The nurse's in the Capulets household is the superior to that of a normal servant. Juliet seems to have taken the place of the daughter she once had and everything she does, she does for Juliet's benefit. She is bossy with the other servants, knowing she has a special place in the family. She is a simple soul who is an easy target for Mercutio's lewd ribbing. She is long-winded as well as rather rude and bawdy, but she seems sincere and makes the audience laugh with her rather than at her. As the story develops she becomes more and more a part of the conventional world that opposes and fails to understand the passion of Romeo and Juliet for each other.
In the play, the Nurse serves as a mother figure to Juliet. She is a confidant, advisor and helper to Juliet. It is her relationship with Juliet that gives importance to her role in the play.
The Nurse was the one who revealed to both Romeo and Juliet the identities of each other i.e. that Romeo was a Montague and Juliet a Capulet. She was also the go-between for Juliet and Romeo, delivering messages and notes from one to another. Thus, she played a key role in bringing about their marriage and its consummation.
Not only does she contribute heavily the plot, the Nurse is also vital in the area of characterization. Her vulgarity and pragmatic views of love and marriage are in stark contrast to Juliet's purity and passion. This emphasizes the pure and sacrificial love between Romeo and Juliet. The Nurse's advise to marry Paris and give up Romeo also showed us the change in Juliet when she held fast to her love for Romeo and called the Nurse a "wicked fiend" for her hypocritical behaviour.
The Nurse is a complex character with many sides to her personality. She displays both attractive and repulsive qualities at the same time.
Firstly, it is obvious that she is genuinely fond of Juliet. This can be seen from her loving reminisces of Juliet's childhood and her affectionate calling of Juliet by names such as "lamb" and "child." Also, she teasingly finds excuses to increase Juliet's impatience for news of Romeo by talking about her various aches and pains. She acts as a go-between for Romeo and Juliet, carrying messages back and forth for the two lovers and does what they ask her to do for them. For example, she helps Juliet find out news about Romeo, and she helps Romeo procure a rope ladder. She also refuses to accept Romeo's gift of money for these services at first, indicating her willingness to serve her mistress.
This love for her young mistress naturally leads her to become protective of Juliet. She warns Romeo not to lead Juliet into a "fool's paradise," for that would be "a gross kind of behaviour." Also, she wishes that she could see Juliet marry well. [Act I Scene III] When Capulet scolds Juliet for refusing to marry Paris, the Nurse speaks up for Juliet, saying that Capulet is to blame for rating her so, and that he should not scold her so badly.
The Nurse sometimes speaks so much that even Lady Capulet has to tell her to keep quiet. This shows that she can be irritating at times and is also a gossip. She is also boastful, and claims all credit for Juliet's upbringing.
Her views of love and marriage differ greatly from Juliet's. She advises Juliet that "it best you married with the County" because she thinks that Juliet will be happier in her second match.
"Your first is dead, or 't were as good he were,
As living here, and you no use of him"
Thus revealing that she does not believe in faithful and romantic love.
She is also rather bossy with the other servants, ordering Peter around, because of her close association with Juliet and her parents.
"My fan, Peter."
"Ah, where's my man?
Give me some aqua-vitae."
The Nurse is also fickle. Once she hears of Romeo's banishment, she advises Juliet to marry Paris, comparing Romeo to him and pointing out his flaws.
"O, he's a lovely gentleman!
Romeo's a dishclout to him"
Although this could be viewed as practical, yet it is a violent contrast to her earlier praising of Romeo and comes across as being rather hypocritical, as Juliet observed in the lines,
"O most wicked fiend!
To dispraise my lord with that same tongue
Which she hath praised him with above compare
So many thousand times!
The Nurse does not seem to have got too carried away with the situation, but is eager for Juliet to marry. She offers no advice or caution to what Juliet should be doing, although she clearly knows that Juliet is young and inexperienced. She also makes no effort to suggest that this will be a problem. Like Friar Laurence, she goes behind her employer's backs, acting as Romeo and Juliet's messenger, such as when she is asked by Juliet to discover Romeo's identity. At first the Nurse admires Romeo, "Why he's a man of wax" (Act 1 Scene 3), but warns him not to lead Juliet into a "fools paradise" (Act 2 Scene 4), probably mostly because Juliet is still very young and naïve.
After Tybalt's death, the nurse turns against Romeo "Will you speak well of him that killed your cousin" (Act 3 Scene 2), "Shame come to Romeo" (Act 3 Scene 2). Finally, when Juliet needs the Nurse most "Comfort me, council me" when her parents tell her that she must marry Paris, the Nurse disappoints her by simply telling her that it would be better to marry someone to support her.
Why does the Nurse fail as an advisor to Juliet?
Although the Nurse genuinely loves and cares for Juliet, yet she does not understand the love and passion Juliet has for Romeo. The Nurse, unlike Juliet, is vulgar in nature and views of love and hence cannot comprehend why Juliet prefers Romeo to Paris. The Nurse advises Juliet to marry Paris, a very eligible and wealthy bachelor, as she does not believe in loyal and faithful love. Thus, she loses Juliet's love and trust and Juliet does not confide in her Friar Lawrence's plan to drink the potion. Hence, the Nurse is unsuccessful in protecting and caring for Juliet due to her lack of understanding, indirectly bringing about the final tragedy of her death.
Romeo and Juliet, is a story of two young lovers whose love was destined for destruction. They did not imagine that their love would lead to the tragedies that it did. These two young people did nothing wrong except fall in love. Three aspects of their destruction included the feud between the two families, the nurse and her betrayal of Juliet and the most important aspect of all is fate.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
1. For whom is the nurse looking and why? She is looking for Romeo to give him a message from Juliet.…
- 4078 Words
- 17 Pages
Good Essays -
Juliet’s nurse didn’t play the authority figure that she should have. The nurse was someone that Juliet trusted very much and listened to…
- 889 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the nurse, Juliet’s guardian and confidante, plays an essential role in the romance and ultimately the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. The nurse, who obtains the paramount qualities of vulgarity, fierceness, and compassion, provides stability in the relationship between the two star-crossed lovers and realism and humor to the story. Firstly, the nurse’s vulgarity brings about comic relief. While telling Lady Capulet and Juliet a story about raising Juliet, she makes a sexual comment, saying that Juliet “wilt fall backward when {she} hast more wit,” (I, III, 45). She, being a low-class nurse, directs the remark toward Juliet, whose blood is purple. Although the nurse lacks sophistication and respect, the…
- 270 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
She is known for talking a lot, usually about nonsense, she is also very indecisive. The nurse acted as Juliets messenger, Act 2 scene 4 lines 154-156 Nurse: Good heart, and I’ faith I will tell her as much, Lord, Lord! She will be a joyful woman. At first the nurse helps Romeo & Juliet, but when she hears of Romeo’s banishment. She advises Juliet to forget about him and to marry Paris. Act 3, scene 5 lines 214- 226. She suggests bigamy, and Juliet is furious that the Nurse talked about her husband as a dishcloth. Lines 234- 242. This is what causes Juliet to turn to the friar and have suicidal thoughts. Because the one person she depended on most betrayed her. The nurses sudden change of heart may be due to selfishness- she might of not wanted Juliet to go live in Mantua, or maybe she wanted to move in with Juliet in Paris’s…
- 697 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
That is evident as soon as she expresses to Juliet to look for love, ‘Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.’ this demonstrates a practical perspective towards love. The Nurse can be a very silly woman at times, however she is a very practical woman, and she adores Juliet like her own daughter. Throughout the play we see that the Nurse is a very chatty person who likes to talk at length. She is the type of person that will do whatever she has faith in or anything the Juliet desires, like when she had met Romeo in secret to arrange the marriage of the young pair who are madly in love. The connection between Juliet and her nurse is consistently showed. The Nurse has a companionate relationship with Juliet but they also have a very enjoyable relationship. We are able to clearly see this in Act 2 scene 5. When the Nurse is joking around with Juliet proclaiming that she is so worn out and she is out of breath. “I am a-weary give me leave awhile.' And ‘do you now not see that I am out of breath?’ by using facial expressed to Juliet the nurse is able to make her…
- 500 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Lady Capulet was an emotionally uninvolved and unaware mother. She was too young when she had Juliet, therefore she was not mature enough to raise or know how to raise a daughter. The nurse basically raised Juliet, and knows far more of her and of her life than Lady Capulet, including the fact that: Juliet…
- 1018 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The nurse is used as comic relief in the play. She is bawdy and comes from a lower class than the majority of the rest of the cast. Simply the fact she is from a lower class makes her slightly funnier, and she often jumbles up her words - "I desire some confidence with you" and speaks in prose. She gets on better with Juliet than Lord or Lady Capulet, and so Juliet confides in the…
- 928 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The Nurse was Juliet’s caretaker, friend and counselor and should be pardoned. She believed in the power of love that Romeo and Juliet shared and wanted nothing but happiness for Juliet. . The Nurse knew about the secret marriage of Romeo and Juliet and did not tell her boss, Lord Capulet. She knew that she would be in trouble for keeping this huge secret. When Romeo was kicked out of Verona for killing Tybalt, The Nurse suggested that Juliet marry Count Paris, who is the man her parents selected to be her husband. Juliet was upset at The Nurse’s statement and in turn was a factor leading to Juliet’s…
- 871 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The Nurse, Juliet’s caretaker since she was a young girl, is partially to blame for Juliet’s…
- 1412 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
The Nurse told Juliet that it would be best if she married Paris. "I think it best you married with the county". This betrayal by the Nurse left Juliet alone. Juliet was left on her own to make some very important decisions. I believe that if the Nurse had been around to help Juliet things may have turned out differently. Juliet had no one to turn to and ask for help. She could not have gone to her parents because they would not have understood. The Nurse was supposed to be one of Juliet's best friends. This manifests itself when she advises Juliet to forget Romeo and marry Paris, betraying Juliet’s trust by advocating a false marriage: “I think it best you married with the County. O, he’s a lovely gentleman. Romeo’s a dish clout to him.” Juliet can’t believe that the Nurse offers such a course of action after she praised Romeo and helped bring the couple together.…
- 484 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
When she becomes aware that Romeo yearns to marry Juliet, she heads back to tell Juliet the good news. When she returns, her old age and aching bones catch up with her, and she needs a minute to catch her breath, which Juliet disregards and arrogantly pries Romeo’s answer out of her. This shows the Nurse’s care for Juliet because she goes out of her way to speak with Romeo. The Nurse demands respect or else she will not tell her the news. She states that Juliet makes a simple choice by choosing Romeo. The Nurse refuses to refrain her anger about Juliet’s decision. She believes Juliet should marry Paris. Her disappointment is clear when she says, “Well, you have made a simple choice; you know not how to choose a man. Romeo? No, not he” (Shakespeare Act 2, 1084). The Nurse grows angry due to Juliet’s lack of respect, and she thought it was the appropriate time to tell her that she disapproves of Romeo for her husband. In her eyes, Paris will always remain as the best future husband for Juliet. She dislikes where events lead, and she knows she stumbles into a bad predicament. Later on, Juliet apologizes to the Nurse, who replies with the news to her saying, “Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence’ cell; there stays a husband to make you a wife”(Shakespeare Act 2, 1085). Although the Nurse desperately wants Juliet to marry Paris, she continues assisting their marriage to satisfy Juliet. The Nurse feels like her job revolves around Juliet’s happiness. The two marry and things really begin to escalate from…
- 1036 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
Romeo & Juliet is used as part of the freshmen curriculum at Brookville High School. It…
- 1860 Words
- 8 Pages
Good Essays -
The nurse in Romeo and Juliet is more like a mother to Juliet as she nicknames Juliet as being a ‘lamb’ and a ‘ladybird’ which are both delicate and innocent animals which indirectly shows Juliet’s character. As Lady Capulet first enters Juliet’s room in Act 1 Scene 3, she wishes to exclude the nurse from her but the nurse intervened and stated that she could tell Juliet’s age ‘unto an hour’ showing that she knows more about…
- 781 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
From the very beginning in Act 1 scene 3, the Nurse of Juliet Capulet is introduced to us. Lady Capulet is asking to see her daughter. Instead of looking for Juliet herself, she goes to the Nurse for her whereabouts. “Lady Capulet: Nurse, where’s my daughter? Call her forth to me.” (1.3.1) From this first glance we can boldly assume that growing up in a grand family like the Capulets, Juliet is more acquainted with her Nurse rather than her mother. Another example is when the Nurse recalls Juliet’s childhood and how she breastfed her. It was very rare during the Elizabethan time for someone else to breastfeed one’s daughter instead of the biological mother. This is also part of the reason why there is such a gap between the older generation – Lady Capulet, and the younger generation- Juliet later on in the play.…
- 2388 Words
- 10 Pages
Better Essays -
The Nurse interrupts, calling Juliet to her mother. Romeo learns from the Nurse that Juliet’s a Capulet. Moments later, Juliet says about Romeo, as the Nurse goes to find out who he is, “If he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed” (1.5.131-132). The Nurse reports Romeo’s a Montague.…
- 978 Words
- 4 Pages
Powerful Essays