The Nurse Flashcards
Name three features of the Nurse’s speech/dialogue in Act 1, scene 3
Bawdy language (inappropriate to say in front of her employer, Lady C)
Digressive - telling a story about Juliet being weaned and falling over…
Affectionate
What is described by the Nurse as as big as a ‘cockerel’s stone’?
The bump on Juliet’s head when she fell over as a little girl
The Nurse’s husband is quoted several times saying, ‘thou wilt…’
‘Fall backward when thou comes to age’
The Nurse is enthusiastic about Paris, calling him, ‘a man of…’
Wax
The Nurse makes a final joke about sex at the end of the scene that introduces her to the audience, saying, ‘bigger. Women grow by men’. This is a reference to…
Sex and pregnancy, reminding us of the bawdy language that the Nurse uses
Other characters who have a similarly earthy view of love and relationships (like the Nurse) are…?
Mercutio, Sampson and Gregory
The Nurse is a comic foil to which character?
Friar Lawrence, who is also a mentor (to Romeo) but a spiritual counsellor and quite philosophical in his approach
In the party scene, when Romeo meets Juliet, the Nurse tells him that whoever marries Juliet, ‘shall have the…’
‘Chinks’: this is simultaneously a reference to Juliet’s wealth (money) but also a sexual innuendo - with chink as a potential reference to female anatomy…
The Nurse’s bawdy language is echoed by Mercutio is Act 2, scene 1 when the boys try to call Romeo back from Capulet’s orchard just before which scene?
The balcony scene: Mercutio makes reference to medlar fruits and jokes about ‘poperin’ [pop her in] pear.
The bawdy language of the Nurse and Mercutio contrasts with the romantic and idealistic language used by R and J in which two scenes?
The party scene (when they meet and share a spontaneous sonnet), and the balcony scene
When we meet Friar Lawrence he is waxing philosophical about the ways the contrasting elements of what mirror contrasting elements in mankind
Nature - he speakers of ‘two such opposed kings’ encamped in man as well as herbs
The Friars language and attitude contrasts strongly with…?
The Nurse, who lacks the capacity to comment in this way
In Act 2, scene 4 the Nurse meets the boys (M, B and R) in the street. How do they insult her (quotes)?
Mercutio says, ‘A sail, a sail’ indicating that she is comically large and says, ‘her fan’s the fairer face’
Mercutio also compares the Nurse to a…and…?
A pimp (‘bawd’) and an old and ugly prostitute: in these scenes we feel the young men’s crude and rude attitude and feel sympathy for the Nurse
When the Nurse is finally alone with Romeo, she almost tells what story again?
The one about when Juliet fell over as a small child…
In Act 2,scene 5, Juliet is impatient to see the Nurse and we see Shakespeare explore the contrast between…?
Age and youth
The Nurse’s bones ache and she complaints about the ‘jaunt’ she has had. Juliet is unsympathetic and replies…?
‘How art thou out of breath when thou hast breath/to say to me that thou art out of breath’
At the end of that scene with Juliet, the Nurse makes bawdy jokes about Romeo doing what after their marriage?
‘Your love must cling a bird’s nest soon when it is dark’ and that Juliet must ‘bear the burden [i.e. of Romeo]’ soon.
When Tybalt is killed, Shakespeare uses dramatic irony in the scene in which the Nurse tells Juliet. She uses simple and…what kind of language to tell her?
Very repetitive: ‘He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead.’ At first J thinks R is dead.
When the Nurse goes to FL’s cell in Act 3, scene 3, she points out that Juliet is behaving exactly the same as Romeo, saying…
‘Even so lies she, blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering’
When FL delivers the ‘pack of blessings light upon your back’ speech to Romeo, the Nurse is impressed by his…
‘Good counsel’ and exclaims, ‘Oh, what learning is. This reinforces the contrast between FL and the Nurse, even as R and J are becoming more and more alike
After J’s row with Capulet over the arranged marriage in Act 3 scene 5, the Nurse suggests J marries Paris, calling Romeo a what…?
‘dishclout’ next to Paris: this alienates Juliet and makes it more likely that she turns further away from her family…
The Nurse proves herself to be a…
Realist and a pragmatist: ‘since the case so stands as now it doth/I think it best you married with the county.’
Juliet calls her a…
‘Most wicked fiend’
When the Nurse mourns Juliet (who is apparently dead) it is…
Heartfelt but also shows the limits of her language/education. Her language contrasts with that used by the rest of the mourning Capulet family.
At the end of the play when FL gives his final speech to explain all, he does what to the Nurse
Reveals her part in everything
‘To the marriage, her Nurse is privy’
