Question

Read these lines spoken by Nurse and Lady Capulet in Act I, scene iii of Romeo and Juliet.

Lady Capulet wants to talk to Juliet and asks the nurse, who has raised Juliet, to confirm how old she is now. The nurse says that Juliet will soon be fourteen.

Nurse: Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.

Lady Capulet: She’s not fourteen.

Nurse: I’ll lay fourteen of my teeth—
And yet to my teen be it spoken I have but four—
She is not fourteen. How long is it now
to Lammas-tide?

Lady Capulet: A fortnight and odd days.

Nurse: Even or odd, of all days in the year,
come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen.

These lines allow the reader to see Nurse’s
.

Answer 1

garrulous, earthy humor and affectionate familiarity with Juliet.

She chatters on (boasts about her teeth, counts the days) in a comic, unrefined way that shows both her talkative nature and her fond, maternal relationship with Juliet.