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Rough draft 1
Kate Nicholls

essay

In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, the Nurse and Juliet have a very strong
relationship
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There are several ways in
which the Nurse and Juliet are connected: through the Nurse’s bawdy sense of humour; the
way that the Nurse supports Juliet; the strong bond between them; the trust between the
Nurse and Juliet and the way that the Nurse is a mother figure to Juliet
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This
stereotype is believed to date back to the Middle Ages
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Though she is no professional, the character of the Nurse would have been very
recognizable as a bawdy stereotype to Shakespeare's audience
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The Nurse’s bawdy sense of humour is mostly
revealed through sexual innuendo in quotes such as, “Now by my maiden head at twelve
year old
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This reference
to her virginity would have made characters such as Lady Capulet and the upper-class
members of the audience blush and yet may have got a laugh from the standing peasants
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thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit
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Today anyone who would joke about a infant's future sexual behaviour would be
seen as particularly weird and socially outcast, but in Shakespeare’s time a pun like this
would have been accepted and intended to connect the married couple with each other
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seek happy nights for happy
days
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Nevertheless it is the fact that the Nurse feels
comfortable to speak to Juliet about such things that shows the strong bond that they share
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At this point the play
becomes very serious, “God in heaven bless her! You are to blame to rate her so
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We also pick up on the contrast
between God and heaven and faking virginity
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The bawdy humour we can see has vanished,
the nurse describes a relationship between Juliet and another man and does not mention
sex once, “
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it excels your first
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This would have taken the audience by surprise and reengaged them in the tragic plot
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The Nurse
believes in marrying for love, a rare thing in that time
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She asks Romeo, if he intends to
lead Juliet into a "false paradise” as they say
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"
Romeo gives the Nurse penny
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She touts
Juliet's unsurpassed beauty, crudely mentions that Paris would like to "lay knife aboard" but
that her mistress would rather see a toad
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Another way that the
Nurse shows her support for Juliet is by physically standing up for Juliet, she places herself
between Juliet and her father and disgraces him, “
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”, unfortunately this
angers Lord Capulet even more and he becomes abusive
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She suggests that she do her father’s
will, “
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” showing the irony that she now
disagrees with Juliet‘s decision
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The strong bond between Juliet and the Nurse carries on until Juliet’s “fake death” evidence
to support this includes the way that the Nurse uses very informal language around
Juliet,”
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” the tone of voice suggests that the Nurse is using language that could
be seen as an insult, in adoration of Juliet, this shows the level of understanding in the
strong bond between Juliet and the Nurse
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” to show their strong bond clearly to the
audience
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- Nurse,
come back again
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The strength in their relationship shows in act 2
scene 5, in the way that Juliet also talks about the Nurse, “
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”
another use of metaphors shows that the fondness that the Nurse has for Juliet is returned
back through Juliet’s own fondness for her
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then, since the
case so stands as it now doth
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we also see earlier on
that the nurse’s dictation changes, before Tybalt’s death, the Nurse liked to rant on about
Juliet’s past and that of her own, “
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”
showing that there has been a bond between the Nurse and Juliet since she was being
nursed
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Notice there is no adoration in the
Nurse’s speech; she doesn’t even call Juliet by her name
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We can see that the Nurse’s relationship between her and Juliet started completely open
and honest, the Nurse felt no need to hold anything back when talking to Juliet and playing
on the easy puns and double meanings of quotes made by others, “
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” To which the Nurse’s response was, “no less? Nay bigger! Women grow by
men
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Juliet trusts the Nurse
enough to confide in her about Romeo, “my only love sprung from my only hate!” showing
that she feels completely safe to tell the nurse that she’s in love with a Montague
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When the
Nurse suggests that Juliet should forget about Romeo and marry Paris, she loses Juliet's trust and
confidence
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Thereafter she no longer involves the
Nurse in her secret plans
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” Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to
show that Juliet is lying to the Nurse
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The strongest bond between Juliet and the Nurse is the way that the Nurse is very much a
mother figure to Juliet
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The Nurse is like a second and
more loving parent
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Susan and she
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Were of an age
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She was too good for me
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Juliet is the nurse's “replacement baby”, a piece of information that goes far
to explain the profound bond between surrogate daughter and surrogate mother
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Perhaps this is why he goes into depth about Juliet as a child
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I can tell her age unto an hour
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This relationship does not change, however, at the
same point as the others, instead it dies when the Nurse believes that Juliet is dead, or at
least, we hear no more of their relationship
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