The Nurse Flashcards
What are the 2 key themes associated to the nurse?
- Women in the Victorian era
- The presentation of women
What are the 8 key aspects of the nurse?
- Loquacious (talkative)
- Whimsical (playful, joking)
- Amiable
- Pitiful
- Confidant to Romeo and Juliet
- Maternal character to Juliet
- Foil to Friar Lawrence
- Enables innuendo / crude humour
Contextual reference for the nurse as a maternal character
In the Elizabethan era, in rich families, a nurse would take the role of the mother for the children.
2.5: The nurse as whimsical and evidence of the style of relationship between Juliet and the nurse
“Jesu, what haste! Can you not stay awhile?”
The nurse has just found out whether Romeo will marry Juliet or not, and she won’t tell Juliet
2.4: The nurse as a confidant (to Romeo)
“Some means to come to shrift this afternoon.
And there she shall at Friar Lawrence’ cell
Be shrived and married.”
Acting as a confidant allows Romeo and Juliet to share thoughts with the audience in a natural way (not a soliloquy).
Who is the nurse a foil character to?
Friar Lawrence
2.4: The nurse as a device for crude humour
“Good, Peter, to hide her face, for her fan’s the fairer face” - Mercutio
This is a form of humour called shadenfreude (humour at someone else’s expense)
1.3: The nurse as a device for crude humour
“Thou wilt fall backward when thou comest to age”
2.4: The nurse as maternal
“But first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her into a fool’s paradise, as they say, it were a very gross kind of behavior”
Telling Romeo not to take advantage of Juliet
