William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Although the story of Romeo and Juliet is over 500 years old, it is as relevant and appealing today as it was when first performed.
Although dated, the story of Romeo and Juliet still holds great appeal and relevance to today’s society, despite the differences in morals and values between William Shakespeare’s audience 500 years ago, and Baz Luhrmann’s audience today. The arising issues of order and authority, fate and love entertain/ed and appeals/ed to both viewers in different ways.
Shakespeare’s original play, Romeo and Juliet reflected the important Elizabethan concerns in relation to authority, law and order, making it relevant to the audiences’ morals and values of the time, as well appealing and entertaining.
Shakespeare explored the consequences of order breaking down in society, demonstrated through many characters’ disobediences, with the result of chaos and ultimate consequence being the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
All characters were disobedient in some way, including Romeo and Juliet themselves. For instance, they both deceived their parents by getting married, Romeo killed Tybalt and Juliet faked death. Other characters, such as Tybalt, Mercutio, Montague and Capulet boys, went against the orders of the Prince by continuing violent actions in the city of Verona. The Friar and the Nurse are also guilty because they aided the young lovers’ immoderate actions - their meetings and marriage.
Shakespeare offers the simple solution to this chaos as being obedient by respecting authority, law and order, being responsible with power as well as to be punished for their sins. This punishment is ultimately seen at the end of the play following the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. All characters have been hurt by this, hence being punished for their disobediences; “All are punished!” – the Prince.
In this sense, Shakespeare’s play sets morals for the Elizabethan era, displaying the results of disobedience, violence and chaos.
Luhrmann’s modern appropriation of the play also deals with authority, law and order, however instead of setting morals and offering solutions, it is relevant in that it displays a different viewpoint on modern society. He displays the world as being hectic and very fast, focused mainly on wealth and power, having lost sight of true values such as love, compassion and moral t...
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... continuous, but particularly apparent in the use of water as a symbol of purity and harmony. During the ‘balcony’ scene, the water plays a major role in the connection between the lovers. It is a symbol of their unity and reciprocated love.
This symbol of peace and harmony is then tainted by the death of Tybalt as he falls into a pond after being killed by Romeo. This scene also uses sequences of flashbacks to Romeo and Juliet in the pool, memories of the purity and cleanliness of Romeo’s conscience.
It is then non-existent in the scenes of Romeo in the very dry, baron landscapes of Mantua. This symbolises the loss of his true love, and also any peace and harmony he knew before being banished.
Other romantic symbolism in the film includes the extreme close-up shots of Romeo and Juliet when they are together, for example, in the tomb, repeated shots of the wedding ring – a physical symbol of their love.
Together, Shakespeare’s original play and Baz Luhrmann’s modern appropriation is a relevant and appealing insight into the Elizabethan era as well as modern society. By comparing the two, it is made obvious the changes and differences in morals and values over 500 years.
Romeo and Juliet is the tragic story of two young, “star-crossed” lovers from feuding families, destined for disaster. The Capulets and the Montagues have an ancient grudge on one another that has been passed down over generations. Unfortunately, Romeo and Juliet end up victims of their families’ vicious loathing. Romeo and Juliet’s story has several intertwining themes such as the aforementioned hatred between the Capulets and Montagues and the revenge Romeo strives for after his friend Mercutio’s death. Also, the love and passion between Romeo and Juliet and the loyalty of Romeo and his friends. Honour and revenge also feature frquently throughout the play including Juliet’s pressure to honour her family, and the revenge Romeo sees as his duty when Tybalt kills Mercutio.
Like most children, Andrew collected the pictures and posters of various celebrities that would define such a body of his work in later years. Andrew was a rather small boy. In interviews Andy Warhol said that he was pale and scrawny and that he was thusly bullied on several occasions by his classmates.
This essay examines the social, philosophical, and psychological elements that had affected the Russian Society as well as the world of Dostoevsky’s novel “ Crime and Punishment ˮ. This essay demonstrates the wild impact and clashes left by these theories on the life, choices, and mentality of the novel and the characters embodied, the most important of which is the character of Raskolnikov. Highlighting an “in-depth exploration of the psychology of a criminal, the inner world of Raskolnikov, with its doubt, fear, anxiety and despair in escaping punishment and mental tortureˮ.
being in love with Rosaline. Mean while, at the Capulet home, Paris asks approval to
He grew up during the Great Depression and World War II. His family lived in the urban surrounds of the industrial city, Pittsburgh. Warhol was the youngest of three children; his parents, Julia and Ondrej Warhola, were immigrants from Eastern Slovakia (Kalb, 2016). His family was poor; the family of five couldn’t afford a car and lived in the attic of their home so, they could rent out the lower part of the house. In his early childhood, he was often bedridden because he was diagnosed with the disease, Sydenham's chorea. The disease caused him to have pigment issues and he was bullied for it (Business Leaders Profiles for Students, 1999). Since Warhol was in bed for most of his childhood due to his illness, drawing and reading comics became his favorite pastime. Julia Warhola greatly influenced Andy Warhol. She would keep him company while he was in bed and taught him how to draw. When Warhol turned 9, his mother bought him a camera, which inspired his interest in photography. At the age of 14, Ondrej Warhola passed away from tuberculosis. His last wish was for Warhol to attend college; Andy was the first one of his family to go beyond high school attend
Training, joint exercises, military operations and humanitarian relief cannot be done from afar, which means U.S. service members must deploy to various countries within Africa. Before sending U.S. forces abroad, AFRICOM must ensure there are adequate status protections in place.54
These were paintings that used images of newspaper articles and even police photographs of car crashes, accidents, and suicides (warhol.org). Around this time, Warhol made more artsy films like “Sleep”, which was a five hour movie just of his friend John Giorno sleeping. He was really able to make art out of anything.
The story of Romeo and Juliet had many tragic, yet meaningful events that somewhat constructed what we know today as, “The tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet.” In fact, all of those ‘tragic yet meaningful events’ are all the deaths of Mercutio, Tybalt, Romeo, and Juliet. All of the tragic, meaningful events show what theme the story portrays. Romeo and Juliet itself is a well-known so called ‘love’ play/story, but when you really ‘dig deeper’ into it you will soon come to realize that it is more of a death play than a love play. Romeo and Juliet could be considered more of a death play than a love play because, majority of the events that happened were violent and the violence resulted in death; the only two people who showed ‘love’ throughout the story was Romeo and Juliet. It is clearly shown that death brought nothing but sorrow, sadness, and problems to Romeo and Juliet from beginning to end. Analyzing the story, it is obviously shown that death is written all over Romeo and Juliet, and that all the deaths of certain characters formed Romeo and Juliet itself. Therefore, with that being said, the theme that will be most strongly portrayed is death.
The classic play Romeo and Juliet by the famous playwright William Shakespeare is one of the most beautiful love stories of all time and has captured and inspired readers everywhere. Regardless of the fact that it was written in the 1500’s, it is still being performed and extolled today. There is a multitude of reasons for such continuance of the play. First of all, its everlasting themes of love and hate enable people to deeply relate to the story. Secondly, its memorable characters deeply imprint on the minds of readers. And lastly, above all, is its magnificent language which many writers today regard in awe. These three elements make the acclaimed play, Romeo and Juliet, one of the most timeless stories of our lives.
Imagine yourself, dear reader, transported to Shakespearian Verona, a bustling, peaceful city (aside from the occasional death or two), with its obligatory social classes going about agreeably (aside from the occasional brawl or two), and all people happy and successful (aside from the occasional poor wretch or two). The Verona in which Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet takes place in is made sinister by the deadly consequences than ensue from its strict, unbending society. Romeo and Juliet paints a tale about two young lovers, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, whose attempts to be together are cruelly thwarted by society. Society’s fixation on honor and disgrace, poverty-creating laws, and austere social roles all have crucial functions in causing the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet is a film that converts Shakespeare’s famous play into a present-day setting. The film transforms the original texts into modern notions, whilst still employing Shakespearean language. Compared to Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, Luhrmann’s picture is easier for a teenage audience to understand and relate to because of his modernisations. Despite the passing of four centuries Shakespeare’s themes of love, hate, violence, family and mortality remain the same regardless of the setting.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy of an ancient feud where the children of two families at war fall deeply in love with each other. Set in the 16th century William Shakespeare’s play has many different themes running throughout it, which include love, hate, death and conflict. The play opens with a fight but ends with suicide that creates peace between both families who unite from their losses. The conflict, violence and aggression in the play happen from revenge and an ancient family grudge. An audience from the 16th century would have enjoyed Romeo and Juliet because of the real life drama and tragedy the play goes through. The patriarchal society gave women absolutely no rights and they had to obey their man’s ordering a patriarchal system. The theme of conflict is revealed as the characters argue over Juliet’s disobedience.
“The most filmed of all plays, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, with its universal themes… remains uniquely adaptable for any time period,” (Botnick, 2002). Directors Franco Zeffirelli (1968) and Baz Luhrman (1996) provide examples of the plays adaption to suit the teenage generation of their time. Identifying the key elements of each version: the directors intentions, time/place, pace, symbols, language and human context is one way to clearly show how each director clearly reaches their target audience. Overall however Luhrman’s adaptation would be more effective for capturing the teenage audience.
Romeo and Juliet is a romantic love story about a young lad named Romeo who has fallen in love with Lady Juliet, but is unable to marry her because of a long-lasting family feud. The play ends in the death of both these characters and the reunion of the friendship between the families. Romeo is in love with Juliet, and this is a true, passionate love (unlike the love Paris has for her or the love Romeo had for Rosaline) that nothing can overcome, not even the hatred between their two families that is the reason for the death of their two children. Throughout the play, Shakespeare thoroughly explores the themes of both true love and false love and hatred. Without either of these themes, the play would loose its romantic touch and probably would not be as famous as it is today.
“I want to be a MACHINE” Andy (http://www.theartstory.org/artist-warhol-andy.htm) wanted to be perfect rather than creating his own art. Moreover, the repetition of the image evokes Marilyn’s widespread presence in the media.