Commentary on Romeo And Juliet Essay

In Shakespeares introduction, Romeo is telling Benvolio how depressed he is over Rosaline Alas, that love O brawling love! O loving hate! (in Act I, Scene i, Lines 168-173). This is supposed to tell the readers that Romeo is an emotional boy; on the other hand in the movie Romeo is shown writing a poem about Rosaline in his diary. The way Baz Luhrman did Romeos actions in that scene made the fans more attracted to the new Romeo instead of Shakespeares Romeo because he is shown very young, cute and emotional. But overall Baz Luhrman chose to present Romeo his way and not Shakespeares. One action that is similar in the play and movie is when Romeo kills Tybalt, however the major difference in the play is that he used a sword and in the movie it was a gun. Shakespeare tells the audience that Tybalt falls that means he gets stabbed by the sword in Act III, Scene i, Line 130 or 131. This is also critical because using a sword is not that bad instead of using a gun which is not acceptable. The last action is the balcony scene. In the play, Shakespeare shows Romeo climbing the wall below his loves window so Juliet could say her famous lines Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo no longer be a Capulet (in Act II, Scene ii, Lines 33-36, while in the movie Romeo does not climb or anything but stands beside the swimming pool and hears Juliets famous lines. That has a major impact because the balcony represents how Romeo and Juliet must fight through obstacles that get in their way just to see each other.

The second reason is Romeos appearance and style. Both in the play and the movie, Shakespeare and Baz Luhrman have shown Romeo being stylish, young and very cute looking; however there are many differences in the appearance and style of Romeo. The first one is when Romeo first meets Juliet. In the play Romeo first sees Juliet at Capulets party with the mask on and then takes it off to see her. Romeo says If I profane with my unworthiest hand touch with a tender kiss (Act I, Scene v, Lines 93-96), in contrast to the movie, Romeo is washing his face in the washroom without the mask and he sees Juliet through the fish tank which is two different settings and appearance. A difference in Romeos style would be the scene where Romeo and Juliet make love. In that scene in the movie when Juliet takes his clothes off, we can see Romeos body all bloody, hurt and also his muscles and 6 packs, whereas in the play Shakespeare never wrote anything about the wounds and his body. We know that Baz Luhrman changed the appearance of Romeo so more people to could see Dicaprios perfect and sexy body and got his chance by telling him to do that in that scene.

The last major reason is Romeos mood. For instance in the movie Baz Luhrman shows Romeo extremely upset when his friend Mercutio dies, whereas in the play William Shakespeare presents Romeo very angry and ticked off at Tybalt for killing his wise friend Mercutio and wants to get his revenge by killing Tybalt. Romeo says Alive, in triumph! and Mercutio slain! Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him (in Act III, Scene i, Lines 121-128). When the fans watch this scene when Mercutio dies they will think in their minds so cute or aw poor Romeo, but when people read the play they wouldnt necessarily say anything like that because we know from the play that Romeo is angry and not emotional. Another example would be before Romeo going to Capulets party. In the original play Romeo is suppose to be very confused, depressed about Rosaline and isnt sure of going to the party or not (in Act I, Scene iv Lines 1-49). Romeo says Is love a tender thing pricks like thorn, however in the movie, Romeo is having a good time watching Mercutio explaining to him and dancing at the same time like a crazy guy on drugs. This makes me think about how Baz Luhrman would actually put this instead of keeping the way Shakespeare wrote the queen mab speech. Romeos emotions/mood is very different from the emotion Baz Luhrman gave Romeo in this scene.