Throughout 'Romeo and Juliet' the Nurse establishes herself as a character of great importance
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.
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 ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
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 by saying 'faith', as it shows that she knows Juliet's exact age and emphasizes the seriousness in her tone of voice. The Nurse shows off to Lady Capulet and tries to make her feel guilty by making her feel bad that she does not know her own daughter that well, as she has never been a caring mother towards Juliet. Whereas the Nurse truly loves and cares for Juliet, which is what her own mother should be doing. The Nurse is so close with Juliet, that only she would know Juliet's personal life and if she was a virgin or not, '...My maidenhead at twelve years old'. This is a comment that the Nurse says that is basically stating that Juliet is still a virgin. This shows that the Nurse cares for Juliet greatly, as she knows everything about her, and takes pleasure in finding out more about Juliet's personal life. Unlike Lady Capulet, her birth mother, who never properly takes interest in Juliet's personal life. This also shows that the Nurse is very bountiful and open to any of Juliet's problems or questions.
When the Nurse first makes her emergence she is characterized as a vulgar commoner. Shakespeare changes her status from a lower class maid to a member of the Capulet household.
"No less nay bigger. Women grow by men".
This demonstrates the Nurse's crudeness and her use of sexual implication. It is clear that the Nurse can be, at times, very eager and does not think before she speaks and this can be very inappropriate in some instances. She openly speaks to Lady Capulet about sex and this for a very high status woman can be very incongruous. She uses, 'no less' and 'nay', in the same sentence, which emphasises the comedy and crudeness in her tone of voice. She is constantly chattering, making bawdy comments casting a light hearted and easy spirit. As a result of the Nurse's actions, Lady Capulet may feel very uncomfortable and find the Nurse disgusting and irritating. This adds humour to the play for the audience and it gives us a quick image of what the Nurse is like. Very early in the play, we realise the Nurse's priorities.
In Act 2 Scene 5, Juliet anxiously awaits the return of the Nurse. When she arrives, the Nurse takes delight in keeping Juliet in suspense over Romeo's message. The Nurse teases Juliet and deliberately refuses to offer straight answers. Juliet becomes impatient, as she is desperate to find out Romeo's news. This creates tension for the audience. The audience become frustrated when the Nurse is prolonging telling her all about what Romeo said. This also makes the play much more exciting, creating suspense and drama. The audience are willing the Nurse to tell Juliet. Although the Nurse has previously been a comic character, in this scene she shows herself as an intelligent and clever woman in provoking Juliet, which contrasts to the way she was before- a humorous and frivolous woman. She also seems in control at the beginning of this scene,
"Your love says, like an honest gentlemen, and a courteous, and a kind, and a
Handsome, and, I warrant, a virtuous, where is your mother?"
Here the Nurse starts talking about Romeo, but then changes the subject. The Nurse refuses to get to the point, instead, as shown here, she moans and asks irrelevant questions. The Nurse is holding Juliet in suspense, and delays her response to Juliet. This of course makes Juliet even more frustrated. In this scene, the Nurse also brings out the humorous side of her as she enjoys teasing Juliet, by using captious adjectives such as, 'honest', 'courteous', 'kind' and 'handsome', to prolong the waiting of Romeo's news for Juliet even more. This scene contrasts from how the Nurse is portrayed in the beginning of the play, because normally, she is dying to tell Juliet exciting news. The Nurse talks a lot, which contrasts with Juliet who uses a direct approach. The audience are anticipating when she is going to finally tell Juliet.
In this scene, the relationship between the Nurse and Juliet is expressed more clearly. From this scene, we can tell that they are very close and intimate from the way Juliet addresses the Nurse, 'honey nurse' and 'good sweet nurse'. Juliet speaks more freely and openly with the Nurse, than with her parents. She addresses her crossly and with frustration, as if the Nurse is one of her friends. At the beginning of this extract, Juliet is already frustrated with the Nurse,
"How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath to say to me that thou art out of breath
The excuse that thou does make in this delay is longer than the tale thou dost excuse".
Juliet's impetuosity leads to her frustration. She is annoyed with the Nurse making excuses instead of telling her the message. The repetition of 'thou', emphasises her fury and the force and seriousness in her tone of voice. She is continuously asking questions as shown with the question marks, which also emphasise her frustration and desperation in finding out the message. In this scene, the Nurse's character is shown as a very mischievous and playful one, yet also very clever, as she is holding back this urgent news from Juliet. The Nurse's and Juliet's relationship is more of a sisterly one in this scene, as the Nurse is teasing Juliet purposely, and making her frustrated. Here, the Nurse acts more of Juliet's age rather than her own age, and is being immature.
In Act 4 Scene 5, her last duty in the play is to be the one who discovers the supposedly dead Juliet. Her grief is piercing, but it seems a fair price to pay for her betrayal. There is evidence of the strong relationship between the Nurse and Juliet in this scene. The Nurse comes across a lot more upset than any of the other characters. She is depressed and is very anxious. This creates a deadly atmosphere in the audience and the Nurse makes the plot highly intense. She says in a distraught way,
"She's dead, deceas'd, she's dead. Alack the day... O woe! O woeful, woeful, woeful
day...O day! O day! O day! O hateful day... O woeful day! O woeful day!"
This is very straight forward to Lord Capulet as he is not being let down gently, but instead the Nurse just tells him that Juliet is dead and she repeats it, which creates atmosphere and emotion between the characters and the audience. She reflects her personality once again, proving that she is never quiet. Here, she uses very forceful and distressed words, which reflect her emotions and her guilt in this scene.
The Nurse throughout the play is portrayed as a very bubbly and comical character, but in this instance, she is devastated,
"Alas, alas! Help, help! My lady is dead! O well-a-day that ever I was born".
It is ironic that the Nurse shouts 'my lady' when Juliet is dead, as throughout the play she called her 'my child'. The Nurse is so shocked because she thinks that Juliet has passed away. She finds it hard to find words, which is emphasised by the way she repeats words, which also adds to the sense of disbelief. This is ironic because she talked a lot throughout the play. Throughout this scene, Shakespeare uses a lot of exclamation marks when the Nurse talks. This shows extreme anger on the inside, but pure guilt on the outside, for she has felt that she has betrayed the one she really loved and ever cared for. She is also very upset that she has lost Juliet. Her life is not worth living after the loss of Juliet. Juliet meant everything to her and their relationship was one of great importance to her. The Nurse also uses a lot of alliteration, which is clever and is extremely effective. This creates atmosphere in the audience. The audience like the Nurse here, because it is quite funny that she has nothing to say. She normally has a great deal to say in all situations. In this scene, the Nurse is very upset and distraught, and therefore her feelings towards Juliet are shown more clearly as she really loves Juliet. It is as if she has lost her own daughter.
To conclude, I would say that throughout the play the Nurse seems extremely talkative and she talks about many subjects that aren't even important. This shows that she loves to talk and being involved in all situations. She is also very rude, as she uses much sexual humour. This gives an overall image of her being crude. Her feelings towards Juliet is of great love and endearment, as shown in the ways which they interact with each other throughout this play. Her feelings for Juliet is greatly shown at the end of the play, when Juliet dies, and the Nurse becomes very upset and distressed, due to her great love and care for Juliet. The role of the Nurse is an important one as it is she who creates tension in 'Romeo and Juliet'. The audience is able to gain a further understanding into the role of both Romeo and Juliet, because of the way in which they interact with the Nurse. If the Nurse were absent from this play it would be a great loss. Her humour adds a comic side to the play that takes away some of the very tragic and upsetting storyline. The death of Juliet would be less tragic without the Nurse's reaction and feelings. Basically, if the Nurse was not in the play, the story would not have developed and the play would not be as successful as it turned out for William Shakespeare.