the nurse

Question 1

how is the nurse a substitute maternal figure for Juliet

Answer 1

• Juliet p’s mother provides her with minimal emotional support, often prioritizing material gains over her daughters happiness like in her arranged marriage to Paris for example
• nurse however fulfills this role in the absence of Juliet’s mother

Question 2

“wast the prettiest ___ that i e’er ____”
A1 S3

Answer 2

• tone is fond & she speaks retrospectively , reminding the audience that she was Juliet’s primary career when she was a “babe”
• aristocratic Elizabethan’s would have their children raised by wet nurses, who would breastfeed them in place of their mothers & nanny them. This is the relationship the nurse has with Juliet : it is extremely maternal , more so than the relationship Juliet has with her own mother

Question 3

“how my bones ache”
A2 S5

Answer 3

• playfully complains “how my bones ache”
• she is colloquial with Juliet in her form
• Juliet uses, primarily, a very formal tone with her mother but with the nurse she is unfiltered & so is the nurse to her. - demonstrates the nurse provides Juliet with an environment in which she is free to express her emotions because she expresses her own , unlike Juliet’s mother

Question 4

“now , by my Maidenhead at twelve years old”

Answer 4

• often bawdy in her lang especially when she says [quote]
• a factor which reinforces her position as comic relief & intensifies the way Shakespeare parodies her
• working class, in Shakespeare’s plays are frequently mocked, shown to be unintelligent & act as comic relief - porter in Macbeth is a classic example of this & here the nurse plays a similar role , she is melodramatic & frivolous , all qualities which cause the audience to laugh at her