Nurse and Lady Capulet Foils A foil is a literary element utilized in Shakespeare’s famous plays, such as Romeo and Juliet. A foil is used to put emphasis on stark contrasts in two characters. One of the most prominent foils featured in Romeo and Juliet is Lady Capulet and the Nurse. Lady Capulet is the mother of Juliet and Nurse is the wetnurse that has helped raise Juliet. Lady Capulet is held in high esteem and her personality reflects that. The Nurse is seen as a simple nurse who does not have to be too concerned with her behavior or how she is seen. These two are characters are foils because they have such diverse ideas of what constitutes an appropriate subject matter. At the beginning of Act 1, Scene 3, Lady Capulet states that she knows that Juliet is “of a pretty age”, meaning that it is almost time for Juliet to get married. She calls for Juliet so they can begin discussing the plans for her possible wedding. Lady Capulet simply wants to put the idea of marriage into Juliet’s head. She also gently asks “What say you? Can you love the gentleman?” Lady Capulet doesn’t want to force Juliet into marriage too soon even though she knows its unavoidable. …show more content…
When Lady Capulet says “This is the matter- Nurse, give leave a while; we must talk in secret. Nurse, come back again. I have rememb’red me; thou’s hear our counsel. Thou knowest my daughter’s of a pretty age.” it is evident that she is uncomfortable conversing about things related to this topic. This is mostly due to her demure mindset. She is interested in little more than a purely formal relationship with her daughter; bringing up such topics may heighten the relationship above levels Lady Capulet is comfortable
This conflict in viewpoint shows itself when she encourages Juliet to overlook the expelled Romeo and wed Paris, deceiving Juliet's trust by upholding a false marriage: I think it best you wedded with the County. O, he's a lovely gentleman . Romeo's a dishclout to him. Juliet can hardly imagine how the nurse offers such a strategy after she praised Romeo and united the couple. The nurse attendant is at last subject to the impulses of society. Her social position puts her in the serving class — she isn't enabled to make change around her. Her maternal nature toward Juliet floats her to help Juliet in wedding Romeo; be that as it may,when Capulet winds up incensed, the Medical caretaker withdraws rapidly into accommodation and desires Juliet to overlook
This does not allow Juliet to make her own decision. An example of this is when Lady Capulet reinforces the plan in which Paris would be Juliet's husband, rather than letting Juliet choose who she marries. Lady Capulet speaks for Juliet when she says “marry, my child, early next Thursday morn.” Having little to no knowledge aforetime about this news, Juliet is utterly astonished. Lady Capulet continues by saying “[the] young and noble gentleman, the county Paris... shall happily make thee there a joyful bride” (III.v.112-115). After having already prepared her life with Romeo, Juliet is in disbelief that her mother would not attempt to step into her father's plan. Juliet lashes back at her mother by saying “I will not marry yet” and threatening that she would marry Romeo “whom you know I hate” rather than Paris (III.v.115-122). The lack of communication between the two characters makes them distant from one another, and the little effort provided by Lady Capulet to approach her daughter is the main reason for this occurrence. The control Lady Capulet has over different characters and her
In the opening lines of Act 1 Scene 3, it is implied that there is a stronger bond between Juliet and the Nurse than Juliet and her own mother, from the fact that Lady Capulet calls on the Nurse and asks ‘Nurse, where’s my daughter?’ From this we can understand that Lady Capulet relies on the Nurse to tell her where Juliet is, and is an ineffectual mother. This emphasises that mothers were distant from their children during Elizabethan times, and gives the impression that mothers had more important things to do than bring up their daughters. The Nurse provides a humorous anecdote from Juliet’s childhood, remembering how she fell over on her face, and how her husband had commented ‘Thou wilt fall backward when
A foil character contrasts the personalities of another character, which particularly enlightens certain characteristics of the individual. This element portrays these characteristics in an obvious manner, as it benefits the reader or audience. By showing the characteristics of one, it directly heightens the character traits of the other, creating a foil illustration of an individual. Nowhere is this element of literature more prudent than in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, as he effectively engages the use of foil characters. In the play, two lovers from opposing, and hateful families fall in love, but the hatred between households lead to their downfall. Characters in the immoral city of Verona are set to represent key themes and
Lady Capulet felt that Juliet was coming to the age where she should be married. Lady Capulet is a powerful person and has an inconsistent personality, similar to Lord Capulet. She is cold hearted, and is distant from her daughter and husband. She is very selfish and rarely sees other people's point of views, she is not close to her daughter
he is later in the play. He thinks that Juliet is too young and if she
Foil characters are defined as characters that are used to contrast another character. This character in most cases is the protagonist. Moreover, foil characters tend to be based on the protagonist’s hubris, wherein contrasting the fatal flaw shows how it has ballooned out of control. Foil characters further themes by highlighting the characteristics of certain characters that will help enhance the theme. The role of foil characters in Shakespearean tragedies is to show what could have happened if the protagonist made a different choice. Likewise, this idea is prevalent within Romeo and Juliet. Furthermore, this play portrays two children from warring families who meet and fall in love, but eventually kill themselves as their love is not
In Act 3 Scene 5 Lady Capulet is very fickle in making her decision to stand up for Juliet when she decides to go against her father’s orders and not marry Paris. This lack of the ability to stand up for her own daughter just emphasises the distance between Lady Capulet and Juliet as Mother and Daughter.
When Romeo is banished, Lord Capulet tells his daughter that she will marry County Paris. When Juliet says that she is grateful, but refuses, Capulet says “Hang thee young baggage! Disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church o’Thursday, or never after look me in the face. Speak not. Reply not. Do not answer me. My fingers itch,-Wife, we scarce thought us blest that God had lent us but this only child, but now I see this one is one to much and that we have a curse in having her. Out on her, hilding!”(Act 3 Scene 5). Then he continues saying, “God’s bread! It makes me mad. Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play, alone, in company, still my care hath been to have her matched. And having now provided a gentleman of noble parentage, of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly trained, stuffed, as they say, with honorable parts, proportioned as one’s thought would wish a man-and then to have some wretched puling fool, a whining mammet, in her fortune’s tender, to answer “I’ll not wed,” “I cannot love,” “I am to young,” “I pray you pardon me.”-But, an you will not wed, I’ll pardon you. Graze where you will, you shall not house with me. Look to’t, think on’t, I do not use to jest. Thursday is near. Lay hand on heart, advise. An you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend. An you be not, hang, beg, starve,die in the streets, for, by my soul, I’ll ne’er acknowledge thee, nor what is mine
The idyllic housewife, Lady Capulet, is a loving, virtuous, and obedient wife who is completely supportive of her husband's wishes above the well-being of her daughter. Throughout the entire play, Lady Capulet is an extension of her husband, promoting his judgments and requests. She acts as his ambassador when she informs Juliet of Paris' desires and intentions. Comparing Juliet to other girls her age already married, Lady Capulet encourages her to "love the gentleman" (1.3.81) and to "behold him at [the] feast" (1.3.82). As she talks highly of Paris, she fulfills her motherly duties by giving her tips on how to find love with a man (1.3.83-86). Lady Capulet then disappears until act three scene four, where Capulet instructs her with direct orders to go to Juliet and "prepare her" for her "wedding day" (3.4.31-32). Immediately, Lady Capulet submits to his authority and carries out the order. When Juliet claims she is not well, Lady Capulet scolds her for lamenting too long over Tybalt's death. She tells her that a reasonable amount of grieving is a sign of love, but too much is foolish. Lady Capulet remains conservative in the advice she gives to her daughter, no doubt with her husband's wishes in mind. She chooses not see her daughter's pain in deference to her husband's wishes.
A foil is a minor character in a literary work that compliments the main character through similarities and differences in personality and plot. In William Shakespeare's play "Hamlet", the main character, Hamlet, has three major foils. These foils are his close friend Horatio, Fortinbras, Prince of Norway, and the brother of his love, Laertes. These three characters contradict and enhance Hamlet's major characteristics.
Lady Capulet is even more inconsiderate of her daughter’s wishes than Lord Capulet. She had little role in raising her daughter that Juliet considers the nurse more of a mother than Lady Capulet. Lady Capulet shows her desire for revenge when
In the beginning of this play Lady Capulet brings up marriage to Juliet, whom states that she had not even thought of marriage, yet she considers marriage an honor. Juliet wants to follow her parent's wishes and agrees to meet Paris, but she is only willing to see if she likes him. When Romeo appears in the balcony scene, Juliet states that she wants to wait and see if her and Romeo’s feeling’s remain the same overnight since she believes that their feelings may just be the heat of the moment
A foil is a minor character that helps develop a major character by sharing similarities and differences with the main character. This is a common practice Shakespeare uses within many of his plays. The use of
This shows that Juliet is desperately trying to tell her father what she wants but men didn't really care about women's opinions. Lord Capulet replies with more threats and saying that if Juliet doesn't go to marry Paris next Thursday he will disown her.