of a woman who died years ago." "Your mother was a worthless jade." "Because she married the brother you loved but wouldn't stoop to wed because you wanted a title, if not the man who came with it." "If you think I can't make you suffer a thousand times more than you already have, you've less imagination than I thought." "Mark my words, sweet Rosaline... the worst is yet to come." "Go now." "I can dress myself." "Lord Montague." "I'm sorry, my Lord, about your son." "Yes." "Yes, m... my son." "Imagine my delight when I learned that Romeo and Capulet's daughter had discovered each other." "It was something I had hoped for as they came of age, encouraged, even." "Secretly, of course." "Young love thrives on the illicit, wouldn't you agree?" "Tried to plant a seed." "But I was never certain it would grow." "But grow it did, and so I paid you to suggest marriage and to perform that marriage when my son requested it." "But now is my house strengthened with Capulet blood?" "Will Capulet's daughter bear Romeo Montague an heir representing the union of two great families under my house's name?" "N-No, my Lord." "Why is that, Friar?" "Because Romeo..." "Your son is dead, my Lord." "Yes." "Yes, my son is dead because of a potion you gave that Capulet whore." "We beseech Thee, O Lord, in Thy infinite mercy, to have pity on the souls of these children of Verona," "Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet." "Do Thou who has freed them from the perils of mortal life restore them to the portion of everlasting freedom." "I am aware that the citizens of our fair city owe allegiance to one family or another." "I am aware that it is a Montague or a Capulet that provides a job, protects a business, offers a favor in a time of need." "But it is my wish today that we might put down our arms in hope as well as grief." "And so, to mark the grave of Juliet, fairest flower of our city's youth," "Lord Montague has generously commissioned a statue as a gift from his family to the Capulets..." "Aye, to make his house seem important." "...in his sincere hope that the love between his son and their daughter will usher in a new era of peace." "A curse on the house of Montague!" "No, Livia!" " Livia!" " No!" "Livia!" "Livia!" "Livia!" "Aah!" "Stay with me, Rosaline." "My men will find us." "I can't." "My sister..." "Is on her own, wherever she may be." "But you, right now, are safe." " I can't." " Stay here, Rosaline." "Montague's lost his sole heir," "Capulet, his daughter and his chance at Count Paris' fortune." "I know you worry about the threats outside the city walls, Brother." "But I beg you to keep your focus close to home." "I worry about threats outside the city because I've been outside the city." "It's no fault of mine I've never been allowed to leave." "No." "But let me tell you what you'd see if you did." "Milan to the west and Venice to the east, and between them, our fair city of Verona... a jewel just waiting to be taken by anyone with an army strong enough to overcome us." "And trust me when I tell you that if we're attacked by the Medici or the Papal States or anyone else, the quarrels of local families will mean absolutely nothing." "We must have peace, no matter the cost." "Escalus, Verona is burning." "You saw them wed?" "!" "Did you not see that Lady Capulet has lost her mind?" "We need to leave here." "She told me she plans to make our lives even more miserable than they already are." "Our lives or just yours?" "The world believes Romeo and Juliet were a pair of youths caught up in forbidden passion, but now you say they were man and wife, bound by God, with you as their witness?" "Because you watched our cousin marry a Montague and never thought to say a word to me?" "Would you ever have told me your secret?" "Sister?" "Had they lived, you would've found out." "That is not the point!" "You're right." "I should've told you." "And for that, I am sorry." "But it doesn't change the fact that we must leave." "And where exactly are we going?" "Padua?" "Mantua?" "It's not important." "If we're lucky, they'll think we've been killed in the riots." "And when Verona thinks we're dead, then what?" "I don't know, but we can't stay here." "I can!" "Stay here." "I don't want to start over in Padua or Mantua." "What I want is what you always claimed to want for me... a good marriage to a good man" "who'll take care of us both." "I want to be a wife, Rosaline... a wife and a mother and a Capulet here in Verona." "My home." "If you want to run away," "I'll tell them any lie you want me to, but you're going to be running alone." "A messenger came from the palace." "It says you're to go there at once." "Make way!" "Steady, lads." "Brace." "You've got to brace yourselves." "My Lady!" "I can take you to safety." "Come." "Come." "Hurry." "Hurry." "Where are we going?" " Quick, here." " No!" "You!" "Aren't you the least bit grateful, Capulet?" "I did just save you." "I was about to save myself." "You were about to die in the street." "I just risked my life for you." " Why?" " Because you needed my help." "I don't need anyone's help, least of all yours." "All this is your fault." "How on earth do you blame me?" "If you'd calmed Tybalt down instead of fanning the flames, or if you'd killed him yourself instead of letting Romeo do it, none of this would've happened." "Our city wouldn't be in ruins." "Neither of our families would've lost their heirs." "Of course it's my fault Montague and Capulet only managed to squeeze out a single child apiece." "And if I'd only thought to sacrifice my own life." "Did you never think you could've kept Juliet from marrying my cousin in the first place?" "Maybe all this is on you." "Maybe." "So I'll not burden you with my presence." "Thank you for saving me." "Goodbye." "You're welcome!" "Lie still." "It hurts." "Oh, God." "It hurts." "You're making it worse." "No." "No more." "Romeo." "Romeo." "Juliet is my wife." "Shh." "He's dead." "He can't hurt you." "Get out!" "Livia, you cannot be here." "Who is he?" "None of your concern." "He's dying." "He'll be fine." "He won't be." "I tended to my mother in her final days, my Lady." "I... know the face of death." "And I know how to care for the sick." "You'll need another pair of hands if he's to stay alive." "Very well." "If you can keep a secret." "That I can, my Lady." "That I can." "What is the meaning of this?" "My niece, I know you haven't always been well-treated under my roof." "But be honest with me now..." "Are you loyal to House Capulet?" "I am, Uncle." "And are you loyal to Verona?" "Of course, my Lord." "What is this about?" "Our city's enemies are looming at our gates, and it is time to put aside local rivalries for the greater good." "What is the meaning of this?" "Hush!" "Girl." "By royal decree, I, Escalus, Royal Prince and sole sovereign of the city of Verona do herefore order the marriage of Rosaline Capulet and Benvolio Montague to cement your families as allies, not rivals." "If Montague and Capulet cannot coexist as two, they must become one." "Our city's survival depends upon it." "Uncle, her?" "You consented to marrying a Capulet maiden." "A maiden, yes, but not this... harpy." "And I never consented at all." "You will do as you are told." "No, my Lord." "I will not." "Rosaline!" "Come back here!" "Rosaline!" "Rosaline Capulet!" "I thought you wouldn't come tonight." "And miss a chance to wish my Rosaline sweet dreams?" "Escalus!" "Do you know what my father would do to you if he caught you in my room?" "Make me marry you." "Help!" "What is it?" "What's happened?" "I know not, but begone." " Livia?" " It's father." "They stabbed him in the streets... the Montagues!" "He's dying!" "My Lady." "My Rosaline." "Don't call me that." "Don't talk to me like you care." "Of course I care." "You know I care." "Then how can you do this?" "Because the Medici are expanding their army in Florence." "Because the Papal States grow more powerful by the day." "Because even Venice would conquer us given half a chance." "And Montague would have your head on a spike given less of a chance than that." "And don't think my uncle is better." "I am no fool." "But we cannot be a city divided." "Whatever the price." "So, you'd sell me off to a man I hate?" "Sell you off?" "Are you too blind to see that I'm trying to help you, give you back what you've lost, restore your nobility, let you live out your life in some kind of comfort?" "You think that's what I want?" "What I lost when I was just a girl too young and stupid to see the bars of the cage she'd been raised in?" "I don't want what I lost." "I don't want comfort." "I don't even know what comfort is anymore." "What do you want?" "You never even said goodbye." "I begged to." "My father didn't give me a chance." "I would give you anything... anything in this world to make you happy." "Just tell me." "What do you want?"