Act 1 Scene 3
• The nurse is juxtaposed with Lady Capulet as Lady Capulet is reserved and demanding whereas the nurse is loud and bawdy.
• “Though will fall backwards” talking about how Juliet will be the object of a mans desires and will have to have sex.
• Lady Capulet's fear of talking to Juliet without the Nurse present establishes her as an ineffectual mother. The Nurse's story implies that women, even as infants, are seen as sexual objects. Juliet's ability to quiet the Nurse shows her strength.
• Juliet uses word play to make resistance sound like obedience: she'll do what her mother asks, but not a jot more.
• Juxtaposed with the Nurse's reflections on Juliet's childhood is Lady Capulet's discussion of the proposed match between Juliet and Paris. In her relationship with Juliet, Lady Capulet seems distant and cold, expecting Juliet's complete obedience in agreeing to the marriage. Juliet is clearly reluctant to agree to the arranged marriage as she says demurely: "It is an honor that I dreamt not of." Lady Capulet considers Juliet to be old enough for marriage: Besides, a marriage to Paris would bring increased social status and wealth for the Capulets, as Lady Capulet observes: "So shall you share all that he doth possess."
• While Lady Capulet sees Paris as the chance to make a socially advantageous match for the family, rather than considering Juliet's feelings, the Nurse regards marriage as a purely physical relationship, almost a burden women simply must bear. She reinterprets Lady Capulet's line that marriage increases a woman's wealth and status as referring instead to the way in which marriage increases a woman through pregnancy. Thus, neither her mother nor her Nurse addresses the romantic