The Nurse's Predicament In Romeo And Juliet

The Nurse is to Blame for Juliet's Predicament in Romeo and Juliet
Everyone is faced with a difficult situation sometime in their life where the two different choices will result in totally different outcomes. A situation where once a decision is made they can’t go back. In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet are from feuding families. They meet, fall in love, and get married with help from Juliet’s nurse and Friar Laurence. After an incident on the street Romeo is exiled from the city of Verona. Juliet then has to choose to follow Romeo or stay with her family and be forced to marry a man named Paris. Because of the Nurse’s inability to support a side in the situation and the fact that she acted as a bystander

These conflicting ideas presented to Juliet by her caretaker leads Juliet into her predicament. First the nurse acts as a courier, delivering messages between Romeo and Juliet. These actions portray the nurse as supporting Juliet’s relationship with Romeo. The nurse then tells Romeo that “There is a nobleman in town, one/ Paris, that would fain lay knife aboard; but she, good soul, had as/ lieve see a toad, a very toad, as see him” (38). When the nurse goes to tell Romeo this information, she informs him of this man, Paris, who is pining for Juliet’s love, but she also tells him that Juliet has no feelings for Paris, only for him, Romeo. This exchange of information shows that the nurse wants Romeo to know how Juliet feels because she wants them to stay together. Later, when Juliet is convinced that she is in love with Romeo, the nurse tells her she made the wrong choice. She says, “Well, you have made a simple choice; you know how to/ choose a man: Romeo! / ...he is not the flower of courtesy” (40). The nurse is now saying that she thinks Juliet made the wrong choice choosing Romeo and she should have chosen her family's recommendation, Paris. After the news of Romeo being exiled is delivered to Juliet, Juliet breaks down. The nurse then tells Juliet she will “find Romeo/ to comfort [her]” (52). The nurse once again takes action to bring Romeo

It would have been impossible for Juliet to even communicate with Romeo if it weren’t for the nurse. The nurse blindly followed Juliet's orders without thinking of the results her words and actions could cause. Juliet looks up to the nurse who has taken care of her for years. When the nurse provides Juliet with no initial guidance Juliet is forced into making the decision of staying loyal to her husband or staying with her