...ROMEO AND JULIET Verona city in Italy is where the upsetting story of the unlucky love affair was set. Romeo a Montague and Juliet a Capulet are 'a pair of star crossed lovers who took their lives in an attempt to bury their parents strife'. The Montague's and the Capulet 'both alike in dignity,' were engaged in an ancient feud, which sadly nothing but the death of their children could stop. Romeo and Juliet two adaptations. Franco Zeffirelli [1968] Original version Baz Luhrmann [1996] Hollywood version Luhrmann chose Leonardo Di Caprio to play Romeo and Claire Danes as Juliet. * The updated Luhrmann picture best captures the essence of Shakespeare for the present-day viewer. Through the ingenious use of modernisation and location, while preserving Shakespearean language, the spirit of Shakespeare emerges to captivate a large audience. * Luhrmann modernises "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 a prologue masked as 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 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...
Words: 2552 - Pages: 11
...5/6 March 2012 Capulet Everyone loves a good play. Plays captivate the emotions of their audience when the audience connects with a character. William Shakespeare knew human nature and used that knowledge in his writings. One of Shakespeare’s most famous plays is Romeo and Juliet, a tragic story of two minors who fall in love in the midst of their families’ rivalry. In this story, one of Shakespeare’s characters is Capulet who plays the important role of Juliet’s father. Capulet is a dynamic character in Romeo and Juliet. Capulet is dynamic because he loves his daughter, is a good host and is easily angered. In the second scene of the first act, Capulet demonstrates his love for his daughter Juliet. Paris asks for her hand in marriage, but Capulet refuses to allow her to marry at age thirteen and tells Paris to “Let two more summers wither in their pride/ Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride” (I, ii, 10-11). When Paris protests that girls thirteen-years-old are already mothers, Capulet replies that “…too soon marred are those so early made” (I, ii, 13). He worries that she will die in childbirth at such a young age. Juliet is Capulet’s only living child and his hope for the future. Another positive trait is Capulet is a cordial party host. Capulet greets all his guests with a warm welcome in scene five. He keeps his guests loose and comfortable. “Ladies that have their toes/ Unplagued with corns will walk a bout (dance) with you” (I, v, 15-16), Capulet teases his female...
Words: 599 - Pages: 3
...Community life Text Analysis: Romeo and Juliet Film Response In 1996, Australian director Baz Luhrmann decided to adapt Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into his own style as a modern film. Romeo and Juliet is a story of how they met and fell in love with each other, but both tragically ended their lives due to their feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets. In the prologue, it starts off with a newsreader on a TV, acting as Shakespeare’s narrator. The prologue and opening scene were significant because it showed the audience, right from the beginning, how deep the hatred was between the Montagues and Capulets, which focuses on the themes family feud and hubris. Luhrmann uses a wide shot of skyscrapers, one belonging to the Montagues on one side of the street and the Capulets on the other side. This gives the audience a hint of what might be rivalry, hatred, and battle, which highlights the theme family feud. The opening scene involves boys from the Montagues and Capulets at a petrol station. Baz Luhrmann uses costumes to portray the opposing families, the Montagues and Capulets. For example, the Montagues were wearing beach clothing which gives proposes to the audience that they are carefree. On the other hand Tybalt, who represented the Capulets, wore a black suit suggesting that he was much more intelligent. Tybalt was introduced with an extreme close up and his face was filled with disgust and hatred which was directed towards the Montagues. This hatred comes from all...
Words: 650 - Pages: 3
...Influential Play: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Have you heard of Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet? Do you ever wonder how it has lasted through the ages? There are certain elements that have allowed it to accomplish this. The elements that make Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet a lasting and influential play are the romantic love, the contrast of the Capulets and the Montagues, and the poetic language. The romantic love is the essence of the play. “Parting is such sweet sorrow/ that I shall say good night till it be morrow,” II. ii. 185-186. This line really conveys the love and affection that Romeo and Juliet have for each other. The quote means Juliet does not want Romeo to leave, so she would rather repeat “good night” until it became morning. It says a lot about Juliet’s love for Romeo. This quote also says a lot about their love as well. “O, that I were a glove upon that hand, / that I might touch that cheek!” II. ii. 24-25. Romeo is saying here that he wishes he were a glove on Juliet’s hand, just so he could touch her cheek. This line proves Romeo loves Juliet as well. That means their love is true, and not another example of unrequited love in the play. It is true romantic love. The contrast of the Capulets and Montagues really contributes to the play. Tybalt’s line “Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe,” I. v. 63 adds tension to the play. It accentuates the contrast between the families. This makes Romeo and Juliet’s love more dangerous...
Words: 455 - Pages: 2
...How Does Fate Play A Part In Romeo and Juliet'? Romeo and Juliet' was written during a period when Shakespeare had found the strength of his writing, it is believed that it was written around 1595 and he would have been about 26 years old when he wrote it. The play is a widely known tragedy concerning the fate of two young "star-cross'd lovers". It is one of the most famous of Shakespeare's plays and one of his earliest theatrical triumphs. In Romeo and Juliet', fate plays an extremely powerful role throughout the story. Romeo and Juliet are "star-crossed lovers," as the prologue at the start of the play indicated, they had fate against them. In that time, people were very wary of what the stars said. If two people's stars were crossed in the sky, they would never remain together. Obviously, Romeo and Juliet did not live happily ever after, as they both died at the end of the play. The prologue also shows fate was against Romeo and Juliet through the negative language and the foregrounds of their deaths: "The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought could remove" This insight into the plot provides the audience with the anticipation of the finale and causes them to think negatively throughout the play. It also allows Shakespeare to make use of dramatic irony, as the audience knows something that the characters do not. This increases dramatic tension for the audience, which in turn...
Words: 549 - Pages: 3
...stimulating destiny. In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, there are a few members that show fate’s hand in play. Of those individuals, Mercutio is shown to be the most prominent. With Mercutio persuading Romeo at the Capulet party, having divine right, and an influential death, he has most impacted the theme of fate in Romeo and Juliet. The first way that Mercutio is the representative of fate is seen where he pushed Romeo to attend the Capulet soiree. During the beginning of the play, Mercutio and Romeo are walking towards the Capulet masque. While they are walking, Romeo starts to doubt if he should go at all. Mercutio counters this by saying...
Words: 991 - Pages: 4
...feud between the Montagues and the Capuleys is on going. 2-Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet fall in love. 3-Romeo and Juliet marry in secret. 4-Romeo vengefully kills Tybalt and Capulets obligates Juliet to marry Paris. 5-Juliet takes a drug and she is put in the family tomb when thoughts she ws dead. 6-Romeo goes to the tomb, kills Paris, sees Juliet ''dead'' AND DRINKS THE POISON. 7-Juliet wakes up, sees Romeo and Paris dead and stabs herself. 8-At the end of the play, the Capulets and the Montagues resolved their feud and Romeo and Juliet are dead. Themes of the play: 1-Fate:Since their families were enemys.Romeo and Juliet were fated to meet at some point in their lives. 2-Destiny:The destinies of Romeo and Juliet ended with their death but they solved the family's feud. 3-Love:Romeo and Juliet fall in love and their love moves the story. Vocabulary words: 1-Nuptial:Relating weddings and marriage. 2-Profane:Treats something holy with disrespect. 3-Synonyms:Marital,conjugal and bridal. William Shakespeare: Birth: April 26, 1564 Marriage:November 1582 Writing:1592-1596 Romeo and Juliet was written and played in 1596. Lasr play:Shakespeare wrote the Tempest in 1610. Died:William Shakespeare died on April 23. Last play:Shakespeares wrote the Tempest in 1610. Puns: A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of dy ifferent words. Review: a-Match the character: 1-Romeo:30 years old man...
Words: 689 - Pages: 3
...Heroes & Villains in Literature The following essay is going to discuss and analyze heroes and villains in Literature. This essay is going to focus especially on three famous books written by William Shakespeare. The referring books are ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Othello’. In these three different novels, a great variety of stereotypes of heroes and villains can be appreciated. William Shakespeare was born on April 23rd 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. When he was four or five he began his education at the local petty school. He left the local grammar school when he was about fourteen and went to help in his father’s glove-making shop. When he was eighteen, he got married and by the time he was twenty-one, he was the father of three children. [1] At some time during the next seven years, he went to London and found employment in the theatre. When he was twenty-eight, he was already well enough known as an actor and playwright. He mostly lived and worked in London until his mid-forties, when he returned to his family and home in Stratford, where he remained in prosperous circumstances until his death on April 23rd 1616, his fifty-second birthday. [2] In the thirty seven plays that are his chief legacy to the world human nature is displayed in all its astonishing variety. [3] While Shakespeare caused much controversy, he also earned lavish praise and has profoundly impacted the world over in areas of literature, culture, art, theatre, and film and is considered...
Words: 2077 - Pages: 9
...The sky is like an hourglass, time is the sand in it, while night is when most of the sand is in the bottom half, and day is when most the sand is in the upper half. Time flies by as the sand slowly slips from the upper half into the bottom half, changing day into night. In William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, the two houses, the Montagues and the Capulets hate each other. Romeo, a Montague, falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet, often at night, Romeo sneaks into the Capulet garden to talk to Juliet. Fate divides them apart many ways, the Prince of Verona banishes Romeo, and Juliet drinks a potion as part of a plan. But miscommunication happens and Romeo believes that Juliet is dead, thus commits suicide by drinking poison. Juliet wakes...
Words: 392 - Pages: 2
...What would you do for love? Would you sacrifice your life for the people you love? “Romeo and Juliet” is a thrilling play that demonstrates both love and hate. Love and hate both come at a cost, whether you lose something you love or something happens that you hate. As Mohandas Gandhi said “Hatred always kills, love never dies.” The play Romeo and Juliet demonstrates and expresses 3 main points relating to this quote. Those main points are love, hate, and marriage. Romeo and Juliet is portrayed as a “love” story but Shakespeare sets it up as a pain and death story. Romeo is in love with a woman named Rosaline at the beginning of the play. Juliet has never thought about getting married before her mother brings up the idea of marrying Paris. Shakespeare has to set their tale as ill-fated at the beginning (as “two star-crossed lovers” ) not only because their families hate each other, but because they do not know anything about what true love really is or even what life is like in the real adult world. When Romeo first lays his eyes upon Juliet, he is overwhelmed by how beautiful she is. He immediately forgets about Rosaline and wants to meet Juliet. Romeo saw Juliet at a ball he never intended on going to. For a few days he kept to himself and was thinking about how much he loves Rosaline. Eventually, Romeos cousin Benvolio convinces him to go. Romeo thinks that there is no point to go but Benvolio tells him “At this same ancient feast of the Capulet's sups the fair Rosaline...
Words: 1321 - Pages: 6
...Today we see conflicts in soaps such as Coronation Street or Emmerdale but in Shakespeare's time they had plays and saw the conflicts in plays such as Macbeth. It is good to have conflicts in dramas as it keeps the audience captivated and makes the audience want to know what is going to happen next. In the play Romeo and Juliet, conflict is the foundation of the play as there is conflict between the two families the whole way through and there is fighting because of it. There is verbal and physical conflict. In the prologue it mentions that there will be conflict in the play to come so it pricks our interest. A prologue is an introduction to the play explaining the basis of what is going to happen. It occurs at the beginning of the play and it is like the blurb on the back of a book. The mention of conflict in the lay is about a family feud between the Montague and Capulet families. The idea of conflicts in a play adds a sense of excitement. We are supposed to learn that you shouldn't make people hate each other and that a lot of pain and suffering could have been resolved if they had made up or just let Romeo and Juliet get on with their lives without interfering and trying to separate them and control them. The prologue is supposed to captivate the audience in a trance so they don't lose track of the play. The way the sonnet was written as well is good for the rhythm of the prologue. Also the prologue is good to make them want to know what is going to happen throughout...
Words: 2063 - Pages: 9
...ROMEO AND JULIET Submitted by: John Hansenn M.Ravara II-Humility Submitted to: Mrs.Abiol William Shakespeare The Chandos portrait, artist and authenticity unconfirmed. National Portrait Gallery, London. | Born | Baptised 26 April 1564 (birth date unknown) Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire,England | Died | 23 April 1616 (aged 52) Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire,England | Occupation | Playwright, poet, actor | Nationality | English | Spouse(s) | Anne Hathaway (m. 1582–1616) | Children | * Susanna Hall * Hamnet Shakespeare * Judith Quiney | Relative(s) | * John Shakespeare (father) * Mary Shakespeare (mother) | SUMMARY: We meet our hero, Romeo, after a duel between the servants of two enemy families of Verona: the Montagues and the Capulets. Romeo Montague is pining away for Rosaline, a girl we never see. Juliet Capulet, age thirteen, has just heard that Paris, Verona's attractive young bachelor, would like to marry her. The two will meet that night at a masquerade ball at the Capulets' house. Romeo and his friends have decided to crash the Capulet ball – in costume – because Rosaline is on the guest list. Romeo meets Juliet there instead, and they fall madly in love. Afterwards, they discover they are members of rival families, but they are still in love. Romeo stays after the party under Juliet's balcony, and the two use this romantic meeting to plan their marriage. Hasty, but genuine. Juliet hears from the Nurse that...
Words: 898 - Pages: 4
...Post-modernism in Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet: a comparison of two creative works from two different periods. In 1996, Baz Luhrmann directed “Romeo + Juliet”, a modern twist on the famous tragedy play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare in 1597, in which the main characters Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet where portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. While some praise the strange interpretation of the old tale, there are also those who condemn the rendition as destructive and disrespectful to the great work of Shakespeare. There will always be two sides to every story and this study will take that into consideration as well as comparing the two different yet similar works to see how post modernism has played a role in Luhrmann’s version of Romeo and Juliet. Postmodernism has been given many definitions. Some say it’s simply the outlook that the generation of late twenty first century has on life which entails the mistrust and dismissal of theories that existed before such as religion, ethics and law. According to these youths, the difference between right and wrong or what the meaning of life is based solely on that individual’s perspective. In film, the idea of postmodernism is somewhat similar as it’s an artist medium in which to undermine social norms and present one’s individual belief. The difference lies in that postmodernism in film concerns bringing in many aspects of popular culture to produce something...
Words: 3545 - Pages: 15
...In Shakespeare's Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, many characters led up to the death of Romeo and Juliet. The three main characters were Fate, Lady Capulet, and Juliet. Fate could have been blamed because Shakespeare wrote the the story so Romeo and Juliet could be a ideal love story. Lady Capulet led to the death because she had a very poor relationship with Juliet, she encourages Juliet to get married to Paris. Finally, Juliet led to her own death. As soon as she sees Romeo she falls in love with him, she says “so the heavens smile upon this act” (DBQ: Project, 2013) A II Siiiiii Juliet thinks that they are mean for each other even though their family has a feud. Fate played a part in the two lovers death because Shakespeare wrote the story so that people would strive to have a love like Romeo and Juliets. Shakespeare says “ a greater power than we can contradict” (DBQ: Project, 2013) A V S iii. Then quote says the love they had for each other was greater than we expected and nothing can separate them. When Romeo saw Juliet he immediately fell in love with her. due to the fact that one was a Montage and one was a Capulet it was hard for...
Words: 538 - Pages: 3
...A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO THE SIGNET CLASSIC EDITION OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO AND JULIET By ARTHEA J.S. REED, PH.D. S E R I E S W. GEIGER ELLIS, ED.D., E D I T O R S : UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, EMERITUS and ARTHEA J. S. REED, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, RETIRED A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet 2 INTRODUCTION William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is an excellent introduction to Shakespearean drama; teenagers can relate to its plot, characters, and themes. The play’s action is easily understood, the character’s motives are clear, and many of the themes are as current today as they were in Shakespeare’s time. Therefore, it can be read on a variety of levels, allowing all students to enjoy it. Less able readers can experience the swash-buckling action and investigate the themes of parent-child conflict, sexuality, friendship, and suicide. Because of the play’s accessibility to teenagers, able readers can view the play from a more literary perspective, examining the themes of hostility ad its effect on the innocent, the use of deception and its consequences, and the effects of faulty decision making. They can study how the characters function within the drama and how Shakespeare uses language to develop plot, characters, and themes. The most able students can develop skills involved in literary criticism by delving into the play’s comic and tragic elements and its classically...
Words: 7462 - Pages: 30
