Romeo and Juliet

The Nurse is a character known for her long comedic monologues and being Juliet’s caretaker and messenger. She’s the only one besides Juliet, Romeo, and Friar Lawrence that knows of the marriage. In “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare, Nurse is also the closest to Juliet. Although Nurse is not the main character of the play, she is actually a very important character because of her relationship with Juliet.
Who is the closest to Juliet? One might say Romeo is. However, Romeo has only known Juliet for a couple of days. Lady Capulet may be Juliet’s mother, but she isn’t necessarily that close to Juliet. For example, when Lady Capulet tells Juliet about marrying Paris, she says “This is the matter.-Nurse, give leave awhile./We must talk in secret.-Nurse, come back again./I have remembered that me, thou’s hear our counsel.” while addressing the Nurse. This shows that Nurse is very close to Juliet, and when she goes on about weaning Juliet, we can infer that Nurse has most likely raised Juliet.
We also can see that Juliet trusts Nurse . Juliet sends Nurse to tell Romeo when they would be married, which means that Juliet told Nurse about meeting Romeo.We also see more of this trust when Romeo spends the night with Juliet, which required Juliet trusting Nurse to not go straight to Juliet’s parents of the forbidden love. I also think that Juliet wants Nurse to approve of Romeo. Nurse comes back, and she praises Romeo, saying “Your love says, like an honest gentleman, and a / courteous, and a kind, and a handsome, and, I / warrant, a virtuous”. This satisfies Juliet, and she goes to marry Romeo.
Later, when Juliet is forced to marry Paris, she asks for Nurse’s opinion. Nurse changes her opinion, favoring Paris instead of Romeo. Juliet feels extremely betrayed, asking “Speakest thou from thy heart?”. This actually the final reason that causes Juliet to run to Friar Lawrence and fake her own death. It’s a huge turning point in the play. If Nurse had stuck with her original favoring of Romeo, Juliet might have been able to sneak out to Mantua with the Nurse’s help. Juliet had finally lost everyone that was close to her, first Romeo, now the Nurse.
Nurse is the closest to Juliet, and losing someone you are close to can cause you to make irrational decisions, like faking your own death. Juliet was alone and she had lost too many people; Tybalt, Romeo, and the Nurse. She also lost the hope of holding off her marriage to Paris. I hope that readers of “Romeo and Juliet” realize that Nurse is more than a minor character, she is actually is a huge part of the tragedy.