William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Essay

Love plays a crucial role in telling the story of Romeo and Juliet, clearly shown in the appropriated Luhrmann film. Using film as a new medium, cinematic techniques explore the love between Romeo and Juliet. The balcony scene is a clear example of how Luhrmann expresses this. To show his love for Juliet, Romeo decides to sneak into the Capulet mansion to confess his love for her. When Romeo sees Juliet through his window, light shines around her and he describes it as, “ the sun.” This suggests that Romeo is calling Juliet the brightness in his life. Luhrmann decided to portray Romeo

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.

In the opening scenes of Romeo and Juliet Baz Luhrman uses camera shots, hidden symbols and a quick introduction to capture the hatred and tension between the Montagues and Capulets. To give us background information on the feuding families Luhrman begins the movie with a news reporter broadcasting about Romeo and Juliet which is followed by a bunch of newspaper headlines about the competitive families. A shot of the city is featured, depicting Capulet and Montague sky scrapers on opposite sides of the road. The city shot and the newspaper articles give us the impression that the two families, Montague and Capulets are enemies and are constantly rivalling and are mortal enemies.

The play starts with Sampson and Gregory, two of Capulet’s servants, beginning a quarrel with two servants of Montague. This shows that from the working-class to the upper-class in the two families, they still hold a grudge against the opposite family. Tybalt arrives at the scene, speaking of his loathing of the Montagues, “I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee”. A furious riot develops with Lords Capulet and Montague joining in and officers clubbing both sides of the fight, only for it to be stopped by the neutral Prince Escales. The riot further emphasises the vast level of hate between the two families.

After the opening monologue and montage there is a clash between members of the two households at a petrol station. It starts with some light humour with discussion of biting thumbs at each other before quickly escalating. Guns are soon drawn and innocent bystanders are involved before a fire starts and is soon strongly burning. This fight soon involves the whole country and the police and army intervene in order to break it up. Luhrmann also uses close-up shots of Tybalt and Benvolio as well as several slow-motion shots of key events to show the increase in tension. Luhrmann uses the fire is a visual example of the burning detestation between the two families. In contrast, Shakespeare’s opening scene is not as violent, contains no fire and has more humour. Another example of how Luhrmann shows the animosity between the two families is by leaving their feud unresolved. However, in Shakespeare’s play there is a brief conversation between Montague and Capulet at the end where they promise to build gold statues of the others child. In the film Luhrmann cuts out the interaction, choosing instead to finish the film with the Prince’s line “All are punished,” before having the news reader say the Prince’s final speech of the play, summing up the sad ending of Romeo and Juliet. This highlights the

To relate to a modern audience further, Lurhmann shows the families as gangs. When you see the Montague boys driving in their car they are all dressed the same and acting the same. You then come across the Capulet’s who again are dressed the same and acting the same. Both gangs meet up in the petrol stations and start having a fight. The fight resembles gang warfare in the modern society. By showing the families as gangs, Lurhmann can relate to the younger modern audience even more because they understand the hatred between two gangs in a big city and how if they meet up, there is always a fight.

In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, about two love struck teenagers whom aren’t able to be together due to their families feud/ social situation. There are two key themes that of love and hate. Before Romeo and Juliet meet, the audience is only aware that he is a Montague and that she is a Capulet. This adds to the scene being so dramatically effective as do other happenings throughout the length of the scene. These include the speech of Capulet and the happy and joyous mood of the party, The romantic speech of Romeo, The hatred and harshness of Tybalt’s speech, a direct contrast with that of Romeo’s and the drama when the two lovers, Romeo and Juliet first meet.

After these scenes, the prologue is spoken, while the camera pans across the landscape of the imaginary Verona city. The narrator's voice is soothing and evocative, which again makes the audience feel at peace. Following the reading of the prologue, the camera quickly goes down to the market scene. Here, the atmosphere changes. The contrast here is noticeable, as it goes from a peaceful landscape scene, to the hustle and bustle of the market.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a tragic love story. The story concerns the love between two young people, Romeo and Juliet. This is set against a feud between their two families: the Montagues and the Capulets. This feud develops the themes of conflict, deception and dignity in the play. The play includes a lot of themes, love, family, hate, deception and revenge.

Written in the 16th century, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is still the foundations of classic literature today. Although this text is almost four centuries old, what keeps us interested is Romeo and Juliet’s tragic story of youthfulness and impulsiveness. It follows the protagonists’ progression into mature adults; overcoming the obstacles of authority along the way. The idea of a passionate, youthful love is something many of us relate to, furthermore, the audience can comprehend the emotions that these characters feel because we recognise them as emotions of the youth. Three key scenes that highlight youthfulness and its consequences are Scene one of Act one, Scene two of Act two, Scene five of Act three. These three scenes represent

Romeo and Juliet’s actions may seem rushed and immature, but Baz Luhrmann’s movie offers a compelling insight into their decisions. By setting this Elizabethan era play in the present day, the viewer can see past the differences in scenery and clothing compared to those of their lives, to analyze the unique characteristics of the lovers’ society and upbringing that may have led to their hasty love affair and violent end. Luhrmann creates a culture of violence and speed through careful decisions regarding cinematography, editing, and sound.

The Classic play of “Romeo and Juliet” was written by William Shakespeare about two star-crossed lovers who met and fell in love. With the two’s families feuding, the lovers had a secret marriage but everything takes a turn for the worst when they both commit suicide because they feel life is not worth living without each other. At this time it was known as the renaissance time period which marks the beginning bridge between the middle ages and modern ages. The renaissance was a time when history was looked at as a time of greatness and that because of the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe had entered a time known as the “Dark Ages.” Shakespeare wrote many plays including “Romeo and Juliet” that had readers questioning his views of men and their

Religion is a predominant theme throughout Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet displaying the domination of the Church. The play shows the characters' commitment to the Church, and contrary the lawless disregard for the Church's ordinances. Luhrmann religious iconography pervades his film, commenting that religion is no longer an effective means of maintaining peace and harmony in modern society.

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