Romeo and Juliet is a play written by Sir William Shakespeare Essay Example For Students

Romeo and Juliet is a play written by Sir William Shakespeare Essay Romeo and Juliet is a play written by Sir William Shakespeare at the end of the sixteenth century. He wrote this in the Elizabethan period when Queen Elizabeth I ruled England but the exact date is unknown. At this time plays and puns (word play) were common as they were the only form of entertainment. Like all other plays at this time Shakespeares had no female actors. It was seen to be inappropriate for a lady to act, therefore male actors were used instead and had to play the parts of women as well as men. Shakespeare was influenced by other writers; for his Romeo and Juliet play he used an old Italian tale called The Tragicall History of Roemeus and Juliet, written by Arthur Brooke. In this play Juliet was sixteen but Shakespeare decided to reduce her age to thirteen although it was unusual for a girl of this age to get married. In Romeo and Juliet Juliet is forced to have an arranged marriage but she has already fallen in love with Romeo. At the time Romeo and Juliet was written, arranged marriages were common between families of the same social status. To refuse to get married would be an insult and an embarrassment on your family. Baz Luhrmann tries to modernise Shakespeares play a lot. He does this so his new audience can relate to certain things in the play as being believable. For example in Luhrmanns film he uses a more appropriate age for Juliet. If he were to keep Juliet at thirteen the audience of today would think it was strange and the play just wouldnt work. He also uses modern props like cars and guns. In the original, Shakespeare written play, swords are used as weapons. So that the audience of today can relate to this Baz Luhrmann uses guns with the word Sword written on them. This allows him to use roughly the same script. For example, at the beginning of the film one character says Give me my long sword meaning give me my gun. The story of Romeo and Juliet is set in an Italian city called Verona where two chief families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are sworn enemies. However one day two teenagers, each from opposing families, accidentally meet and immediately fall in love. Their names are Romeo and Juliet. A Capulet called Tybalt later kills Romeos best friend, Mercutio. Romeo chases after him and kills him in revenge. Romeo is then banished from Verona and the only way for them to keep seeing each other is to run away together. To do this Juliet decided to fake her death. She sent a letter to Romeo telling him she was still alive and to come and get her but Romeo never got it. Juliets supposed death was too much for Romeo. He went to Juliets body and poisoned himself leaving Juliet to wake up and find him dead. Juliet couldnt live without him either. Distraught and confused she too killed herself. The death of these two lovers ended the Montague and Capulets rivalry and proved that true love could not be changed. Romeo and Juliet starts with a prologue. A prologue introduces a play, poem or novel before the main piece begins. In the Elizabethan period, when Romeo and Juliet was written, the prologue was read out to calm the audience down and make them ready to watch the play. The prologue of this play is written in the form of a sonnet. Sonnets are a rhyming piece that has fourteen lines and follows a unique rhythm (a b a b c d c d e f e f g g). Its metre is called Iambic Pentameter. Just like the one in the prologue, sonnets are usually poems about love. The sonnet in Romeo and Juliet tells the audience what is going to happen in the end. The purpose of this is not to give away the story but to make the audience want to watch on. In Baz Luhrmanns film version he uses a TV report to show whats going to happen. I am going to explore how Shakespeare uses language to convey the relationship between Romeo and Juliet in his play Romeo and Juliet and how Baz Luhrmann represents this in his film version. I am also going to look at how Shakespeare uses different techniques to display this. At the end of Act 1 Scene 4 Romeo is talking to Mercutio. He talks about how he can sense something bad is going to happen and mentions his future death. He says Some consequence yet hanging in the stars; He is talking about astrology and how the stars are showing him his fate. Astrology was very popular at the time this play was written and Shakespeare uses the idea a lot in his plays. By Romeo saying By some vile forfeit of untimely death shows that he can tell his death will come. The next thing he says is But He that hath the steerage of my course direct my sail! we know that he is referring to God because Shakespeare uses a capital H. He is saying that God controls what is going to happen to him and when he says Direct my sail! he is asking God to direct him to his fate. Religion was an important part of life in the Elizabethan period. Shakespeare uses religious phrases and ideas throughout Romeo and Juliet. Remarkable changes EssayBaz Luhrmann however, interprets this scene very differently in his film. Juliet comes down the balcony and walks alongside her swimming pool. This prop is used in the same way as the fish tank. Its relaxing colour and soft waves make the moment more romantic. When Romeo appears from the darkness Juliet screams and the two of them fall in the pool. Luhrmann then introduces all new parts and props into the play. A security guard is shown, watching Juliet on the CCTV. The guard hears her scream and comes out to check on her. At this moment Romeo hides beneath the water until the guard has gone. This is another way that Luhrmann uses new props to modernise the play. In Act 3 Scene 5 Romeo and Juliet are on the balcony. Romeo talks of how he must go but Juliet tries to persuade him to stay. She eventually wins the persuasion but Romeo is forced to leave when Juliets nurse enters the room. Juliet says to Romeo Some say the lark and loathed toad changed eyes; O now I would they had changed voices too. There was a myth that the toad and lark had exchanged eyes but Juliet is saying to Romeo that they should have changed voices instead because the horrible crouch of a toad is more suited to the lark that separates them. At this point the nurse enters and Romeo is forced to leave in a hurry. Baz Luhrmann uses props and colours to make the moment feel more romantic. His choice of prop in this scene is a white bed sheet, which is wrapped around Romeo and Juliet. The white sheet is put over their heads so it is like no one is there but them. The sheet blocks out the rest of the world and makes the moment more emotional. Baz Luhrmann decided to cut part of the script out to make it shorter. With the use of the white sheet less speech is needed. Luhrmann does this a lot in his film. He replaces dialog with props and colours. Act 5 Scene 3 is the scene in which Romeo and Juliet kill themselves in confusion. When Romeo finds out Juliet is dead, he decides to poison himself, as he cannot live without her. Before doing so he says Will I set up my everlasting rest. By saying this he is asking whether it will be is full and final commitment. He conducts a long speech in which he speaks his final words. Before drinking down the poison he say Heres to my love! which means he is doing this for her. Juliet then wakes to find Romeos body. Devastated she says a small speech in which she says Haply some poison yet doth hang on, to make me die with a restorative. Thy lips are warm. She is saying that maybe they have been poisoned. By saying that she will die in restorative she is saying that her kiss will cure her life and restore her to Romeo. Romeos speech is much longer than Juliets because he has had more time to grieve and has planned his death whereas Juliet killed herself in panic without thinking before she d id so. At the beginning of this scene Romeo kills Paris. This is cut out from Baz Luhrmanns film so the storyline, of how Romeo and Juliet killed themselves, can be concentrated on. Luhrmann also uses props like candles and a giant church hall. This could not have been done in Shakespeares time. Shakespeare uses a wide range of techniques to convey the relationship between Romeo and Juliet. Metaphors, similes and personifications are all used to show a particular emotion or feeling. Courtly love and religious phrases are also used to express the relationship between Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare used these techniques to their full potential. Baz Luhrmann also used his own techniques that worked well to produce a wider range of emotions through choices of props and colour.