Romeo and Juliet script: Alternative ending
[ Final scene: Romeo sees Juliet's body for the first time]
ROMEO: [crying] Oh my love, why art thou yet so fair? The Cursed Death has not dared to touch your beauty. There are still roses in thy cheeks and lips. Thy hair is still like silk, thy skin still like velvet. The brightest star has found its match in thine eyes, which are now closed to never open again. My dearest Juliet, thou art like the evening sunset gently caressing me, showing me what it's like to love. Gleaming and glittering, it reflects all that is beautiful in the world, all that we could have been. Such cruel fate rests upon us, thou art impossible to reach, yet within my touch. Now thou hath broken me with thy absence, sorrow fills my heart. My only comfort is the promise to see thee soon. Oh my Juliet, I shall be with you. Forever more.
[ Romeo wants to drink the poison, but at that moment, Juliet's hand touches his cheek. Romeo takes in a reflex her hand in a firm grip.]
ROMEO: What is this? A false beam of hope in the dimness of my disheartenment? An illusion for a desperate man seeking to be one again with fair Juliet, created by my already dead-beating heart?
[Juliet sits up slowly, astonished]
JULIET: Can this be true? Shall the angel have granted me my deepest desire, laid his eyes upon me and deemed me worthy? Am I to be with my dearest Romeo, my love, at last? Dare I believe my eyes hold the truth?
[Juliet touches his cheek again, carefully, as though making sure he is really there. Romeo, after some time, tentatively touches Juliet.]
ROMEO: Shall I truly believe this sight? Thou art a gift of God, my startling moon, but even he cannot cross the path of Cursed Death…Pray tell, my blossoming rose, how can this be?
JULIET: Dear Friar Lawrence, in his wisdom, devised a plan for us to be together once again. I shall explain, but before I do, sweet husband, let me taste, the sweetness of thy lips.
[ Kisses him. Enter FRIAR LAWRENCE.]
FRIAR LAWRENCE: Ah! I see the ending is joyful, rather than the sorrow I saw coming once I knew my messenger did not reach thee, Romeo. How should this come to pass?
ROMEO: Fortune has granted us our dearest wish, and I hear you were the key to our happiness, dear friar. Words cannot describe my affection for thee. I will forever remain in thy debt.
FRIAR LAWRENCE: Hush child, thank me not yet. We must with all haste be away! Look at you, sitting amongst the tiles which carry the empty shell of brave Paris. Shame thyself, Romeo! Thy hands are stained by blood again! Alas, preaching should hold for now. The watchman speeds towards us here, accompanied only by the House of Capulets, for the Montagues are too caught up in their grief for their exiled son to face their enemies right now.
JULIET: My love, let us be gone, before my parents come hither and find me not dead. Let us be away and live the life we so long for.
ROMEO: I tire of this secrecy. So much do I wish to let fair Verona know my love for thee. What life shall we lead, hiding our faces, fearing to be found by either of our households? Aye, we shall be together, but the missing of the gentle presence of both the Montagues and the Capulets shall hunt our memories 'till the end, blackening our happiness. I do not wish that upon us, nor do I wish to run. I shall take whatever destiny might hold, for nothing could be worse, then believing to have lost my only love.
JULIET: How wise you are! I shall stay by your side. Nothing will separate us, not even the slippery fingers of Death shall grasp you from my grip. This I swear. Dear friar, I beg you to accompany the Capulets and tell them our tale, for it is of great length and will prepare them for what is to come.
FRIAR LAWRENCE: [ Reluctantly] If this is thy choice, then let it be.
[Exit FRIAR LAWRENCE. Enter CAPULET and LADY CAPULET.]
CAPULET: What say thee, Friar? Juliet risen again from her eternal sleep? Loving a Montague? [disgusted] What cruel game do you play upon the mourning of a father? What further have thee decided to send against my shattered heart?
FRIAR LAWRENCE: I assure you, my lord. Truthful I am and have always been.
[ They now all stand before the tomb. CAPULET turns toward the WATCHMAN.]
CAPULET: Thy services are treasured, but no longer required. I do not wish thee to disturb my daughter's rest. Go now, and speak not of this.
[ Exit WATCHMAN. The Capulets and FRIAR LAWRENCE enter the tomb. They see ROMEO and JULIET stand before them. CAPULET stands still. LADY CAPULET gasps.]
LADY CAPULET: What trick is this? Have I lost my mind that I should see the illusion of Juliet, who had already been laid to rest in this tomb?
JULIET: It is no trick, nor illusion. I am here, in flesh and blood, and with the other flesh and blood that is also a part of myself.
[LADY CAPULET walks hesitatingly to JULIET. She touches her cheek tentatively, and then hugs her firmly crying. CAPULET quickly wipes away a tear, his face changes into a hard mask again and he turns toward ROMEO as if he is realizing something.]
CAPULET: If my daughter is truly alive, then her revival, the potion, the rest of the story must be true as well. This means that thee, Romeo, only son of my loathed enemy, with absence of my will and consent, have sought out thy lady and married her in the eyes of God. Yet this dishonor of my family did not satisfy thee, so instead you murdered the dear-loved Tybalt. Defying thy banishment, thou came back to my daughter and took the life of her potential husband Paris!
[ CAPULET pulls out his gun and walks fast toward ROMEO until he stands right before him. Then he puts the gun to ROMEO'S forehead.]
CAPULET: [threatening] Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill thee where thee stand?
JULIET: [screaming] Father, don't!
[JULIET puts herself between CAPULET and ROMEO, facing her father, protecting ROMEO with her arms widespread.]
CAPULET: Stand aside, you disobedient wretch! I will drag thee back to our house where thee will stay in thy room, to never leave my sight again!
JULIET: Father, if you kill him then thy hands will be stained with my blood for eternity. Though the love I bear thee both is great, I shall not hesitate to bring you the same grief as when you thought to have lost me forever. Drag me back to by room, lock me up and guard me all you want, father. I shall find a way to stop my heart from beating, for it will have no meaning if Romeo is not there. I love him, despite him being a Montague. If names are that important to thee, father, then I no longer wish to be a Capulet!
LADY CAPULET: Husband, I beseech you! The thought of death after finding her once more I cannot bear. Oh husband, look how our daughter loves! Life's empty, with a hole in a heart. Oh, if only she could choose whom to love. If she wasn't stung by Cupid's arrow, scheming evilly high above. From these families a black hatred was born, and through vengeance and bloodshed did it mount. Let us put aside this petty fight, which even now hath lost the reason of start, and is now a grudge for grudge's sake. I pray you husband, reconcile our households for our children's sake, and if you cannot, let them go with our love.
[CAPULET lowers the gun slowly.]
CAPULET: [calm] You shall have your will, wife. I do not wish to lose my daughter again. Life's but a walking shadow, soon to perish. Only reconcile our households I cannot and shall not do. The Montagues have brought the Capulets too much blood, fights and death to be forgiven that easily, but this I promise: henceforth the first strike of our households shall not come from the Capulets. If the Montagues lay down their weapons, then peace shall rule fair Verona for generations to come. However, should the Montagues vengefully decide to scratch our family's mourn, then they shall taste the wrath of the Capulets forever more. As for you, my daughter. Thou and thy lover are banished from Verona. Speak not, answer me not, do not look me in the face until thee come to thy senses. Thou should know better than to lie with a Montague.
JULIET: Oh father no, I do not see, why a love like this cannot be. Is thy wish for me, not the happiness of my own? Why banish me, do I bring shame to you? Dear father I pray thee! Is thy love for me so low?
LORD CAPULET: O dear child, do thee not know? To show my love is to let both of you go. Thou can't see love through thy lies, for you have betrayed me in my eyes. The name 'Capulet' you'll no longer bear, for exiled you are and will stay, forswear! Until thou see thy lover's faults the same, shall thee no longer wear my name. So be gone, you star-crossed lovers, be away! Your names and story here will stay.
Romeo and Juliet, unfortunate children of fate. Their rash actions led them to a bond sealed by God, guided by their love and yearning for each other. Alas, the course of love never did run smooth. Raging passion tore them apart, when the lover's love became the lover's sin, and the maiden's joyful tears turned to sorrowful cries. Fair Juliet made a devious plan, driven by her heart owing to her doubted and yet untainted love. She drank a potion which took on her, the form of death. Alas, he who bore the letter was delayed under the watching moon, and so caused Romeo to be too soon. O how he wept, how he cried, when he saw his brightest star, his Juliet, lie so impossibly still. With these unbearable sights forever marked upon his soul, he took a poison which stopped his broken heart from beating. Then Juliet awakened from her deadly sleep, only to find out her lover's heart was no longer hers to keep. In her grief Juliet promised to see her Romeo soon, and raised up his gun to the ever shining moon.
Yes, this story will I tell forth for the world to show. The true story, how you ran and lived, they shall never know. Instead, they shall hear how in the deep of the night, a pair of star-crossed lovers took their life. For never was a story more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.