Come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen.
Susan and she – God rest all Christian souls! –
Were of an age.
– William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 3. The Nurse looks forward to Juliet’s 14th birthday like she were her own daughter. She grieves for her own daughter Susan who was born on the same day as Juliet, but died young. The Nurse, having cared for Juliet from the time she was a baby, is presented as a surrogate mother to Juliet. The Nurse’s reference to her dead daughter is foreshadowing of Juliet’s premature death.