Romeo and Juliet Nurse Quotes

My maidenhead at twelve year old - Juliet's Nurse

LADY CAPULET: Nurse, where’s my daughter? Call her forth to me.
NURSE: Now by my maidenhead at twelve year old,
I bade her come.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 3. The Nurse is Juliet’s caretaker since she was a baby and a secondary mother figure for her. From the moment she speaks her first line here, we can see right away that she is a bawdy and humorous character. When Lady Capulet asks her where Juliet is, she typically answers with a dirty joke, swearing by her virginity at twelve.

Come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen.
Susan and she – God rest all Christian souls! –
Were of an age.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 3. The Nurse looks forward to Juliet’s 14th birthday like she were her own daughter. She grieves for her own daughter Susan who was born on the same day as Juliet, but died young. The Nurse, having cared for Juliet from the time she was a baby, is presented as a surrogate mother to Juliet. The Nurse’s reference to her dead daughter is foreshadowing of Juliet’s premature death.

"Yea," quoth my husband, "dost thou fall upon thy face?
Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit;
Wilt thou not, Jule?" quoth he;
And, pretty fool, it stinted and said "Ay."

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 3. The Nurse tells of a joke her husband made about Juliet at the age of three when she fell forward on her face and hurt her brow. He picked her up as if to console her, telling her that she would "fall backward" when she was older, to which the child replied "yes." There is a bawdy meaning to what the Nurse’s husband said to Juliet – a woman would "fall backward" to have sex. The Nurse finds it hilariously funny that little Juliet, who wouldn’t know this was a double entendre, innocently said, "Ay." The Nurse recounts the story twice to Lady Capulet and Juliet. The story of Juliet’s fall as a child is foreshadowing of her sexual awakening when she meets Romeo, and the pain that will also bring.
The prettiest babe that e’er I nursed - Nurse to Juliet

Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’er I nursed:
An I might live to see thee married once,
I have my wish.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 3. The Nurse’s words to Juliet underscores the tender and close relationship she enjoyed with Juliet ever since she nursed her as a baby. A secondary mother to Juliet, she is more of a mother to her than Lady Capulet. Her wish to see Juliet married after watching her grow up illustrates the strong motherly feelings she has for her.

Marry, bachelor,
Her mother is the lady of the house,
And a good lady, and a wise and virtuous
I nursed her daughter, that you talk’d withal;
I tell you, he that can lay hold of her
Shall have the chinks.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5. The Nurse tells Romeo that Juliet’s mother is the lady of the house and any man who marries her will be financially well off. “Chinks” are the sounds coins make when the knock against each other. But as “chink” can also mean a a small slit or narrow opening, this is an example of a bawdy pun by Juliet’s naughty Nurse.

MERCUTIO: ‘Tis no less, I tell you, for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon.
NURSE: Out upon you! what a man are you!

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. Mercutio engages in inappropriate behavior towards an older woman he doesn’t know, Juliet’s Nurse, when he makes this off-color joke. He is responding to the Nurse’s question about whether or not it is a good day. The Nurse is horrified at his double entendre and sexual puns. The round dial is a pun for the female genitalia, while the the hand standing straight at the "prick" of 12 o’clock is a double entendre for the erect male penis.

Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirt-gills, I am none of his skains-mates. [To Peter] And thou must stand by too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure?

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. The Nurse is fed up with Mercutio making fun of her, pointing out that she is not one of his loose women or cut-throat companions. She scolds her servant Peter for not defending her. The Nurse and Mercutio are in the play to provide comic relief. In voicing her anger at Mercutio’s bawdy jokes, the Nurse herself unintentionally uses a few phrases with double meanings that make her even more a figure of fun. She complains that Peter allowed "every knave to use me at his pleasure." And immediately before this passage she says of Mercutio, "I’ll take him down." One can imagine sexually suggestive remarks like these raising a few laughs from the audience.

If ye should lead her into a fool’s paradise, as they say, it were a very gross kind of behaviour, as they say: for the gentlewoman is young; and, therefore, if you should deal double with her, truly it were an ill thing to be offered to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. The Nurse warns Romeo not to make a fool of Juliet by leading her on and then leaving her. To take advantage of her youth and innocence and deceive her would be wicked, she says. The Nurse is acting like a protective mother to Juliet.

ROMEO: Nurse, commend me to thy lady and mistress. I protest unto thee –
NURSE: Good heart, and, i’ faith, I will tell her as much: Lord, Lord, she will be a joyful woman.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. When Romeo starts to swear to something, the Nurse cuts him off and assumes that he is swearing his love for Juliet. Taking it as an offer of marriage, the Nurse praises his "good heart" and says that Juliet will be a "joyful woman." Moments later Romeo does confirm his intention to marry Juliet.

He is not the flower of courtesy, but I’ll warrant him as gentle as a lamb.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 5. The Nurse has just returned from meeting Romeo and gives her judgement of him. Using a flower metaphor, she tells Juliet that Romeo is not the most polite man in the world. But in a simile she says that he makes up for it by having the gentleness of a lamb. Romeo’s more gentle and romantic side stands in contrast to the roughness and brashness of some of his kinsmen and friends, such as the bawdy Mercutio. The Nurse subsequently gives her approval to the relationship between Romeo and Juliet.

Lord, how my head aches! what a head have I!
It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces.
My back o’ t’ other side, – O, my back, my back!
Beshrew your heart for sending me about,
To catch my death with jaunting up and down!

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 5. The Nurse provides comic relief in the play, as seen in this response to Juliet when she begs for news from Romeo about their marriage. The Nurse drags out the conversation and complains about how she sore she feels after being sent on the journey by Juliet, so lightening the mood of the play.

Ah, well-a-day! he’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead!
We are undone, lady, we are undone!
Alack the day! he’s gone, he’s kill’d, he’s dead!

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2. When the Nurse arrives in Capulet’s orchard where Juliet is waiting for Romeo, she is in a distressed state and delivers the shocking news: "he’s dead." She is lamenting Tybalt’s killing by Romeo, but she doesn’t mention him by name. This leads Juliet to think that it is Romeo who is dead. The audience knows that Romeo is very much alive, so making this an example of dramatic irony.

O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!
Dove-feather’d raven! wolvish-ravening lamb!
Despised substance of divinest show!
Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st,
A damned saint, an honourable villain!

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2. A confused Juliet’s heart turns against Romeo after hearing from the Nurse that he has been banished for killing Tybalt – "Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished; Romeo that kill’d him, he is banished." In a metaphor, Juliet laments that Romeo’s beautiful "flowering face" could conceal such a "serpent heart." She follows up with more vivid metaphors and oxymorons, to express her shock that Romeo could appear so saintly and yet be such a villain. She uses wonderful imagery depicting the contradictory nature of human behavior, how a beautiful appearance can conceal the monster inside.
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