In the play Romeo
and Juliet we can appreciate one of the most significant characters—besides
the two lead ones: this is Angelica, the nurse who has spent all Juliet’s life
with the Capulet family. Such a strong bond almost mother-daughter like, since
Angelica even breastfed Juliet, full of love, trust and care remained between
them; what really matters for Angelica is her girl’s happiness and this is why
she helped her to marry Romeo in spite of their families’ disapproval and keep
this relationship as a clandestine romance. However, there is a moment in this
drama in which, after Juliet’s father communicated her she would join in
matrimony with Paris, Angelica has a conversation with her:
Nurse: “Faith, here it is.
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Romeo is banished, and all the world to nothing
That he dares ne’er come back to challenge you,
Or if he do, it needs must be by stealth.
Then, since the case so stands as now it doth,
I think it best you married with the County.
O he’s a lovely gentleman.
Romeo’s a dishclout to him. An eagle, madam,
Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye
As Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart,
I think you are happy in this second match,
For it excels your first, or if it did not,
Your first is dead – or ’twere as good he were
As living here and you no use of him.”
The nurse suggests Juliet to accept her
father’s pronouncement; nonetheless, Juliet does not take this well and sees it
as a betrayal. Given this situation, Juliet decides not to entrust her judgments
to Angelica anymore and her secrets would remain as secrets without considering
her “deserter” in her decisions. However, wouldn’t this be an overreaction from
Juliet if what Angelica intended was not to be disloyal to her but to lead her
to a virtuous path? In my opinion, Juliet took the words of the nurse too
seriously and maybe she was saying that just because she was afraid of her girl
getting into trouble with her father. I think that this was not really a
betrayal; it was just the words that Juliet did not want to hear from her
protector in that particular moment.
I kind of agree with the point here. Juliet, in my own consideration, overreacted on the so called "betrayal" by her nurse. This is because of the mental state of Juliet made her perceive the words of the nurse as something totally contrary to what she wanted at that moment; solace. Since she is supposedly never going to see Romeo again she panics, and, of course, what she seeks is for some opinion akin to hers. However, what the nurse answered, what she proposed, what she suggested (To marry Paris) was not what Juliet wanted. Therefore, what happened in the scene was merely a woman not satisfying a girl's whims.
ResponderEliminarI agree with you in that Angelica was probably not disloyal to Juliet, seeing as how she cared for her and was truly afraid of her getting hurt. At the same time, however, she is being very weak and cowardly for refusing to look beyond her preconceived notions of right and wrong and consider that perhaps Juliet is doing the right thing by following her heart. In the end, the nurse is an unremarkable person, but like you said, she is not a BAD person.
ResponderEliminar