The supporting characters in Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet do much to drive the action of the plays. Although the focus of action is chiefly on the behavior and fate of the central characters, the minor characters are far more than simply place holders. How they help determine the pattern of events is the subject of this research.
In Romeo and Juliet, the Nurse and Friar Laurence are of special importance in moving the action along because they extend themselves beyond the call of ordinary duty as servant and priest, respectively. They act as "enablers" of the elopement to the best of their ability, even though things do not turn out as they wish. The Nurse is perhaps the single most important supporting character for helping to move the plot along. It is the Nurse in whom the family memory of young Juliet resides, and it is she who first reveals the sensual potential of Juliet, in her account of the baby's falling down forward and her guileless agreement that one day she would "fall backward when thou hast more wit, / Wilt thou not, Jule? . . . I never should forget it: 'Wilt thou not, Jule?' quoth he; / And, pretty fool, it stinted and said 'Ay'" (I.iii). The Nurse's earthiness is also to be contrasted with Lady Capulet's reluctance to broach the issue of marriage to Paris. In II.iv, The Nurse functions as a go-between for Romeo and Juliet, delivering Juliet's message to Romeo in the street. She also takes the time to warn Romeo against dealing "double" with Juliet. While that speech can be read both as a comic interlude between the untutored servant and the educated gentleman Romeo, it serves a further dramatic function. Romeo's reply that he protests his love for Juliet reinforces the seriousness of his commitment, a seriousness further reinforced by the fact that he is arranging to meet Juliet at Friar Laurence's cell. In other words, the Nurse helps clarify the depth of the love thematically, and dramatically, or practically, sh...