Romeo & Juliet the Nurse

The nurse in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a very compelling character. She adds comic relief in this tragic play. She had taken care of and even breast-fed Juliet since she was a little baby and knew her very well. In turn, Juliet is very fond of her nurse. In the beginning acts of the play, The Nurse insists that Juliet marry Paris, but when she finds out she is in love with Romeo, she assists Juliet in her plan to marry him. Caught between Romeo and Juliet, The Nurse acts as a messenger for the two.

The nurse is extremely vulgar and “inappropriate”. She always seemed to find a way to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. An example of this is towards the beginning of the play when Nurse returns to Juliet’s room with news for her and holds off telling her. She says, “Jesu, what haste? can you not stay awhile? Do you not