Alyssa Tan Jun 1, 2023 Ms. Brown ENG - 2D1 Title!! DONT FORGET Guiding figures are a crucial part of a child’s life as they help guide them toward the right decisions and provide them with helpful and necessary advice for their future. However, not all guiding figures do this successfully. In the play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, Capulet, the Nurse and Friar Lawrence fail to direct the star-crossed lovers to make sound decisions and ultimately doom them to their tragic demise. Juliet’s father, Capulet, is the first guiding figure that fails. As the week progresses, he demonstrates his ill-tempered manners and creates the stepping stones that lead to the lovers’ death. His biggest failure as a father is being ignorant of Juliet’s …show more content…
The Nurse is a significant figure in Juliet’s life and has been a parental figure to Juliet since she was a newborn. She means a lot to Juliet and is one of the first people Juliet goes to with good news. However, when Juliet comes to her happily talking about Romeo, she does not fully warn Juliet about the possible repercussions and instead helps her get married. She brings Romeo “a ring [Juliet] bid [her] to give [Romeo]” and tells Romeo to “make haste, for it grows very late.” (Shakespeare 3.3.163-164) The Nurse’s help allows them to get married, behind their parents’ backs and without their permission. After they are married, the Nurse switches her mind and tells Juliet, “it best you married with the County” (Shakespeare 3.5.217). The sudden change in thinking confuses Juliet and does not provide her with clear answers on what she should do. Her trust in the Nurse thins, and this leads her to not tell the Nurse about the potion and the plan to fake her death. The Nurse's failure to give Juliet solid advice without switching up created confusion and led Juliet to make poor decisions because she could not get solid