‘Lord, Lord, she will be a joyful woman!’
This is after talking to Juliet about Romeo; she obviously is happy that Juliet is marrying Romeo and is favorable of him.
But only a few scenes we see her changed opinion on Romeo after Tybalts death and talking to Lady Capulet,
‘O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best Friend I had…these grief’s, these woes, these sorrows make me old. Shame come to Romeo.’
This is obviously not her own opinion but taken from Lady Capulet’s somewhat biased point of view, her view is biased as she was not at the scene of the fight and does not know who caused the fight and who is to blame for the death. The nurse states that Tybalt is her best friend, this is untrue as she is a maid with a low status to Tybalt, they have probably never spoken to each other, as she does not know him she has no reason to woe his death, and so has no reason to dislike Romeo, this shows that she got these thoughts from the last person she spoke to, Lady Capulet.
The relationship between Juliet and the Nurse is very close and personal; we can see this as Juliet tells almost everything to her, for example Juliet tells the Nurse about Romeo, witch shows she trusts here but the extent is questioned when Juliet receives the Poison from Friar Lawrence,
‘Let the nurse not lie with u in thy chamber’
This shows that the Friar does not trust the Nurse enough, as she is likely to gossip before or after Juliet takes the poison. The Friar is who Juliet turns to for more serious matters as he is a better more knowledgeable person to ask.
Romeo is independent and also a very strong felt person like Juliet, as does as he pleases and acts on his instinct, this is shown in the beginning where he sees Juliet and approaches her without any concern to who it may be,
‘What lady’s that which doth enrich the hand of yonder knight … (Taking Juliet’s Hand)
This shows that he is very explicit and if he needs to he will express himself.
Both Romeo and Juliet’s strongest feature and similarity are not only there situation but also there determination to reach each other whatever means necessary. This is shown by them finding each other after Romeo is banished, bye extreme methods, the poison, and then killing themselves to be with together.
The Friar is similar to the Nurse in their situation, they are both dominant and parental figures in Romeo and Juliet’s lives, and they are both in similar situations with Romeo and Juliet as well, but the similarities end here.
The Friar has a much higher status that the Nurse, and he speaks in verse, as he is a respected, intelligent, philosophical man who is a priest and so can be trusted.
‘With baleful weeds and precious-juiced flowers. The earth that’s nature’s mother is her tomb … Within the infant rind of this weak flower poison hath residence and medicine power’
This shows his understanding of nature and medicine showing he is knowledgeable and philosophical, we can see that he is trusted and has a high status from his account at the end of the text where he states how Romeo and Juliet’s death came about,
‘I will be brief for my short date of breath is not as long as is a tedious tale’
He has been allowed to give his account by the prince of Verona showing he is trusted and believed by all, he is not questioned at all.
The nurse is the opposite of this, she has no education as far as we know, but we do know that Juliet is a daughter she never knew, she had a daughter who died at a young age,
‘Susan is with god; she was too good for me’
Susan is the name of her daughter, she means she is in heaven by ‘with god’ saying that she is dead. She also speaks in prose, and is not respected as she is a servant for the Capulet’s giving her low status and her lack of self thought.
The two relationships between the Friar and Romeo and Juliet and the Nurse are similar in parental figures and situation although we already know that the Nurse and the Friar are nothing alike. The relationship between Juliet and her parents and Romeo and his parents are almost identical in situation.
Juliet’s mother is very distant from her and as shown earlier does not communicate with her directly and sends the nurse for her. The farther is even more distant from her, he is oblivious to her feelings and her whereabouts during the whole play, The only time he ever talks to her it is usually about marriage,
‘Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought so worthy a gentlemen to be her bride’
This is an example of when Capulet speaks to Juliet, never to talk about her or to speak to her. It is clear from this that Juliet’s relationship with her parents is not based on love but on money and expectations.
Compared with Juliet’s and the nurse’s relationship, it is based on caring, love and trust.
There relationship has values. Although the Nurse has to do as the Capulet’s tell her she still loves Juliet. But there is a sign that she is only with Juliet for the employment. This is no a direct implementation in the text but it an be suggested, at the end of the novel just after Juliet is found dead we never see the Nurse again in the play, this could mean that she has left with fear of being made redundant by the Capulet’s now Juliet is no longer there. But this could mean various things.
Romeo’s parents are also distant from him, they do not ever in the whole play talk directly to him, although we do not see much of the Montague’s in the play we do have a sign that they are oblivious to what Romeo is feeling and where he is,
‘O where is Romeo? Saw you him today? … I neither know, nor can I learn of him’
This is proof and admittance that Montague is oblivious of Romeo in every way. We have no sign of his mother’s affections for him but we have to presume that she loves him as at the end of the Play Montague mentions her death,
‘Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night; grief of my son’s exile hath stopped her breath’
This can be used to say that she cared and loved Romeo but it does not tell us if there relationship is a happy one.
Comparing the relationships of Friar and Romeo and Juliet and the Nurse with Romeo’s and Juliet’s parents, we can see that the nurse and Friar are much more dominant parental figures in there lives. The friar is the most turned to for advice over all and is trusted by all parties throughout the play. The Parents Relationship is more of a dictatorship than anything else. They do not allow any freedom of speech where they are concerned.
We can now see that out of the Nurse and the Friar we can tell that the Friar is more respected by his speech at the end of the production, we can see that the Nurse is less respected and is afraid of getting redundant and is not trusted by anyone. We can see that the parents knowledge of their children is poor. But we get the suggestion that Lady Capulet had deeper feelings for Romeo, witch can be shown by her death at the end. But we know that the parents only way of expressing themselves is through money, this is shown at the end by the suggestion of a gold statue to remember Romeo and Juliet by,
‘Montague: For I will raise her statue in pure gold … Capulet: As rich shall Romeo’s by his lady’s lie’
