Comparison Of The Female Characters In Romeo And Juliet
...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...
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