Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet
Sex, drugs, and violence are usually a potent combination, and only
William Shakespeare could develop them into a masterful, poetic, and elegant
story. In the play, "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," all these aspects of
teenage life absorb the reader or watcher. It is understood that Hollywood
would try to imitate this masterpiece on screen, and it has done so in two
films: Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 "Romeo and Juliet" and Baz Luhrmann's 1996
"William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet." The updated Luhrmann picture best
captures the essence of Shakespeare for the present-day viewer. Through the
ingenious use of modernization and location, while preserving Shakespearean
language, the spirit of Shakespeare emerges to captivate a large audience.
Shakespeare's plays were designed to adapt to any audience: with this in
mind, Baz Luhrmann created a film that applies to the modern audience through
this updating. Luhrmann modernizes "Romeo and Juliet," through constant
alterations of the props, which entice the audience into genuinely feeling the
spirit of Shakespeare. First, the movie starts with an prologue masked as a
news broadcast on television. This sets the scene of the play by illustrating
the violence occurring between the two wealthy families, the Montagues and the
Capulets. In Zeffirelli's film of "Romeo and Juliet," the prologue takes the
form of a dry narrator relating the story of the Montagues and Capulets over a
backdrop of an Italian city. For most modern viewers (especially teenagers),
the Luhrmann picture is fast-paced, keeping the spectator intrigued, while the
Zeffirelli picture is dreary and dull, an endless maze of long and boring
conversations, foreshadowed by the prologue. In Luhrmann's film, the actors,
instead of carrying swords with them, hide guns in their shirts and wield them
expertly. The death of Romeo and Juliet is (as always) blamed on the post
office, for not delivering the letter properly. And, to be politically correct,
Mercutio appears at the Capulets' ball dressed as a large woman. The actors in
Zeffirelli's version of Shakespeare wear colored tights and bulging blouses;
thus they appear more comical because they are outdated. By modernizing these
aspects of the play, and reconstructing the prologue, Luhrmann creates a movie
changed. The last context is our time now and how it has an affect on
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a study of the effects of sin on the hearts and minds of the main characters, Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth. Sin strengthens Hester, humanizes Dimmesdale, and turns Chillingworth into a demon.
William Shakespeare's "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," set in 16th century Verona, Italy shares differences with Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet," set in modern day Verona Beach. These stories contain the same characters and conflict, however major and minor discrepancies are galore in the story lines of both formats of William Shakespeare's creation. Some major inconsistencies occur, such as Mercutio dying at a beach, portrayed as a hero, instead of being at a bar, looking like a fool, Friar Lawrence's letter is successfully sent to Romeo by mail carriers, however he does not have the opportunity to read it, unlike in the play version, where Romeo does not get the letter from Friar John, and is told the news by Balthazar, and nobody being at Juliet's tomb to stop Romeo from reaching Juliet, unlike in the play, Paris was there to pay his respects to Juliet. In addition to the major inconsistencies, minor ones are included throughout, such as Romeo and Juliet first seeing each other through a fish tank, then kissing in the elevator, not the dance, the famous balcony scene occurring in a pool, not on an actual balcony, and Juliet pointing a gun at Friar after she points it to herself, threatening to commit suicide. These inconsistencies probably occurred in the play to add a modern and entertaining twist to the Shakespearean classic, leading to the same denouement in both versions of "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet."
From the anti-biblical teachings in schools, to the anti-biblical messages in media, national and popular culture has secularized, proving itself incompatible with religious practice. This difficulty to untie has arisen from the media's ability to secularize and even oppose religious doctrine. Television, movies, and music depict acts of adultery and the loss of sexual innocence as favorable acts rather than being indecent. Popular culture has influenced national culture to the point to teaching anti-biblical National and popular culture, through encouraging acts of sexual corruption which do not coincide with religious practice, has caused an incompatibility between the two.
Athens and Sparta are both infamous Greek city states. Both could not be more different, yet similar in the way they governed their own city state. Another, main difference was the women’s rights and roles in the system. Athenian and Spartan women both were considered to be second to their male counterparts. Spartan women had more rights than Athenian women. Through, research realizing that the Spartan women were slightly greater role than Athenian women.
Unlike other Greek city states, women played an integral role in Spartan society as they were the backbone of the Spartan economic system of inheritance and marriage dowry and they were relied upon to fulfill their main responsibility of producing Spartan warrior sons. These principle economic systems affected wealth distribution among Spartan citizens especially among the Spartan elite class. Spartan women led a completely different life than women in most other ancient Greek city states, as they were depended upon to maintain Spartan social systems. In a society where the state is more involved in home life women had freedom of movement and they were permitted to communicate with men who were not their husbands. Women had domestic responsibilities including the maintenance of homes and farms when the men were on campaign, while the typical Greek female responsibilities such as weaving were delegated to slaves. Girls were raised much like Spartan boys as they were made to go through physical training insuring their success in fulfilling their most important role in society, child-bearing. The few primary sources on Sparta and Spartiate women, namely Aristotle, Plutarch, Herodotus and Xenophon were historians who lived after the prominence of ancient Sparta; therefore, the facts regarding the women’s influence in social, economic and political issues must be carefully interpreted and analysed with help from secondary sources.
in the way he speaks in a sly voice. He is the perfect actor to play
“Here’s to my love! Drinks. O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” (V.iii.119-120). This is a quote out of Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet detailing rash decisions of people madly infatuated. In this play, two lovers (Romeo and Juliet) have a relationship that is shown to be quite shallow. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses idioms, allusions, and monologues to show that Romeo and Juliet have a shallow relationship.
The Wife of Bath is a complex character-she is different from the way she represents herself. Maybe not even what she herself thinks she is. On the surface, it seems as though she is a feminist, defending the rights and power of women over men. She also describes how she dominates her husband, playing on a fear that was common to men. From a point of view of a man during that time period, she seemed to illustrate all of the wrongs that men found in women. Such as a weak parody of what men, then saw as feminists. The Wife of Bath constantly emphasizes the negative implications of women throughout the ages. She describes women as greedy, controlling, and dishonest.
Clark, W. G. and Wright, W. Aldis , ed. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Vol. 1. New York: Nelson-Doubleday
Baz Lurhmann’s creation of the film Romeo and Juliet has shown that today’s audience can still understand and appreciate William Shakespeare. Typically, when a modern audience think of Shakespeare, they immediately think it will be boring, yet Lurhmann successfully rejuvenates Romeo and Juliet. In his film production he uses a number of different cinematic techniques, costumes and a formidably enjoyable soundtrack; yet changes not one word from Shakespeare’s original play, thus making it appeal to a modern audience.
Baz Luhrmann's Interpretation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' was first performed on stage at the Globe Theatre, South London, in 1597. More recently the modern film interpretations, by Franco Zeffirelli in 1968, and Baz Luhrmann in 1997, have been viewed by thousands. ' Romeo and Juliet' is truly one of the greatest tales of all time, for it can still entertain an audience of all ages and stun them into silence, with its clever script and gripping plot. Admittedly the romantic tragedy of 'two star crossed lovers' has been used to such an extent in a variety of stories such as West Side Story, that it is now considered a cliché. Yet despite this, the story of 'Romeo and Juliet' is still incredibly popular and easily grips a modern audiences.
‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a tragic play about two star crossed lovers written by Shakespeare in 1595. The play is a timeless teenage tradgedy. “The play champions the 16th Century belief that true love always strikes at first sight,” (Lamb 1993: Introduction) and even in modern times an audience still want to believe in such a thing as love at first sight. Act II Scene II the balcony scene displays that romantic notion perfectly.
This paragraph will concern the social structure of ancient Greece society. In ancient Greece society, only native-born men were granted citizenship and entitled to full protection of the law in a city-state (wikipedia.org/Ancient Greece). In the majority of city-states, social prominence did not include special rights. In some situations, families controlled public functions, but this did not exactly grant extra power for the government. In the state of Athens, the population was divided into four social classes which was based on wealth. A persons amount of income was able to determine of they were eligible to change classes. In Sparta, male citizens received the title of equal if they completed their education requirements. With this being
Ancient Athens and Ancient Sparta were two of the biggest city-states in Greece. Despite their geographical closeness these two city-states differed largely in many aspects, particularly the kind of roles women played in society and the amount of power women had. Whereas women in Ancient Sparta were believed to be very independent the women in Ancient Athens were not. Even the way these women dressed contrasted from one another. In this essay, I will shine light on the differences between women in Sparta, who had played a larger role in Spartan society, and the women in Athens, whose role was not considered as important as men in Athenian society and how this effected their status. I will provide examples from two of the secondary sources that were read in class as well as a primary source written by Aristophanes.