Shakespeare, in this play, brought together love and hate, showing them to be very different, but also very close. Hatred brings one Capulet to love one Montague. But the hatred creates a love so strong, that they are willing to be dead together, than to be alive and apart. It shows that a strong enough love cannot be broken, even by pure hatred between two families. Juliet was only 14 at marriage and Romeo was only 16, pure love at this age and the willing to die for each other is extremely rare, which improves the importance of Shakespeare’s meaning.
At the start of the play Juliet is very obedient towards her parents and does everything that they say to her. By the end of the play Juliet becomes less obedient, refusing to marry Paris, whom her father wants her to marry. She is closer to her Nurse than anybody else and they both know everything about one another. This shows that when she was born, her Nurse was brought into the family; Juliet’s mother gave all responsibilities to the Nurse, who looked after her. When speaking to her parents, she uses very formal language and it does not seem like a family speaking, but to her Nurse she speaks informally, showing a great trust and love has developed with them, as if she were Juliet’s mother herself.
When she meets Romeo for the first time at her family’s party, she falls in love at once with him. Romeo sees her and also falls in love at first glance. She begins to change at this point and refuses to marry Paris, whom her father wishes her to marry. She changes to a different person altogether.
The different productions of this play that I have seen are a modern one, put into theory of the 20th century and one filmed in the 20th century, but had the same theory of Shakespeare had.
The first one, the modern one, used guns instead of swords, but the guns were always named after the different types of swords in the play. They use cars instead of horses, and the priest sends the telegram to Romeo by UPS, not by horseback with a monk.
The second one, set in Elizabethan times, shows the play exactly as it was wrote by Shakespeare, swords where used, horses where used and the telegram to Romeo was sent by horseback with a monk, like the book.
My favourite of the two is the first one, put into modern perspective, because it is the type of film that I like.
The audience throughout this production would be outstanded at the change in Juliet from the start to the end. How she could be like that to her father after all the years that he has paid for her belongings and food. To keep her protected for 14 years, away from the violence and she repays him by refusing to marry Paris. With whom she would be very happy, if only she hadn’t met Romeo that night.
I think the way that Juliet changes is against all that her family has done for her and should remain loyal to her family, instead of to her feelings.
The writer, Shakespeare, makes this story successful, showing that true love, triumphs over anything and everything. He makes us believe that what Romeo and Juliet are doing, being wed without the permission of their parents, is actually right and that there was no other choice.
