The nurse also helps Romeo as well as Juliet in act 2 scene 4 in this scene she visits Romeo with messages from Juliet. She helps Romeo in this scene by telling him in love for Juliet is a mutual feeling but she also warns him saying “ if ye should lead her in a fools paradise as they say, it were a gross kind of behavior” meaning he mustn’t raise her hopes up for a false love whereas he is after a sexual relationship. She also tells him not to be unfaithful to her as it would as it would not be a gentleman like behavior, she also told him” if you should deal double with her, truly it were an ill thing to be offered to any gentleman and very weak dealing” I don’t think this is a sensible thing to do because this puts more pressure on Romeo out on the other hand makes Romeo try harder to win Juliet and make promises not to deal with her and would be devoting to her, and also I think the whole plan is quite dangerous.
In act 3 scene 5 the nurse advices Juliet to the easier option and marry count Paris and have a hassle-free life instead of marrying Romeo which is going to cause more a lot more violence between the two families. She then replied saying “I think its best you marry with the county” after Juliet just had a big argument with the lord Capulet her father because she said she didn’t want to marry count Paris. In this scene Shakespeare is telling us that the nurse is the kind of lady who tried to avoid trouble at all cost even if it meant betraying Juliet’s trust.
Her behavior can be interpreted as being scared which means she doesn’t want any trouble and she also lied, she obviously doesn’t think that county Paris is a suitable fit for Juliet however “Romeo is a dish dont to him” meaning Romeo is not a man compared to him which now means she is also turning a little two- faced.
In act 2 scene 3 we find out about the relationship between Romeo and Friar Lawrence we realize that has the nurse serves as a mother figure to Juliet, Friar Lawrence also does the same for Romeo. The way they express themselves around each other tells the audience how close their relationship is. We find out that Romeo talks to the friar with a lot of respect and he also calls him ‘father’ just as well he calls him son as well.
The friar immediately asks Romeo about the lady he was in love with which is Rosaline and the way things are going between them. Friar Lawrence gives Romeo an advice though he said “be plain, good son and homely in thy drift, riddling confession finds but riddling shift” which means him as well as the nurse want him to faithful to Juliet and to be sure that he actually loves Juliet not like he loves Rosaline, he is now asking him to be dear about what he is saying. He is motive for helping Romeo is to get himself out of trouble and also peace for himself. At this point the only thought in the friar’s mind if Romeo who was a Montague was to marry Juliet who was a Capulet, it could end the grudge between the two dignified household which can be extracted from the prologue “Two household both alike in dignity”.
In act 4 scene 1 explains the friar’s plain, after Romeo’s banishment the friar thought it was up to him to get Romeo and Juliet back together one way or the other so he constructed a plan to get them both back together. His plan was so complicated that it took only one thing to go wrong for everything to go wrong.
Firstly, he gives Juliet a potion which she was to bring in bed which sends her to deep sleep and makes her look dead as her face shall look pale, she wakes up forty hours later, but while she is asleep, a letter is sent to Romeo that Juliet is not really dead and it and it all a plot to get them both back together, she would be laid where all other dead Capulet laid where Romeo would coma back and collect his bride after forty hours. After her has woken up they would both then flee to Montana where they will leave together happily ever after.
This plan would sound too unpractical to the audience as it is so complicated and it could all go wrong and the outcome of it would be unbearable as it could go as bad as death or rejection of Juliet by her parents and also big impacts on others for example the nurse.
As we would have guessed the friar’s plan goes wrong which could land the friar in a lot trouble with the church and the prince so the friar has to try his best to get himself out of trouble. When his plan goes wrong he turns to God and suddenly the whole plan and plot to get Romeo and Juliet together revolved around God.
He related the outcome of the plan all to God’s doing and that the resort was how God wanted it to be. His motives for this scene was that he didn’t want to be in trouble having something to do with what led to the death of Romeo and Juliet and now the audience that thought the friar was as honest man of God have a different opinion of him which is that he is a man who will do anything to get himself out of trouble which means he has to blame it all on God.
In my own opinion I believe that the friar and the nurse were doing all they were doing for their own purposes rather than helping Romeo and Juliet. The nurse was doing all of this just so she could feel good about herself and she has a chance to do those things that she didn’t get to do for her own daughter. And the friar was doing it just to get peace in the community rather than doing it for the benefit of Romeo and Juliet.
I think Shakespeare wanted the audience to see them in two different ways; one of them being people who start off in a caring about people they are close to and end up hurting the ones they were supposed to protect and make them stay out of trouble.
