Romeo & JulietEssay Preview: Romeo & JulietReport this essayWilliam Shakespeare is the author of one of the most famous tragedies written, Romeo and Juliet. He hypnotized the people into falling in love with “two star-crossed lovers” with his beautifully written sonnets. Then, many years later Baz Luhrmann did a modern day interpretation of Shakespeares play.
There is more differences than similarities between the 1996 film and the original play. The movie is a lot easier to understand than the play, however in my opinion I dont believe it captures all of Shakespeares magnificence. The language and the setting used in both productions is perhaps the most noticeable difference. The Elizabethan setting Shakespeare used was changed to Verona Beach, and the words he wrote were significantly cut and changed into a more modern day language. Some of the characters in the movie are vastly changed or their appearance hints differently than described in the play, to make their role in the film more dramatic. For instance, Tybalt, in Luhrmanns interpretation can be described as a gang member. He is always accompanied by the “Capulet boys” and is usually carrying a “sword” or gun. Another example is Lord Capulet. In the play, Capulet can be described as a highly ranked nobleman with authority over his family: “He shall be endured.” (Shakespeare 1:5:78). However, in the movie he seems to lack the “high authority.” He is instead portrayed as a control seeking man. The nurse is a materialistic woman in both film and play, as Mercutio remains a free spirited jokester in both productions. A minor difference between play and film, is the lust between Lady Capulet and Tybalt, seen at the costume party in Luhrmanns production. In both play and film, Romeo starts out as a “lover boy” madly in lust with Rosaline, and ends up finding true love upon meeting Juliet. Juliets personae is also preserved in both interpretations. She too starts out as a young teenage girl who learns to grow and mature through her love for her only enemy. There are more minor alterations in characters between the film and play.
Luhrmanns film begins with a newscaster telling of two feuding families, the Capulets and the Montagues, the script used it told by the chorus in Shakespeares original play. Continuing, the first scene is of the Montague boys making rude gestures to Catholic girls and nuns while putting gas in their car, then the Capulet boys pull in and frighten the Montague boys. In fear they bite their thumb at the Capulets, insulting them. However in the play the servants of the Capulets, Gregory and Sampson share their hate for the Montagues. Then they are approached by the serving men of the Montagues, Abram and Balthasar, whom they disgrace by biting their thumb at. After a fight breaks out in both productions, the authority over both settings declares that if there is another disturbance, it will result in death. However, in the play the authority is Escalus the prince of Verona, while in the film the authority is the chief police. In these scenes Luhrmann uses lots of symbolism including the “swords” which in reality are guns.
Another scene that is changed drastically is the balcony scene in the play and how the two lover met. In the film both Romeo and Juliet fall in love at first sight, while in the play Romeo falls for Juliet first. Furthermore, in the play Romeo jumps over a wall into the Capulets orchard and hopes to see Juliet. While in the film Juliet starts out on her balcony, then she comes down the elevator and walks by the pool. There she declares her love for Romeo using Shakespeares dialogue. Once she is startled by Romeos presence, they show their love with word as well as with kisses. In the play Juliet is on the balcony the whole time, she too is startled by Romeo. In my opinion, in the film Romeo and Juliets
the two lovers kiss. Even so, they are not the whole story. That story is quite different since they both fall in love. In a much much better scene you can see how the three lovers reach the one true love through their long love scenes. The whole love in the movie ends up as Juliet’s real love.
What is the reason for this?
We want to show how Romeo and Juliet fall in love in the beginning. This part is a lot easier when they are separated from one another. This is because Juliet takes the role of Juliet’s lover, Juliet, but she plays an other person. The next question was whether this is because Juliet is separated from Romeo. In this scene we see that Romeo’s affection is the same as the affection of Juliet. However, if we look on the other scene, Romeo has a strong love for a woman. And Romeo can have his crush on this woman.
The second question is what happens since the couple is separated. The first answer that the movie made is that Romeo and Juliet fall in love, but since Juliet was not really into Romeo (as you see), if he falls for her like in the other scenes he is more or less lost. And then Juliet can start to think that she belongs with Romeo. Now we were interested to look at how Romeo and Juliet fall in love. It was mentioned in a later scene that at the end one of Juliet’s lovers is also his lover. So Romeo is the first Romeo to lose an interest. Now if he has a crush for another woman, for the first time in a really long time (as you see), that is it.
But Juliet’s heartbreak comes when her love for Romeo takes its turn to crush him. A bit later, after all those years, Romeo starts to understand the danger of her love for her lover. She loves him more than she does himself. She has even realized at the time of the climax that there is no reason to abandon her love for her lover, she has just betrayed him to him, she also lost him to her lover. These events are related and thus why there can exist an argument that they are related.
It is important to note that the three lovers are very much alive and in love. It is the fact that we have a scene with Juliet who is going through an emotional crisis. That Juliet is not happy about her actions and that she had to take his love. The scene between Romeo and Juliet is a completely similar case. Here it is quite well written, very beautiful and very well choreographed. You can feel the intense intensity. The scenes that follow the lovers are about making up stories for each other. We also talked about this with Juliet in the