Romeo and Juliet was a sad, tragic story of two star-crossed lovers who ended up dying, due to their families feuding and a few misfortunate events. This essay will be comparing and contrasting the different versions of Shakespeare's play, as well as explaining what I think is the best interpretation of the versions. The three we discussed were the Leonardo DiCaprio movie, Shakespeare's original play, and the Romeo and or Juliet book. My favorite interpretation of the Romeo and Juliet play was the Leonardo DiCaprio movie. The first character I will compare in this play is Mercutio. In the original play, Mercutio is crazy, funny, and passionate. He is very confident and isn't afraid of the Capulets. Benvolio: "By my head, here come the Capulets." Mercutio: "By my heel, I care not." (Act 3, Scene 1, lines 32-33) in the movie, he is mostly the same although he dresses in women's clothing at the Capulet's party. He is also black, with a large afro. There is no description of him in the play, but we can probably assume he is white. He is also seems a bit crazier and more violent in the movie. …show more content…
In the Romeo and/or Juliet book, she is more independent and obsessed with muscles. At one point, she runs away from home so she doesn't have to marry a guy her parents set up for her and ended up throwing up on him at their party. She then made it her plan to throw up on every guy she didn't want to marry, except for one guy she ended up marrying. (North) In the play, she usually did what her parents told her, and she was never obsessed with muscles as she was in Romeo and/or Juliet. Juliet did, however, come up with a plan to escape marrying someone in the play, which occurred in the book as well. This showed some sense of independence of Juliet in both
In act 1 scene 1, the characters are all individual and unique. Shakespeare has written this scene so that it starts from the lowest rank in the families, the servants, to the highest, the lords. By doing this, he has made the audience aware of the fact that everyone who is part of the families is also part of the battle. During this scene, we come across important characters these include: Benvolio, Tybalt, Lord Montague, Lord Capulet, Prince Escales and Romeo. Shakespeare has used the characters names to tell us what to expect them to be like for the rest of the life. The name Benvolio means good will, from this you can expect Benvolio not be involved in the battle. You can see this when he says “Part, fools! Put up your swords, you know not what you do”. The name Tybalt means tyrant this makes you expect him to be a cruel person. You can also see this when he says “What drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montague’s and thee”. Prince Escales plays a big role in act 1 because he is the representation of law and order. If you remove the letter E from his name it spells scales this gives evidence that the Prince wants things to be balanced and he is serious. You can see this when he says “If ever you disturb our streets again. Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace”. For most c...
Benvolio, in contrast to Tybalt, is a more peaceful person who can manage his angers and hate. He, I believe, is meant to be seen as some sort of mediator: “I pray the, good Mercutio, let’s retire. The day is hot, the Capulets abroad, And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl, For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.” (Shakespeare, page 116).
William Shakespeare made Tybalt Capulet as the foil character for Romeo Montague. There are similarities between Tybalt and Romeo they both care about Juliet. They have differences because they are from different families and different ways of growing up. Tybalt judged Romeo for his name and not for his character.
Throughout Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo’s character is desperate and impulsive which ultimately contributes
Juliet’s character is a collection of innocence, youth and naïveness. Her portrayal, however, did not fit well with the stereotypical view of how an Elizabethan women should have been. Women back then had to obey their fathers and husbands. They weren’t granted free will and so Juliet initial portrayal is girl who is an obeying daughter but when she discovers love she becomes a disobedient daughter to be faithful to her husband (Romeo).
This is exactly how Romeo behaves. Juliet on the other hand had to marry Count Paris so her love with Romeo is simply a way to get out of it. She never had a relationship with a man and she didn’t like to have her first and only relationship with a man her parents arranged for her. She wanted freedom and Romeo was her ticket to it.
‘The difference between Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet (1968) and Baz Luhrmann’s version of Romeo & Juliet (1996) is simply a modernisation created by Luhrmann to attract a teenage audience.’
Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is a tragic love story about two young lovers who are forced to be estranged as a result of their feuding families. The play is about their struggle to contravene fate and create a future together. As such, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood would try and emulate Shakespeare’s masterpiece. This had been done before in many films. Prominent among them were, Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 “Romeo and Juliet” and Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 “William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.” Both films stay true to the themes of Shakespeare’s original play. However, the modernised Luhrmann film not only maintains the essence of Shakespeare’s writings, Luhrmann makes it relevant to a teenage audience. This is done through the renewal of props and costumes, the reconstruction of the prologue and the upgrading of the setting, whilst preserving the original Shakespearean language. Out of the two, it is Luhrmann who targets Romeo & Juliet to a younger audience to a much larger extent than Zeffirelli.
... and is ready to swear the vows of marriage with Romeo. Juliet’s reckless and hasty decisions demonstrate her impulsiveness. Juliet’s love for Romeo largely dictates her brash decisions and speech. If Romeo did not enter Juliet’s life, she would never have known the hurt and heartbreak she experiences throughout the tragedy.
Many people think that society has changed so much over the years. That the way that children act, has taken a turn for the worst, but in reality children are learning from their ancestors. Children are lying to their parents, they are sneaking out at night to be with a boy that is “the one”, children are going back into the age of Shakespeare. In the play “Romeo and Juliet” which was written by William Shakespeare in 1597, there are two teenagers, Romeo and Juliet, who fall in love with each other. These two teenagers try to do everything that they can to live the rest of their lives together, except their families despise each other, so there is no way that they can live the rest of their lives together. So, many people believe that the way that our children are growing up today is taking away the fun parts of their childhood. However in this play Juliet did many of the things that teenagers are trying to do now. Children and sometimes adults now need to realize how your actions not only affect you but also the people around you, you also need to think about the consequences of the actions you make. At first Juliet falls in love at first sight with Romeo, then she takes a potion, which causes her family to think she is dead, and then how Friar Lawrence helps Juliet with the scheming, which shows how adults have to think about others as well.
The plots of both plays represent confusion on the highest level, which is not helped by the fact that, especially in Shakespeare’s day, many actors played more than one character. This reflects both the lack of money that was in the theatre at the time and also, despite theatre being such a large source of entertainment, it was not a popular tradition to enter in to.
Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet is no stranger to the big screen. The play has been adapted to the big screen numerous times and has seen derivative plays and works pop up throughout the years. Every new adaptation released by a director has had its own special charm to it -- whether it be positive or negative -- and has brought a new vision and look and feel with it. When reading the play, each reader imagines their own version of the environment, a big screen adaptation simply delivers a director’s vision and atmosphere to alleviate the need for the reader to try to create their own world. However, when adapting any work of literature to the big screen, some scenes and details of the original work must be looked over in order to keep
...too takes her life to be with Romeo her love in the afterlife because thats how strong their love was. Romeo and Juliet would rather have killed themselves than live in a world without each other.
Prospero, of course, is the play. He is the exiled duke of Milan and the father of Miranda, as well as a powerful magician ruler of a remote island. The play revolves around him. He has more lines than any other character. His presence is felt continuously, even in those scenes in which he does not appear personally. He is the manipulator of the action in the play. The sometimes-godlike character is well rounded and full of contradictions, making him a difficult character to evaluate.
Juliet also undergoes a change in character, far removing herself from the naïve fourteen year old of Act One, she becomes increasingly strong and practical (Spencer 67). At the beginning of the play Juliet talks of marriage as ‘an honour that I dream not of’ (1.3.67) but by Act Two Scene Two it is Juliet who brings about the subject of marriage, encouraging Romeo to arrange their wedding. Romeo may have insisted on declaring their love for each other but Juliet takes it a step further ‘thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow’ (2.2.144).