Romeo and Juliet, Film and Litelature

These are the opening words of William Shakespeare's ageless tale Romeo and Juliet. Over the years many people have proved the timeless relevance of Shakespeare's themes present in this particular play. The film industry in particular has produced numerous versions of Shakespeare's enduring classic. No matter how the play is interpreted, however, the themes of the play remain intact. Although Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, has been portrayed in numerous films with different interpretations, nevertheless, the underlying themes remain the same because they are universal themes that speak to certain aspects of humanity that have not changed.

Romeo and Juliet is the ultimate tale of love that is too great to bear. It has often been described as a triumph of dramatic lyricism. Because of this, love is the predominant theme throughout the play. Another theme that Shakespeare uses in the play is hatred. The original play revolves around the conflicts between two feuding families, the Capulet's and the Montague's. The themes of death and violence also enter

The fight scene is probably the most influential point in the play, as it is the turning point from good to bad, all seems well until this scene. At the start we see Mercutio, Benvolio, and some Montague servants, they talk of how they want to go home after the day has been a long one, but their minds change when the Capulets arrive. The Montagues seemed worried, they fear that maybe the Capulets are mad that they sneaked into the Capulets party, but it seems that is not the reason. Mercutio stirs trouble with Tybalt, but Tybalt doesn´t really want to hurt Mercutio, as he knows he´ s not very serious, and Mercutio isn´t a Montague, but Tybalt however wants a word with Mercutio´ s good friend, Romeo. Tybalt settles the quarrel with Mercutio when Romeo turns up on the scene. Tybalt accuses Romeo of being a villain, Romeo tries to reason with Tybalt, and even goes as far as saying ‘And so good Capulet, which name I tender as dearly as my own, be satisfied´. Mercutio cannot believe this, he calls it a vile submission, and so shows a little more hatred towards Tybalt. I think he is doing this because at the start of the scene, we see he is bored, and restless, so I think that this may be a way of keeping him entertained and occupied for a while. As a good friend of Romeo, Mercutio would do what a good friend would do, and stick up for Romeo. Tybalt beats Romeo down before Mercutio intervenes. This shows the audience that this is a good reason for Mercutio to intervene, Back to the play, and we soon see that Romeo doesn´t want to see anybody get hurt, so he reminds the two men of what the Prince said about fighting in the streets, but the fight continues, but Tybalt takes it one step further and fatally wounds Mercutio. The set changes on the Luhrman version when Mercutio staggers up to an old stage, the clouds gather quickly over the skies as the previous blue sky disappears, this is when the audience knows when something is wrong. Tybalt, Romeo and the rest of the characters think that Mercutio, being the joker that he is, is just pretending and faking his wound to try and teach the two families a lesson and we see that Mercutio may be playing when he tells us that his wound is nothing but a scratch. Romeo says that Mercutio should be a little more courageous, and that his wound cannot be much, but Mercutio knows himself that he is doomed. We know this because Mercutio says, ‘Ask for me tomorrow and you will find me a grave man´. As Mercutio is dying, he puts the lame upon Romeo, and asks why he came into the fight between him and Tybalt. As Mercutio finally passes away, Romeo uses a sense of irony in his words when he says ‘This days black fate on mo day´s doth depend´. He is telling us that he knew in the back of his mind he knew that something would go wrong. Tybalt then proceeds to where Romeo and Benvolio are standing, another fight and Romeo delivers a fatal wound to Tybalt. This is carried out differently in Luhrman version, after Mercutio is slain, Tybalt tries to escape in a car. And Romeo follows him. The action is fast and furious with a lot of camera work on the two men´s eyes again, the music is very up-tempo as well. Romeo crashes his car into Tybalt´ s car. The two make their way out of the wreckage and Tybalt pulls out his gun. The rain starts pouring down and this is another sign that something bad is about to happen. The two men fight until Tybalt drops his gun. Out of pure hatred for killing his best friend, Romeo executes Tybalt with his own gun. Benvolio asks why Romeo is staying, as he fears for his brother´s life, the two men then speed away.

The scene of the balcony is the second of the love scenes, and as you go through the play they all have things in common that you notice. For example, when the love scenes take place, the two lovers are always separated from the chaos that surrounds them, the fish tank, the lift, and the balcony scene, later on we see a few more examples of this sim

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