In the play 'Romeo and Juliet' by William Shakespeare, the character of the Nurse is very close to Juliet. it is important to know a little about the social customs of the time in respect of the bringing up of an aristocratic or merchant family, in order to fully understand why this is. In that time, it was considered low-class and unseemly for well-to-do ladies to 'nurse' their own offspring that had been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Posh ladies were expected to be ladylike, refined and perfect hostesses at all times - and this did not include breast-feeding a baby- especially in public. So, a so-called 'wet-nurse' would be hired. Sadly, this could often be a low-bred woman from a nearby village who had lost her own baby and therefore had milk. This woman, in effect, would be the posh baby's 'mother' or Nurse (nanny.) That is where the word 'Nurse' in the play comes from.
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