Act 2, Scene 5

Question 1

Love’s heralds should be thoughts, / Which ten times faster glide than the sun’s beams / Driving back shadows

Answer 1

Juliet uses natural and pleasing imagery (‘love’s heralds, ‘glide’, ‘sun’s beams’) which signals a return to the pure imagery of love which has been absent in previous scenes. However, there is a somewhat ominous undercurrent in her words, highlighted by the juxtaposition between ‘shadows’ and ‘sun’s beams’. Her impatience points to a degree of childishness within her, showing how inexperiences she is not only in terms of love but in terms of life

Question 2

I pray thee speak; good nurse, speak […] Is they news good or bad? […] Let me be satisfied, is’t good or bad? […] What says my love? […] Come, what says Romeo?

Answer 2

Shakespeare increases the dramatic tension within the lines through this frenetic exchange which reflects the anxiety felt by Juliet. The repetition within these lines characterise Juliet less as a desperate lover but more as an impatient child which somewhat undermines the sincerity of their affair

Question 3

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

Answer 3

The Nurse actually objectifies Romeo, appreciating his gentility and appearance but disapproving his supposed innocence and brashness. The simile ‘gentle as a lamb’ has almost Christ-like imagery associated (Jesus was the lamb of God). This suggests that he is Juliet’s saviour but also suggests he is going to be a sacrifice of some sort (foreshadowing)

Question 4

His face be better than any man’s, yet his leg excels all men’s, and for a hand and a foot and a body, though they be not to be talked on, yet they are pass compare

Answer 4

The Nurse forgets herself here as she gushes about and compliments Romeo in ways she shouldn’t