To underscore the excellent answer above, the scene in
which the Nurse discovers Juliet "dead" is very telling of the natures of her and of
Lord Capulet. In Scene 5 of Act IV, the Nurse enters and finds that she cannot rouse
Juliet. She exclaims,
Alas, alas! Help, help! My lady's
dead!
Oh, welladay that ever I was
born!....
Oh, lamentable
day!....
Oh me, oh me! My child, my only
life.
Revive, look up, or I will die with thee.
(IV,v,15-22)
When Lord
Capulet enters, he claims that Death
...hath ta'en her hence to make me
wail,
Ties up my tongue and will not let me
speak....
Death is my heir, I will
die,
And leave him all--life, living, all is
Death's....
O child!...My soul, and not my
child!
Dead art thou! Alack, my child is
dead,
And with my child my joys are buried. (IV,
v,37-67)
So, while both the
Nurse and Lord Capulet cry that they, too, will die, Lord Capulet demonstrates more
selfishness in his laments, stating that his joys will now be gone as Juliet has died.
He thinks of his lineage and how the wedding will now turn to a funeral: "Our wedding
cheer to a sad burial feast." All the sentiments of Lord Capulet contain his own
reflection in them.
On the other hand, the Nurse simply
expresses her deep sorrow and dismay, wishing herself dead if she no longer can be with
Juliet. She thinks of nothing else, only "her child."
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