Tardis

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Tardis
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Tardis

A clone of Romeo Montague created using Sontaran technology, referred to in stage directions as the Second Romeo, was a character in an alternative version of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.

This Romeo did not appear in the play as performed, only in the variant which Shakespeare wrote while under pressure from James Burbage to "make dark tragedie light". Other additions included the Doctor, Amy and Rory, who were able to prevent Romeo and his wife Juliet Capulet from both committing suicide in the Capulet tomb in Act V Scene III. After they were reunited, the Doctor stopped the couple from leaving Verona to start a new life together and said they had to help heal the rift between their two feuding families. He further elaborated that their deaths would have shown them "hate's consequence and [taught] them both to end their harsh discord and emnity". Romeo expressed his belief that such a reconciliation was now "impossible" but Amy revealed they had a "cunning plan" and proceeded to unveil a second Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo said his and Juliet's doubles were "like Proteus" and asked who it was "that walk and dost not speak and counterfeit the presentation of [their] dead likeness". Juliet agreed, asserting they could not be of "human flesh and blood" as they did not breathe, calling them "witch-craft summon'd twins". However, Rory explained Romeo was a clone "recently grown" in a Sontaran vat while Amy clarified that Juliet was "a borrow'd Teselecta". The Second Romeo and Juliet then took up their positions as if they had been killed, with Romeo on the altar and Juliet lying across him. The Doctor, Amy, Rory, and the real Romeo and Juliet, retreated into the TARDIS upon hearing the watch approach, with it being the Chief Watchman who discovered the slain corpses. When he arrived at the scene, Juliet's father Capulet noted that Romeo's dagger was "empty on the back of Montague and mis-sheathed in [his] daughter's bosom". Romeo's distraught mother and father also attended the scene soon afterwards, with both patriarchs quickly ending their quarrel. At that point Romeo and Juliet emerged from the TARDIS, revealing the subterfuge involving their doubles, and celebration ensued. (PROSE: The True and Most Excellent Comedie of Romeo and Juliet)

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