2-in-1 Reviews! ROMEO & JULIET

Search Amazon.com for romeo and juliet


Both of these reviews are of Romeo+Juliet, but one is of the 1996 Film Version (with Leonardo DiCaprio) and one is of the original play.

"For never was story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo." This line was spoken by the Prince in the play and told by the TV broadcaster in the flim version of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is a play that was written in 1592 by the great William Shakespeare. It was later adapted to film in 1996 by Baz Luhrmann. The play and the movie shared some simillarities along with some differences. Baz Luhrmann created a new take on the Romeo and Juliet story with differences in setting/plot and weaponry, but stayed relative with the language and characters.
In the movie, this classic love story takes place in Verona Beach, California (USA), but in the play, it takes place in Verona, Italy. The plot is different because neither the Friar or Paris are at the tomb when Romeo arrives in the movie, yet they both were in the play. In fact, in the play, Romeo killed Paris. So another difference is that Paris lives in the movie. When Romeo dies in the play, Juliet is still asleep and has not yet awaken from the posion, whereas, in the movie, Juliet is awake when Romeo takes his life. The means of Romeo taking his life vary as well, and the way Juliet takes her own life is also different. These are key points in the weaponry difference of the movie and play. Romeo buys a posion that he drinks to die in Shakespeare's version, but in Luhrmann's version he takes drugs to die. Juliet kills herself by stabing her stomach with Romeo's sword in the play and kills herself by shooting herself in the head in the movie. Two very different ways to die for the both of them.
Even though there were obvious differences between the two, there were also things that stayed the same, like the language and characters. Both are of old-tyme Elizabethan English. Baz probably kept the language the same for the movie to keep the storyline close to the classic. The characters also remained the same. With different characters, it would not be the Romeo and Juliet that people are familiar with and would be completely different. Romeo is still a Montague, Juliet a Capulet. Everyone still holds the same authority they did in the play as they do in the movie. With different styled language and new or different characters, Romeo and Juliet would not be Romeo and Juliet.

A tragedy is when a narrative ends unhappily. Baz Luhrmann created a sad, depressed mood for the last act of the 1996 movie, Romeo and Juliet, to emphasize the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. He created this mood by using a lot of candles as the lights in the church tomb. Sad music was also used to create this tone. The mood that I felt during this was sad. The mood led up to the sad ending of the deaths of Romeo and his Juliet. The death, the candles, and the music allow all the viewers of the film to leave feeling sad.
Language and characters remained the same in the 1996 take of Romeo and Juliet, while Shakespeare’s original and the movie differ in plot/setting and weaponry. The 1996 version was not the only film of Shakespeare’s classic. Another was produced in 1968, which stayed more along the lines of the play and was less adapted to modern times. I found the 1996 version to be much more entertaining and I enjoyed it more. I’d definitely recommend the 1996 version to anyone! Romeo and Juliet is not as bad a play or movie as I would have thought.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare:

Title:
Romeo and Juliet

Author:
William Shakespeare

Published:
1592 (originally; many more have been made since then)

Pages:
varies on which publisher you get it from

Genre:
Tragedy, Drama

Overall Rating:
3.8/5

My Thoughts:
This was really hard to understand, as the lanuage used was so old and everyone spoke in poems. But once I broke it down and understood the meanings of what was being said, it wasn't a bad story at all. I would recommend it for college students because of the hard langauge.

Romeo and Juliet the movie


William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo, and Harold Perrineau is a wonderfull recreation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I absoultely LOVED it and would reccomend it to anyone of any age! Go check it out today!
(Sorry this review was so short and not properly formatted! I'm a bit tired after typing that essay!)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dawn Colclasure Guest Post

Tricia Stewart Shiu Guest Post

Blogariffic Blog Hop Information Post!