The Nurse Is To Blame In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet (Free Essay Sample)

The play Romeo and Juliet by the famous playwright William Shakespeare is full of tragedy. It takes place in Verona, Italy where there are two feuding families and their children fall in love and get married only to end up dead due to their family's hatred towards each other. The Nurse is one of the main people to blame for the two lovers' deaths.

The Nurse is the main mother figure in Juliet’s life and due to this she makes offers unwise advice and causes hasty decisions. When Juliet came to the Nurse asking if she should follow her heart and marry Romeo unbeknownst to her parents she said “To fetch a ladder, by the which your love / Must climb a bird's nest soon when it is dark. / I am the drudge / and toil in your delight, / But you shall bear the burden soon at night. / Go; I'll to dinner. / Hie you to the cell.” When she gave that counsel the Nurse further rushed Juliet’s decision to marry a man she had just met the previous night. Had she given Juliet time to sit down and process the importance of the commitment and the possible outcomes and Juliet could have waited until the fighting calmed down. After the death of Tybalt, Lord Capulet decided that the marriage of Juliet and Paris would help everyone move on and cheer up. The Nurse despite knowing that Juliet was already married to Romeo encourages her to betray him and marry Paris. “Your first is dead; or 'twere as good he were, / As living / here, and you no use of him. … And from my soul too; / Or else beshrew them both. … Marry, I will, and this is wisely done.” The Nurse changes her opinion of Romeo and tells Juliet to marry Paris and forget Romeo as soon as possible. The Nurse up until this point has always been Juliet’s adviser and consultant and she threw it all away. This also causes Juliet to panic and run to Friar Laurence for help. The Nurse influence Juliet to make impulsive decisions without giving them much thought.

Some might say that the Nurse had Juliet’s best interest at heart. The Nurse when asked whether she should marry Romeo she says “Your love says, like an honest gentleman, and a courteous, and a kind, and a handsome, and, I warrant, a virtuous.” She clearly thought high of Romeo even though she had only been around him for a few minutes. This point is logical; however. It ignores the fact that she still betrays Juliet when she was in desperate need of guidance causing her to say “Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend! / Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn, / Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue / Which she hath praised him with above compare / So many thousand times? Go, counsellor; / Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain. / I'll to the friar, to know his remedy. / If all else fail, myself have power to die.” With no one else to turn to Juliet goes to Friar Laurence’s in panic and desperation to escape the marriage with Paris.