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// Sarah Bock October 27, 2009 English 9E Nurse: Does she know Juliet? // > Having taken care of Juliet all her life, the nurse should be the one person who really knows who Juliet is, but who would’ve guessed; the nurse does not know Juliet at all. Oh sure, the nurse may know the details of Juliet’s life, and the number of hours Juliet’s been alive, but does she really //know//// Juliet? How Juliet feels? How Juliet would react? Juliet’s personality? No! Not even one bit. Even though throughout the play, the nurse seems like the character who knows Juliet inside out and backwards, she actually does not know Juliet entirely that well. // > In //Romeo and Juliet//, Shakespeare does not mention the nurse’s detailed physical descriptions, but he never does. However, in Act 2 Scene 4, Mercutio says: “Good Peter, to hide her face, for her fan’s the fairer face.” He is trying to say that the fan is a better face than the nurse’s own, and urges Peter to get her fan. We also know that the nurse is quite old, for Juliet says: “Had she [nurse] affections and war youthful blood, She would be as swift in motion as a ball…” (Act 2 Scene 5). Juliet is indicating that if the nurse had been youthful and young, she would’ve been faster with Romeo’s message. During the play, we get the feeling that the nurse is a silly character, but unintentionally. We see a lot of dramatic reactions from the nurse, such as when Tybalt and Juliet died. These reactions are overdone, and are amusing to the audience. Despite the fact that the nurse betrays Juliet when she needed the nurse the most, we can obviously see that the nurse is very caring and wants what’s best for Juliet. The nurse says: “Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.” (Act 1 Scene 4) and encourages Juliet to find a man who would make her the happiest.