Comparison of the Female Characters in Romeo and Juliet

Comparison of the Female Characters in Romeo and Juliet

In William Shakespeare’s classic play Romeo and Juliet there are three main female characters, Lady Capulet, her daughter Juliet and their Nurse Angelica. They are all very different in their approaches to various life situations; this is partly because they are from different social status, with different backgrounds and outlook on life. In particular their views on love and marriage are very different.

Romeo and Juliet was written in the Elizabethan period, during this period going to the theatre to watch a play was a very popular thing, so Shakespeare’s plays had to fit in with what people of that time wanted to see. Romeo and Juliet was a prime example of what they wanted to see. Many of Shakespeare’s characters reflect the time period in which the play was written, for example Lady Capulet's age of getting married and having Juliet (around 13) was very normal at that time, but that is extremely young by today’s standards.

All of the women are different in every one of these categories, except of course that Lady Capulet and Juliet are both upper class. Therefore they have very different characteristics and mannerisms although they do have some similarities. This makes for a very interesting ‘clash’ of personalities in the story.

The nurse is very much lower class and common and it was the usual thing for someone of that social standing to be a nurse for a rich family. The Nurse obviously had quite a deprived family background, her parents were probably poor but they raised Angelica to be a very happy, outgoing and exuberant lady. Lady Capulet probably had very rich but rather unfeeling and distant parents and this has imprinted itself on her, as you can see in the way that she treats Juliet.

The Nurse has looked after Juliet ever since she was born and she was her wet nurse for a while as well. This means that they formed a very special relationship while Juliet was very young; Lady Capulet was never there at the early and the most important stages of Juliet’s life. This was because Lady Capulet wanted to enjoy her life and not be tied down by having to look after a child – this was a typical upper class female attitude of the time. For this very reason Lady Capulet – although very confident and controlling – finds it very hard to talk to Juliet by herself so she never forms a proper relationship with her. This is displayed when Lady Capulet first introduces the idea of marrying Paris, she cannot talk to Juliet by herself:

‘This is the matter nurse, give leave awhile,
We must talk in secret. Nurse, come back again,
I have remembered me, thou’s hear our counsel’

Lady Capulet is also not very close to her husband as she was a victim of an arranged marriage where love was not at all important only money and status. Arranged marriages were very typical of the time and they were to be the fate of many upper class teenage women. This is exactly what Lady Capulet wants to do with Juliet, marry her to Paris because he is rich; this just shows how cold and distant Lady Capulet is.

The nurse was first employed because she had her own daughter – Susan – so she would be able to breast feed Juliet, unfortunately Susan and Angelica’s husband died so she was employed full time. This is a good thing for Angelica because otherwise she would probably not be able to survive without the Capulets’ continued employment.

The nurse unlike the other two women is very funny and loud, she always talks about sex and she makes many sexual innuendoes for example in Act 1 scene3 when she says:

‘No less, nay bigger; women grow by men’

This is a clever play on words; she means that by marriage women grow in status but also in size by becoming pregnant! She is always very exuberant and outgoing whereas Juliet only occasionally is and Lady Capulet never is. The nurse always tries to give Juliet good advice but it isn’t always such good advice, this is because the most important things to her are sex and marriage. However marriage and love is important to all the women but in different ways. For example, the Nurse as I have mentioned likes the physical side of love and she is also very maternal whereas for Lady Capulet is not at all maternal and marriage is important only as a medium for status and wealth. Juliet is different again, she believes that true love is the only important form of love and she hates the idea that she is being forced to marry a man that she does not love or even know very well! She is deeply enamored with Romeo, and this is why the other two women cannot even begin to understand Juliet and her inner thoughts because they have never experienced those feelings themselves ever before.

As you can see Juliet and Lady Capulet are almost directly opposed in their views so they repel each other rather like magnets do. However the Nurse becomes a close friend to Juliet, acting as a go-between for Romeo and Juliet when they are trying to organize their marriage. This was very naive of her because the Nurse knows that she is going directly behind the Capulet’s back and doing the opposite of what they want for Juliet. The Nurse should have known that it was not going to work because Lord and Lady Capulet had arranged for Juliet to marry Paris not the rogue son of the opposing family! Although Angelica is always conscious not to push her jokes too far because she wants to keep her job, she is none the less always willing to speak on Juliet’s behalf, something that Lady Capulet was never willing to do. This is shown when Lord Capulet loses his temper at Juliet because she doesn’t want to marry Paris; Angelica bravely sticks up for Juliet whereas Lady Capulet doesn’t. At this particular incident Lady Capulet's lack of compassion is also shown when she says:

‘I would the fool were married to her grave’

This is an extremely hurtful comment to make to anyone especially your only begotten daughter.

Neither Lady Capulet or The Nurse actually understand Juliet, they don’t know why she doesn’t want to marry Paris and be rich and for this very reason none of them cant ever form a proper understanding relationship.

So to sum up here is a table of their differences and similarities:

Nurse:
• Exuberant
• Outgoing
• Cheerful
• Maternal
• Tries to give good advice
• Marriage is important
• Materialistic
• Pragmatic
• Does not understand Juliet
• View of love different to Juliet’s

Lady Capulet:
• Detached from Juliet
• Upper class lady
• Runs house efficiently
• Has an arranged marriage
• Impatient with Juliet
• Likes things to run smoothly
• Materialistic
• Dislikes interruption
• Marriage is important
• View of love different to Juliet’s.
• Does not understand Juliet

Juliet:
• 13yrs old
• Respects adults but is strong willed
• Determined in her love for Romeo
• Practical
• Feud not important
• Love for Romeo is strong and deep
• Willing to undergo difficulties for Romeo
• Begins to mature throughout the novel
• Self-Reliant
• Marriage is important.