The third scene takes place in Capulet’s house. Lady Capulet wishes to talk seriously with her daughter, and she orders Juliet’s Nurse to leave them alone for that purpose. The Nurse obviously feels dejected to be left out of the conversation, for her sole purpose is to wait upon and help Juliet in any and all ways possible. Lady Capulet, noticing the saddened look on the Nurse, then calls the Nurse back and asks her to listen to what she has to say.
When Juliet’s mother begins by making a comment regarding Juliet’s age, the Nurse launches into a speech in which she recalls the time of Juliet’s birth and how she (the nurse) was hired to be Juliet’s wet nurse (a woman who suckles – provides breast milk – for another woman’s child). The Nurse had just recently given birth to her own child; but, as was frequently the case in olden times, the Nurse’s own child died suddenly. The Nurse also recalls the details of other incidents in Juliet’s life, such as when she was weaned (stopped suckling) and when she had an accident and hurt her head.
The Nurse’s speech provides comic relief to the play, but more importantly it also provides social commentary (lines 18-50). In many aristocratic households the children were raised by the servants, and the parents had very little – if anything – to do with their upbringing. Aristocratic children were often thus emotionally closer to the servants who raised them than they were to their own parents. Juliet and her Nurse thus have an extremely close relationship. Juliet’s mother, on the other hand, does not really know or understand her daughter nearly as well as does the Nurse.