Comparison of the Female Characters in Romeo and Juliet

the nurse is of a lower social status and cannot speak too much. Nurse Angelina is a lower status – and this is common for nurses to come from a poorer background.  The Nurse must have had a deprived background which reflects her character in terms of love. However, she is a very cheerful woman and pleased with her life. Lady Capulet was probably quite distant from her rents as she at times does not look like she has any affection towards Juliet. She treats Juliet like a doll – a ‘do as your told’ attitude. It is evident that the nurse has looked after Juliet since birth and she was also a wet nurse. This helped form a very close relationship between the nurse and Juliet, which is like a mother-daughter relationship. However, Lady Capulet was never there for Juliet, which reflects the distance between them. This was mainly because of the social class differences. Lady Capulet preferred parties and social gatherings rather then to stay at home and look after the children. As a result, Lady Capulet acts like a stranger to Juliet which is quite tormenting and results in a broken relationship being formed. Evidence is when she calls the nurse to coincide with rather then talking to Juliet in person:‘This is the matter nurse, give leave awhile, We must talk in secret. Nurse, come back again, I have remembered me, thou’s hear our counsel’ Lady Capulet had an arranged marriage and assumes because she went through it so will her daughter – and to some extent so will Juliet’s daughter/son. She is money and status driven. In Shakespearean times arranged marriages were very common and love marriages were frowned upon because it was seen as an immaturity. This is reflected in the issue that Lady Capulet wanted Juliet to marry Paris. He is rich and famous. She did not care whether or not he was suitable or of a similar age. In fact, research shows there as a 10 year gap between them. The nurse was first employed because she had her own daughter – Susan – so she would be able to breast feed Juliet, unfortunately Susan and Angelica’s husband died so she was employed full time. This is a good thing for Angelica because otherwise she would probably not be able to survive without the Capulets’ continued employment. Although the nurse is quite extroverted, and single to the play’s knowledge, she is sexually driven. She believes that women are ‘improved’ sexually by men. Evience is in Act 1 Scene 3 where she claims: ‘No less, nay bigger; women grow by men’ This has a double meaning. She claims that women grow in status and in size – they become pregnant and have many children of their husbands. This illustrates what level she believes women are in comparison to men. She is trying to give motherly advice but also partly trying to fill her sexual pleasures that she did not get though Juliet. She doesn’t understand that marriage and love is depicted by each woman differently. Angelina is sensible in what she talks with whom too, as her job can be at stake then. Therefore, she restricts herself in open discussions and opinion giving, but does however; give individual opinions to individual people. An example is when she sticks up for Juliet when Lord Capulet wants Juliet to marry Paris. She says: ‘I would the fool were married to her grave’ Overall, all three female characters have different perspectives of love and marriage which makes then attract or repel.