Comic Relief Romeo and Juliet, although considered a tragedy, has very funny parts to it because Shakespeare uses comic relief to add humor to the play. The nurse and Romeo’s friends provide some humor. Shakespeare uses the literary device comic relief to add humor to Romeo and Juliet through the scene with the Nurse and Juliet, jokes between Romeo and his friends, and the scene when the Nurse tells a baby story about Juliet. In Act II, Shakespeare includes a hilarious scene where Juliet is trying to get information from the nurse about her possible marriage to Romeo, but the nurse was out of breath and took a long time to finally tell Juliet the news. The Nurse goes on for several minutes about she’s so sore and out of breath while Juliet is so anxious and excited for news. The scene with the Nurse and Juliet when the Nurse says “Lord, how my head aches! What a head have I! It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces.” (2.5.45) makes it funny is how the nurse overreacts to a headache by saying her head will fall apart into 20 pieces. When discussing with Lady Capulet about Juliet’s age, the Nurse says “I’d bet fourteen of my own teeth - but, I’m sorry to say, I only have 4 teeth - she’s not fourteen. How long is it …show more content…
What makes them funny are the dirty jokes they made about Romeo and Rosaline. Mercutio says “If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark. Now will he sit under a medlar tree And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit As maids call medlars when they laugh alone. O Romeo, that she were! Oh, that she were An open arse, and thou a poperin pear. Romeo, good night. I’ll to my truckle bed. This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep. Come, shall we go?” (2.1.40). In this scene, Romeo’s friends were joking about Romeo and Rosaline “spending the night together”. They also make fun of Romeo’s dreams saying some fairy was haunting his