William Shakespeare Quotes

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. The Nurse is fed up with Mercutio making fun of her, pointing out that she is not one of his loose women or cut-throat companions. She scolds her servant Peter for not defending her. The Nurse and Mercutio are in the play to provide comic relief. In voicing her anger at Mercutio’s bawdy jokes, the Nurse herself unintentionally uses a few phrases with double meanings that make her even more a figure of fun. She complains that Peter allowed "every knave to use me at his pleasure." And immediately before this passage she says of Mercutio, "I’ll take him down." One can imagine sexually suggestive remarks like these raising a few laughs from the audience.