To most, it is a mystery whether the outcome of one’s life is dependent on the choices, decisions and actions that are made throughout that lifetime, or if it is simply predetermined and a matter of fate. Does man have any control over his life, or is he just acting as a pawn, experiencing a predetermined sequence of events as they come? Do the decisions he makes and the actions he takes affect the outcomes of events later in his life? And perhaps even more concerning, since they are out of his control, do the decisions and actions of others have an effect on the outcome of his life? In the play Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare explores these ideas and questions in great depth. At a quick glance, it seems that the tragic death of the …show more content…
The Nurse makes mistakes which not only confuse Juliet, but also make her lose trust. In the beginning of the play, she supports Juliet through her actions and behaviour; she helps deliver messages to Romeo in secrecy and even encourages them both to get married. However, when Juliet needs the Nurse’s support the most, she quickly abandons Juliet. She immediately switches from favouring Romeo to taking Paris’ side when asked her opinion. As Juliet is making decisions about Romeo, Nurse states, “Romeo is banish’d; and all the world to nothing, / that he dares ne’er come back to challenge you.” (3.5.214-215). She obviously does not truly understand the feelings of true love that Juliet is experiencing, and these harsh words spark Juliet’s decision to exclude Nurse from her plans. As Juliet starts to question the Nurse’s decisions, she asks, “Speakest thou from thy heart?” (3.5.226). This demonstrates that Juliet can no longer trust her Nurse with any of her secrets. Juliet feels betrayed by her Nurse, which is part of the reason she decides not to include the Nurse in her plan with Romeo and Friar Laurence. If Nurse had known what was going to unfold, she might have been able to intervene at some point, and the lives of Romeo and Juliet might have been saved. The Nurse is one of the key factors towards their death, however, the biggest factor is Juliet’s …show more content…
They not only treat her horribly, but also force her to marry someone she is not interested in and barely knows. The Capulets tell her to either marry Paris or they will disown her and let her die. When Lady Capulet is talking about Paris to Juliet, she asks, “What say you? Can you like the gentleman?” (1.3.80). She pretends to care about Juliet’s feelings and desires, but it is soon revealed that Lady Capulet would rather have her daughter killed than be disobeyed. When given the choice between death or a terrible life, many would choose the easy way out, and this is exactly what the vulnerable Juliet is forced to do. To make matters worse, Juliet will not open up and tell her parents about her true love since the families are enemies. When she finds out that her true love is a Montague, she cries, “My only love sprung from my only hate.” (1.5.138). This quote shows that even Juliet knows that she cannot be with Romeo because of the feud and because she knows her parents will not allow it. If the family feud had not existed, or her parents had been more accepting and lenient, Romeo and Juliet would have been married without resistance and they could have lived a long, fulfilled life together. In this case, it is not fate that denies her love for Romeo but rather her parents’ hatred towards the Montague
She fired Juliet’s passion in her relationship with Romeo, then told Juliet it all meant nothing and to go marry Paris. This brought Juliet’s death. Even though the Nurse meant the best for Juliet, her actions still brought the demise of Juliet and Romeo (although her actions had a larger consequence on Juliet’s death rather than Romeo’s). Juliet was told by Nurse that “his name is Romeo… he’s the only son of your worst enemy” (a1, s5, l136). Unknowingly, the Nurse was hyping their relationship from the start onwards, setting Romeo and Juliet up to their unfortunate fates. The Nurse was Juliet’s advisor and she should’ve stayed loyal to Juliet’s decisions and remained her confidante. However, she suddenly switches over to Juliet marrying Paris. This changeover was rash, unexpected and too sudden for poor Juliet to cope, who was being forced to wed Paris, while wanting to be faithful to Romeo. Therefore, the Nurse brought Juliet and Romeo’s death upon
One of the most common character tropes is the moody, teenage sibling who’s always in trouble and fighting with the parents. Teenagers are often stereotyped as reckless and emotional. They take too many chances and act like everything is the end of the world. Young adults are constantly experimenting and taking risks, but what is the force behind their actions? During adolescence, the areas in the brain controlling reward processing and control begin to change. According to neuroscientist Laurence Steinburg, the shift creates an imbalance between emotion and restraint (Sukel, 46). The play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, focuses on the teenager, Romeo, during a dramatic period of his life. He faces many difficult situations involving love
She loves Juliet like her own child. Throughout the play, The Nurse is very talkative. She will usually do what she believes is right or what Juliet wants, like secretly meeting with Romeo and arranging the wedding of Romeo and Juliet. Throughout the play, the relationship between Juliet and The Nurse always shows. The Nurse has a playful as well as caring relationship with Juliet.
This shows that the Nurse is following orders from Juliet, because she thinks it will make Juliet happy. Although she does, she does not seem to be bothered about the damage she could cause in the future. This is one reason why the Nurse could be to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Another point in the play where the Nurse contributes to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet is when the proposal of Paris comes along. At this stage in the play, Romeo has been banished.
Many parents feel as if their job is to protect their children from any harm or difficult decisions that may come their way. In the screen write Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the parents are in control of almost every aspect of their own child’s life. Romeo and Juliet takes place in the fourteenth century in Verona, Italy. Romeo is a Montague, Juliet is a thirteen-year-old Capulet, and Paris is related to Prince Escalus. Also, the Montague and Capulet families despise each other. Consequently, Romeo and Juliet fall in love when they first meet each other at a party. Because of the family feud, they cannot let their parents know about their love, so Juliet and Romeo marry in secret. Also, Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet, promises Juliet’s
... marriage to Romeo). “Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence’s cell; There stays a husband to make you a wife. [...] Hie you to church; I must another way, to fetch a ladder, by the which your love must climb a bird’s nest soon when it’s dark” (II. v. 69-77). Nurse is willing to go to certain extents to help Juliet because she is like a daughter to her. She brainstorms the plan so the two young lovers can be together. Also, her actions improve the tale overall. “This afternoon, sir? Well, she shall be there” (II. iv. 175). In a way, Nurse is Juliet’s ‘wing-man’. She helps her get the chance to be with her suitor, which is what the whole plot revolves around.
He did not give much thought on how Juliet feels about the marriage and agrees to marry the two even though Juliet had not given him consent. For example, when Paris asks Capulet if Juliet would love him; Capulet responds, "Of my child 's love: I think she will be ruled. In all respects by me; nay, more, I doubt it not." (4.3.13-14). Capulet’s relationship with Juliet is superficial; he does not understand or know his daughter well. By creating the wedding, he causes Juliet to become desperate as she would be marrying someone she doesn’t love. To add to the matter, instead of trying to understand his daughter’s perspective, he becomes aggressive and gives her with an ultimatum. Capulet shouts, “Disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church o 'Thursday, Or never after look me in the face.” (3.5.160-163). By forcing Juliet into marriage, she becomes desperate and causes her to begin considering death as a way out. "I 'll to the friar, to know his remedy; If all else fail, myself have power to die." (3.5.241-242). Capulet’s controlling and aggressive parenting forces Juliet to marry someone she does not love. Furthermore, this causes Juliet to starts considering suicide as a way out. Capulet’s actions to forcefully marry Juliet to Paris brings her death because it results in the Friar’s potion plan which would cause the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. If Capulet did not
The Nurse is a loving and caring character much more different from Benvolio and Romeo. The Nurse is Juliet’s motherly figure the one that is on Juliet side and only wants to see her happy. When Juliet’s real mom, Lady Capulet suggested that Juliet should accept the marriage proposal that Paris had offered, the Nurse, happily agreed with Lady Capulet because the only thing the Nurse wanted was to see Juliet happy like any mother would. “‘Go girl, seek happy nights to happy days.”’ (Shakespeare I.iii.105). This scene and the statement that the Nurse made shows how much the Nurse cares for Juliet, she treats her like a daughter and is thinking about her happiness. The Nurse shows that she has motherly traits and that she is very caring taking
The Nurse was also responsible for the tragic ending of the play. When Romeo and Juliet met, the Nurse became their messenger. She helped them be together even though she knew Romeo was a Montague and that Juliet's family would disapprove. The Nurse brought news to Juliet from Romeo telling her to sneak out so they could get married. She helped Juliet get out of her house by bringing her a rope ladder to climb off her balcony with and telling her parents that she went to shrift. The Nurse kept Romeo and Juliet's marriage a secret from the families. When Juliet's parents said she should marry Paris, the Nurse agreed and said that Juliet should forget about Romeo because he was in Mantua. With the Nurse no longer on her side she had no one to help her and back her up but the Friar. In this way she had a large impact on the terrible ending of Romeo and Juliet.
After investigating further, I believe that the Nurse was responsible for their deaths mainly because of her inability to care for Juliet which, in time, led to her betraying Juliet. She told her to marry Paris, even though the she knew what Juliet really wanted to do. She states, “I think you are happy in this second match, for it excels your first. Or if it did not, your first is dead…” (pg 204, lines 223-224). This shows that she did not care for Juliet’s love with Romeo anymore and how she gave up on her, which proves that she did not care for Juliet very
Contrary to Friar Laurence, the nurse wisdom is influenced by her past experiences. When discussing about Paris proposal with Juliet and Lady Capulet, the nurse begins to recall her memories in speech. She mentions how both her husband and daughter are “with god” (1.3.21). The nurse is implying that both her daughter and husband is dead. Death has a negative connotation and paints an image of darkness, thus figuratively the nurse impression on love is filled with sadness and pain. Because she associates marriage with pain, she draws from her past experiences to attain new wisdom and knowledge to advise Juliet. Similar to Friar Laurence, the nurse is depicted as a character who lacks experience with love. Juliet request her nurse to search for Romeo, longing for his message regarding their marriage. However, the nurse tardiness caused Juliet to complain about if “had she affections and warm youthful blood,” (2.5.12). then the nurse wouldn’t take such a delay in delivering the message. In other words, Juliet is saying that if the Nurse was as young and deeply immersed in her love like Juliet, she would have delivered the news faster. Because the nurse is old and no longer feels love, it is evident that she lacks love. Correspondingly to Friar Lawrence character, the nurse is deemed as a compassionate mentor. Sent by Juliet, the Nurse finally
Old Montague has come and flourishes his blade in spite of me.” 1.1. 74-75. As a result of the feud between the two families, both the Capulets and the Montagues despised each other which disabled Romeo and Juliet from openly being together. If the two families were friends then Romeo and Juliet could have been married openly without any problems. Another way that Lord Capulet could have changed the outcome of the play is if he never forced his daughter to marry Paris. Lord Capulet wants Juliet to marry Paris, “Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender of my child’s love: I think she will be ruled.” 3.4. 12-13. As a result of Lord Capulet forcing Juliet to marry Sir Paris, Juliet could never run away with Romeo and in those circumstances, she wanted to kill herself. If Lord Capulet never would have forced Juliet to marry Sir Paris then she could have ran away with Romeo. A third way that Lord Capulet could have changed the outcome of the play is by never believing that Paris would be a good suitor to his
The Nurse would do things for Juliet that involved meeting with Romeo and sharing information that helped them find times for them to see each other and marry each other. “Let me come in, and you shall know my errand. I come from Lady Juliet.”(III.III.79-80). The Nurse never told anyone about the marriage she never thought about some consequences that could come with this marriage.“I am aweary, give me leave awhile. Fie, how my bones ache! What a jaunce have I had!”(II.VI.25-26). At the time all she wanted to see was Juliet happy and safe, and at the time she thought that being with romeo was doing that for
First,the Nurse could be blame for the death of Romeo and Juliet.A way that the Nurse contributed to their death is that she set the wedding for Romeo and Juliet.According to the passage “Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence's cell;There stays a husband to make you
As the book progressed, readers may argue that the Nurse betrayed Juliet when she confessed that Juliet should do as what her parents says and marry Paris. " Then, since the case so stands as now it doth, I think it best you married with the county" (Shakespeare 3. 5. 218-219) Although she did confess it and said it was from the bottom of her heart, she only thought that way because of how the situation was. Romeo was banished, her parents threatened to disown her. The Nurse only wanted the safety of Juliet, she also did not tell Capulet that she was secretly married to Romeo. When Juliet came to Friar Laurence for advice after being "betrayed" by the Nurse, Friar Laurence proposed a plan in order Juliet to be with Romeo. Some may speculate