The nurse's humour is very crude, which is shown when she makes a rude joke about the way Juliet will 'fall down' when she is older. When Juliet says that marriage is an honour she did not yet think of, the nurse laughs and exclaims, what an honour it is. Her view of romance is very pragmatic, much like Mercutio's views. The Nurse is also a frequent user of malapropisms. He calls "A sail! A sail!" Meaning he thinks that the nurse is as big as a ship. Some illustrations even depict her as an obese or big boned woman, because of how Mercutio insults her. The Nurse also admits to being something of a fool, proclaiming, "were not I thine only nurse, I would say thou hadst suck'd wisdom from thy teat." She is implied to be ugly by Mercutio, who urges the Nurse's servant Peter to fetch her fan quickly, "to hide her face for her fan's the fairer face." Mercutio also mentions her age, calling her an "ancient lady" as he exits from the same scene. The formal language Juliet uses around Paris, as well as the way she talks about him to her Nurse, show that her feelings clearly lie with Romeo. Only to the nurse does Juliet confide her feelings about both Paris and Romeo. The Nurse recognizes that Juliet shows no interest in Paris' courting and is the only member of the older generation to take Juliet's feelings into consideration…that is, until she suddenly betrays Juliet's trust by saying that she should marry Paris. įriar Laurence agrees to marry Romeo to Juliet in an attempt to mend the dispute between the two families the Nurse sees their union as one of legitimate romance. Friar Laurence, for example, uses sermon and sententiae forms, and the Nurse uses a unique blank verse form that closely matches colloquial speech. In choosing forms, Shakespeare matches the poetry to the character that uses it. Lois Leveen's 2014 novel Juliet's Nurse imagines the fourteen years leading up to the events in the play from the point of view of the nurse. The nurse has the third largest number of lines in the original play only the eponymous characters have more lines. Indeed, she loses perhaps the dearest friends of anyone, having suffered through the deaths of her husband, Susan, Tybalt, Romeo, and Juliet. She is, finally, present at the real deathbed of Romeo, Juliet, and Paris, though speechless. The Nurse discovers Juliet under the spell of Friar Laurence's potion in act four, scene five, and the grief of her death as seriously as she mourned Tybalt. Following this, Juliet feels betrayed and decides never to share any more of her secrets with the Nurse. Even though Juliet was already married to Romeo, the Nurse felt that Juliet would never see her husband again. When Juliet learns that her parents expect her to marry Paris, the Nurse urges the girl to go ahead with the marriage. Later, the Nurse is overcome with grief at the death of Tybalt, she goes and fall, "He's dead, he's dead, he's dead! We are undone, lady, we are undone! Alack the day, he's gone, he's killed, he's dead!" The Nurse is the one to deliver the news of Romeo's banishment to Juliet in spite of Tybalt's murder coming from Romeo's hands, Juliet bids the Nurse to seek out Romeo for her at Friar Laurence's cell for one final night with him before he flees to Mantua. It is because of the Nurse's approval that Juliet ultimately decides to go through with marrying Romeo. The Nurse finds Romeo and soon after returns to Juliet with news of Romeo's continued affection. The Nurse is sent by Juliet in act two, scene four to seek out Romeo the night after their first kiss and exchange of vows. The Nurse delivering her "Yet I cannot choose but laugh" line in Act I scene III in an 1847 drawing Juliet is considered by many, historians and fans alike, to be her surrogate daughter in many respects because she raised Juliet in Lady Capulet's absence. Her personal history outside of the Capulet estate is unknown, other than that she once had a husband and a daughter, both of whom are deceased. She is one of the few people, along with Friar Laurence, to be made aware of the blossoming romance between Romeo and Juliet. As the primary person to like, she is therefore Juliet's foremost confidante. She had a daughter named Susan who died in infancy, and then became wetnurse to Juliet. She is the personal servant, guardian (and former wet nurse) of Juliet Capulet, and has been since Juliet was born. The Nurse is a major character in William Shakespeare's classic drama Romeo and Juliet. A 1797 interpretation of Juliet and her Nurse