Examine how two different directors have portrayed Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet". Which is the most faithful to Shakespeare's original?

GCSE English

Romeo & Juliet Coursework

Romeo & Juliet Course-work

Examine how two different directors have portrayed Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet”.

Which is the most faithful to Shakespeare’s original?

Criteria:

Show insight about characters and action, language, ideas and themes, context and setting.

Analysis of techniques used to convey meaning.

Responses are supported by references (quotes)

Introduction

In this essay, I am going to analyse some scenes in Romeo and Juliet. I am going to compare two versions of Romeo and Juliet, one by Franco Zeffirelli in 1968 and the other by Baz Luhrmann in 1996 and conclude/say how I think Shakespeare would have presented his original.

These two productions were made a long time apart and hundreds of years after Shakespeare’s production, so neither could be one hundred percent faithful to Shakespeare, but

they were both very popular.

Zeffirelli went for the traditional method and tried to make his production as similar to Shakespeare’s as possible but made the film on a larger and more extravagant scale to please the audience at the time.

Luhrmann’s version of Romeo and Juliet is a very contemporary film aimed purely at today’s audience but still with the same dialogue which keeps the originality. This is also similar to Shakespeare but in a different way to Zeffirelli. Its techniques are similar to Shakespeare’s as Shakespeare used all the resources available at the time. If he was alive today he might have used all the resources available now and he could have made a film similar to Luhrmann's.

Both Luhrmann and Zeffirelli have similarities to Shakespeare. This is shown as Luhrmann and Zeffirelli’s aims were very similar to Shakespeare’s. Shakespeare’s aims were to entertain a contemporary audience, to be successful, make a living and leave his mark. He achieved all of these aims as his plays were extremely popular to the (contemporary) audience at that time which meant he made a good deal of money and the fact that I am studying his play today proves that he left his mark.

Shakespeare was different to other writers for many reasons. He aimed to get across an understanding of human nature and to explore issues like love, hate, ambition and self-doubt. These are the areas he focused on in many of his plays. In Romeo and Juliet, the main themes Shakespeare focused on were love and conflict. He also focused on the techniques with which these themes are conveyed.

I am going to focus on the conflict in Romeo and Juliet. Therefore, I will be studying the Prologue, Act 1 Scene 1 and Act 3 Scene 1. Shakespeare understood that ...

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I am going to focus on the conflict in Romeo and Juliet. Therefore, I will be studying the Prologue, Act 1 Scene 1 and Act 3 Scene 1. Shakespeare understood that conflict was also a big part. Conflict is the main factor which assures you that Romeo and Juliet’s love shall not prevail and that death and despair will be the result at the end.

The Prologue & Act 1 Scene 1

The (main) purpose of the Prologue and Act 1 Scene 1 is to introduce the play and its characters and tell you what is going to happen in the story.

The main theme in this scene is conflict.

In Shakespeare’s time, if a play was too slow or too boring (then) the actors would be pelted with rotten vegetables and the play would be a flop. Therefore, Shakespeare needed to get straight into the action and grab the audience’s attention. Apart from stopping them turning to throwing rotting materials, they would stop talking and get their imagination going. Shakespeare does this with the bawdy banter between Sampson and Gregory when we first enter the scene.

This banter leads to the opening conflict in which the main symbol of hate, Tybalt, is first introduced. This scene demands a lot of attention as movement, sound and dialogue are all very important here.

Zeffirelli uses the same methods as Shakespeare used in this scene with the Shakespearean dialogue, setting and clothes. He concentrates (in) on the scale of the conflict and spreads the fight (all) throughout the town keeping it very extravagant. As the scene ends with the entrance of the Prince and the declaration from him, you feel that it does not have a big impact and therefore the foresight from the Prince that Romeo will be banished which will lead to his and Juliet’s death is lost.

Zeffirelli does not concentrate on Tybalt as one of the main characters in this scene.

Luhrmann uses the same method as Shakespeare here, concentrating on grabbing the audience’s attention but he grabs the attention of his contemporary audience in the way people now want to see it. The other characters are introduced in the petrol station that could represent the market square or the confined area of the stage. Luhrmann really gets the point across of Tybalt representing hate but also being very religious.

Luhrmann introduces you to his methods and as now nobody uses swords in warfare, Luhrmann has been very inventive and has named the guns after swords and weapons. This gives the modern version of Romeo and Juliet a traditional feeling and lets the dialogue fit in with the actions.

[Quote] pass me my long sword.

Although Luhrmann uses a very different technique to Shakespeare, he still achieves the same effect and really projects the theme of hate. In Luhrmann's production, he cuts out a lot of the Shakespearean banter and concentrates a lot more on (the) action. (side of things) This is to keep the interest as we are now very visual people and do not care so much for narrative (talk). Also, in a film you can make exciting scenes with special effects and so you do not need so much dialogue (talking), whereas it is more difficult to activate (do) special effects in a theatre.

There is also conflict in Act 1 Scene 7 where Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time. In Luhrmann's film. after the valiant knight and beautiful angel have met, you think there is a ray of hope that may still get together and live happily ever after but the devil, as Tybalt is portrayed, appears and tries to cause trouble when he recognises Romeo's voice. This brings you back down to earth and makes you realise that wherever there is love, conflict will not be far away. This is similar in the other productions but the characters are portrayed differently.

Act 3 Scene 1

Romeo and Juliet have just been married. In this scene, Shakespeare wanted to immediately reinforce the idea that hatred will always overrun all other themes, in this case, love.

In this scene, the day is hot and Mercutio is restless. This builds tension although the Shakespearean dialogue includes a lot of humour and wordplay.

This is the pivotal scene of the story that sets up the already determined ending, where you know there is no chance.

In Zeffirelli’s portrayal, he is probably the closest in tone to Shakespeare as the humour is more obvious than in Luhrmann's film. Throughout the scene, Tybalt and Mercutio fight in a semi-comical manner. You can feel the tension gradually building and know that something is going to happen. When Tybalt stabs Mercutio, Tybalt has a real look of terror on his face which is what Shakespeare tried to achieve. The tension only really spills over when Romeo avenges Mercutio.

Zeffirelli uses an action-packed scene to show the impact in Verona in full (plain) view of all the people in the town. Therefore Romeo has gone against the Prince’s declaration and so Romeo will undoubtedly be banished.

Luhrmann nods towards the original context by using a stage for the main action which reminds you that this was originally shown by Shakespeare. There is a very strong feeling of hatred and danger, especially around Mercutio which shies away from what Shakespeare was trying to achieve. A lot of the dialogue is cut to keep the interest and there are a lot more actions. To keep the scene original and make the words fit, Luhrmann discards the guns as the main weapon and uses the broken mirror to cut Mercutio.

Shakespeare’s audience would have appreciated the dialogue much more and therefore would have preferred Zeffirelli's version.

At the end of this scene, we know that Romeo will be banished and therefore you know that Romeo and Juliet’s fate is sealed and their getting together is impossible.