This quote (Act 2, Scene 4, L 146 – 8) shows the Nurse’s protection and love towards Juliet. She treats Juliet as if it was her own daughter and cares deeply for her well-being.
Being a servant in the Capulet household for the past 14 years, the Nurse is seen as being a friend to the family and is often involved within the family affairs. For example she is involved when Lady Capulet wishes to talk to Juliet about a possible marriage to Paris. The Nurse acts as a go-between character as she moves throughout the play passing messages to and from Romeo and Juliet.
Friar Lawrence acts towards Romeo much in the same way as the Nurse does to Juliet. He cares for Romeo a great deal and always puts him infront of himself. Friar Lawrence helps both Romeo and Juliet in their time of need even if it does mean he is putting himself to risk with others. He desires to end the conflict between the Montague and Capulet households and believes helping Romeo and Juliet would bring an end to the feud.
“In one respect I’ll thy assistant be; for this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households’ rancour to pure love”
Showing Friar Lawrence’ thoughts on trying to get Romeo and Juliet together, this quote (Act 2, Scene 3, L 92 – 4) shows how he wants to try and use this to end the dispute between the houses.
Since the time that Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet times have changed a great deal. The play has now aged over four hundred years therefore the way the audience would react to it has changed somewhat.
Now that I have considered the roles of the two characters and have discussed their importance, I will begin to state why their involvement in the play may be perceived differently to each of the audiences.
The Nurse had a daughter of the name of Susan who was born at the same time as Juliet. Unfortunately Susan died, and so the. Mothers who had given birth and who had lost their child often were offered to take care of somebody else’s if they were well enough to do so. The Nurse took care of Juliet and became more of a mother-like icon to her than Lady Capulet herself. It was not unusual in the time of Shakespeare to have someone employed to breast feed you baby and that is what the job of the Nurse’ was. This is known as a Wet-nurse.
“Were not thine only nurse I would say though hadst sucked wisdom from thy teat”
This shows the Nurses’ love for Juliet although she is not her actual child. Nowadays, most of the population would find employing someone to breast feed their own child unnatural. The more modern equivalent to a wet-nurse would be either a Nanny or an Au pair.
The Nurse plays the part of a chaperone. It was not unusual four hundred years ago for young girls to have a chaperone who followed them everywhere and who slept in their rooms (as does the Nurse). The chaperone had a job. This was to protect a young girl’s of her virginity.
An audience of this modern day would think our society now as being much more liberal, giving girls much more freedom and allowing them to have contact with the opposite sex. Obviously four hundred years this was not the case as the virginity of a girl was highly guarded.
Our view of the Nurses behaviour and her ultimate betrayal may seem more forgivable to us than those watching the play in Shakespearean times as people were disciplined much more harshly then. Therefore they may have seen the Nurses actions to be unworthy.
From the information I learnt about chaperones, I think this demonstrates the type of society which an audience four hundred years ago would be associated with. I think the modern day society would be much more forgiving towards the Nurse, as it is more likely that the population would agree that she is doing only what she believes is best for Juliet and doesn’t mean to hurt her in any way.
Friar Lawrence is God’s representative on earth yet he is human. He is a man of the Church and is one of the few people who can venture between both houses without causing havoc. He does not desire to adapt to certain sides, instead he is trusted by both Montague and Capulet. People are free to go to him for confession as they are confidant that whatever they are say will be kept confidential.
Nowadays, our society is a lot more secular as religion does hold such great importance. Because of this we are probably more likely to judge the Friars actions less harshly even though he has gone against God’s will. A Shakespearean audience would more than likely see Friar Lawrence’s actions as untrustworthy as religion would have been a part of most people’s everyday lives.
Although Juliet trusts the Friar as he is a Holy man in Act 4, Scene 3 she wonders if he might have supplied her with a poison.
“lest in this marriage he should be dishonoured
Because he married me before to Romeo”
At the end of the play Friar Lawrence flees to the tomb but still ultimately confesses his involvement in attempting to help Romeo and Juliet. Because of his importance, he is forgiven by the Prince.
“We still have known thee for a holy man.”
He is deemed trustworthy and beyond blame as he is seen as a man of God. Maybe nowadays, it could take longer to forgive and to gain trust in the Friar again as we seem to look over unworthy actions much more thoroughly. Even so, because our society does not value religion so highly this could therefore mean that we do not judge his actions at all and are much less harsh towards him.