Throughout 'Romeo and Juliet' the Nurse establishes herself as a character of great importance

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Throughout 'Romeo and Juliet' the Nurse establishes herself as a character of great importance. She is the Nurse for the Capulet family, but her role in the play is more than her title suggests. The Nurse is also a surrogate mother to Juliet as she has been Juliet's wet-nurse since she was a baby. It is apparent that the Nurse and Juliet have a bond that is stronger than most, even to the extent of being stronger than the relationship with her birth mother (Lady Capulet). She is Juliet's closest friend and confidante. The Nurse is known as a laughable character in 'Romeo and Juliet', as she is often bawdy, humorous and very talkative. Her jokes and general comical personality relieves some of the tragedy in the play. The Nurse is a motherly figure to Juliet, and the two seem to have a very close and personal sisterly relationship. We find out more about Juliet in this play, when she is with the Nurse, because she expresses all her emotions and secrets freely to the Nurse. Therefore we get this bond of trust and affection between the Nurse and Juliet. Juliet enjoys the Nurse's company and feels she can communicate openly with the Nurse than her parents.

The Nurse throughout the play tells of previous times, such as of her daughter Susan, who died at a young age. So the relationship between the Nurse and Juliet maybe particularly strong because Juliet is seen as a replacement for Susan by the Nurse. The Nurse would do anything to please and fulfil the wishes of Juliet. She refers to her lost daughter in Act 1 scene 3 at the beginning of the play, which therefore begins to give us a rough idea of why the relationship between the Nurse and Juliet is so strong,

"...Well, Susan is with God; she was too good for me".

This shows that the Nurse takes dignity in her loss and 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. This therefore shows that the Nurse is a very caring and loving person, as she still talks of her lost daughter as being in 'heaven', with great amount of love and endearment. The Nurse treats Juliet as if she were her own daughter and therefore refers to Juliet in terms of love and care, 'What lamb'. Her feelings for Juliet are consequently more affectionate and close, as Juliet is like a substitute for her daughter Susan.
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The Nurse is like a mother to Juliet, as she knows everything about Juliet like a mother should. She has been wet-nursing Juliet since she was born. Another quote from Act 1 Scene 3, which adds more to our understanding of the attachment between the Nurse and Juliet, is when the Nurse says,

"Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour".

This emphasizes how well the Nurse knows Juliet and how long she has known Juliet for. This also shows that she actually knows Juliet better than Lady Capulet, her own mother. She starts off ...

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