William Shakespeare 's Romeo And Juliet

Once in our lifetimes we all go through a tragedy, but who is responsible? In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, several characters are responsible for the deaths in the play. The characters; the Capulets, Friar Laurence, and Tybalt are the ones most responsible.

SAMPSON A dog of that house shall move me to stand. I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague’s.

The relentless and dangerous feud between the Montagues and Capulets is elaborated in Romeo + Juliet through the contrast in tone, speed and style of music when these two different parties are introduced. The Montagues are introduced with is light and airy music, however, the music is altered to a heavy western style when the Capulets enter the scene. The musical elements create anticipation among the audience as they foreshadow the imminent fight. Furthermore, the distinctive difference in race between the Latino Capulet boys and Anglo-Saxon Montague boys represents and symbolises the conflict between the two houses. Reinforcing the ongoing war between the Montagues and Capulets, Baz Luhrmann has applied corresponding camera shots of the two contrasting family crests which are opposite primary colours. Therefore, Luhrmann makes reference to the conflict theme exploited in Shakespeare’s work. (link)

Luhrmann further modernised his film adaption by altering the play’s original prologue. The movie begins with a prologue made as a television broadcast. In doing this it informs the audience of the violence taking place between the two families, the Montagues and the Capulets. The prologue differs dramatically from Zeffirelli’s interpretation. The 1968 version of the prologue is retold by a monotonous narrator, who simply tells the tale of the feuding families set over a milieu of an Italian city. In restructuring the prologue Luhrmann has made his interpretation of Romeo and Juliet more appealing to a teenage audience. Adolescent viewers can identify more with a modern television broadcast in comparison to a tedious monologue recital.

William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, tells the story of the tragic love between Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. The play has been reinterpreted throughout time and Baz Luhrmann’s film version, William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, uses a modern setting to tell the tale. Luhrmann’s cinematic understanding reinforces the key themes of love, fate and hate as he explores Shakespeare’s famous play.

In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Benvolio said, “Alas, that love, so gentle in his view,/ Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!”(1.1.165-166) Benvolio suggests that love seems nice, peaceful, and innocent, but in reality it can be disastrous and even deadly. A world famous author and poet by the name of William Shakespeare wrote The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in 1597. Romeo and Juliet is known as one of the best love stories in history. There are many significant characters in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet: Romeo, Juliet, Benvolio, Tybalt, the Nurse to Juliet, Friar Lawrence, Mercutio, Lord Capulet, and Lady Capulet. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is the heart-wrending love story of two people who want to be together (Romeo and Juliet), but they cannot because their families are rivals. In the end, the two star-crossed lovers do not live happily ever after. Instead, they both perish. Why did their lives end so tragically? Ultimately, the prideful and foolish actions of the Capulets and Montagues, Friar Laurence, Romeo, and Juliet caused their untimely deaths.

Young lovers defy their families’ long-established vendetta and jeopardize all they have to continue their relationship. The violent commotion between the two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, finally bring peace to their feuding families, with their own death. Like with many suicide cases, there are challenges and decisions being made that lead up to this decision. Often times, we question who contributed to the suicide. Regardless, others argue that Romeo and Juliet should be held accountable for their ultimate decision. Then again, there is no definite reason to assign fault to Romeo and Juliet. Not only are their brains not fully developed, but pressures from outside forces caused such stress within the relationship.

In addition, a difference in the film by Baz Luhrmann, compared to the play by Shakespeare is the prologue and chorus. In Shakespeare’s original production, the chorus would have entered the Globe Theatre, and to gain the audiences’ attention, would yell “Two households, both alike in dignity” and the rest of his part. In Luhrmanns’ portrayal of the chorus, he instead uses close up shots of a television with an African American woman delivering a news report. Whereas Shakespeare’s audience were aurally dependent, modern audiences rely immensely on visual aspects of Luhrmanns’ ‘Romeo+Juliet’. The use of the television ‘caught’ the contemporary audiences’ eye and the African American woman represents the historically important

In Romeo and Juliet, love is depicted in several ways. Both Luhrman and Shakespeare represent love in different ways in different contexts to both the Elizabethan era and the contemporary audience. Both the original and later manifestations of the text are valued because they both communicate to the audience on the values of love and society by employing a variety of devices.

Misleading is defined as: “a person who is deceptive or sends someone in the wrong direction.” Sometimes misleading gets people out of trouble or helps somebody out in a case. In this case though the Friar mislead these kids Romeo and Juliet where they shouldn’t have been lead. In Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Friar Lawrence’s impulsive decisions contributes to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

Love and hate have been long-standing rivals since the dawn of time. People will often say ‘love conquers all.’ However, in Shakespeare’s fictitious play, Romeo and Juliet, that is, unfortunately, far from the actual case. In Verona, Italy, the Capulets and the Montagues have a deep-seated hatred, however, the prologue tells the reader that from these two families full of bitter hate, a pair of lovers will come. But it is also already foretold that they were not destined to survive. Hate can be an all-consuming force, and that is not only true, but very evident throughout the play. The rancorous family feud develops much of the action and manifests more feuds as the plot continues on, these being the quarrel between the two families’ servants, Mercutio against Tybalt, and Romeo against Tybalt.

Franco Zeffirelli’s film contains an accurate portrayal of the balcony scene in Romeo & Juliet as a result of the language portrayed in the movie, the clothing worn, and the setting conveyed in the scene. Instead of adapting Shakespeare’s language, Zeffirelli decided to keep most of the wording similar to the book, which made the movie seem authentic. The clothing worn in the scene is an correct representation of Shakespeare’s play as it mirrors clothes worn in Renaissance England rather than parodying it with urbanized clothing. The setting conveyed in the scene is similar to the setting described in the play, mainly due to it being set in the same time period as the play.

Similar to the original script, the film focuses heavily on the roles and relationships between characters, especially Romeo and Juliet’s love arc. Viewers experience Romeo and Juliet’s tragic love story progress over the weekend, from their first meeting at the party to their double suicide at the tomb. The films shows viewers that their relationship with one another is the key relationship in the film. The majority of the film revolves about their love for each other and shows on various occasions how much Romeo and Juliet fight for the chance to be together. Their love is the core storyline of the film. An example of how important the relationship between the two is when Romeo receives the news of Juliet’s ‘death’.

Juliet knew that royalty life would be hard from the moment she was old enough to comprehend. She 's seen how her mother worked as Queen, making sure those of the 'lower class ' are pleased enough. How her father - the King - rules the kingdom, setting rules and suitable punishments. How her brother has to live up to the next heir of the throne.

In one of the introductory scenes of the film, Baz Luhrmann introduces the meeting of Romeo and Juliet at the Capulet’s ball. Luhrmann does this by using a range of camera shots that help illustrate the romance and whimsicality of these scenes. Camera framing is an effective technique Luhrmann uses in this film; to communicate the concept that society does not want individuals to have their own opinions and beliefs. Two shots that are significant include a close up shot that vacillates between Romeo and Juliet. The duration of each shot is just long enough to portray the romance and whimsicality of the scene. This is framed in such a way that shows their innocence and naïveté. This is followed by a mid-shot of Romeo pursuing Juliet at her mansion. The