Examine the themes of conflict and love in Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' and how they are portrayed by Baz Lurhmannin in his film production of the text (1997). You should pay attention to dramatic effectiveness and use of language.

Examine the themes of conflict and love in Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and how they are portrayed by Baz Lurhmannin in his film production of the text (1997). You should pay attention to dramatic effectiveness and use of language.

I will be examining act 1 scenes 1 and 5, act 2 scene 2 and act 3 scene 5 because they will show a balance of love and conflict where the two families are fighting but also there is deep love between one person from the Capulet family (Juliet) and one person from the Montague family (Romeo) They are in love with each other but cannot be together because they are in different families this conflict occurs throughout the play and causes hell for the two families.

The purpose of the prologue is to set the scene and inform the watcher/reader what is happening between the two families. Shakespeare presents the prologue in the form of a poem and it has rhyming couplets. In the film the prologue is presented in the form of news reports and newspaper headings, he does this to make the play seem modern day and to make it like conflict has been happening a lot in the time of the film. The reporter talks about the conflict as if its nothing different from what happens very often.

Act 1 Scene 1

This scene contains a conversation between Sampson and Gregory in which

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Act 1 Scene 1

This scene contains a conversation between Sampson and Gregory in which

They argue with each other that shows their violent nature they also joke about taking women’s virginity (raping them). Benvolio’s role in this scene is as a peacemaker he doesn’t want to fight and he doesn’t want anyone else to fight either so he tries to stop all the fights. Tybalt is shown as a bad man in this scene he hates the Montague’s and the first thing he says shows this. The prince is the person that has the power to stop everything in the film he is show as a policeman I think this is a very good character to show him as because policemen have authority and have the power to stop someone from doing something. Also in the second half of the scene Benvolio and Romeo are talking about love and in the film there is soft lighting and silhouettes and drawings on the blackboard of hearts with arrows through them with Romeo’s name on it, but its not Juliet’s name as well it’s a girl from the Montague family that he’s meant to be marrying.

Act 1 Scene 5

The mood of the guests at the party is careless everyone is happy and no one cares about anything they just want to have a good time. Tybalt feels infuriated about Romeo’s intrusion and he wants to fight Romeo but his uncle demands him not to this shows conflict between Tybalt and his uncle, in this scene Tybalts uncle is dressed as Caesar who was a Greek king, which shows status, and Tybalt is dressed as a devil, which shows that he is evil. When they find out they are born enemies they just stare at each other in devastation and Lurhmann puts colder lighting into this part of the scene to show that they are distraught.

Act 2 Scene 2

The intense feelings of love are shown in the film when Romeo and Juliet fall in the swimming pool and start “loving” each other. Romeo loves Juliet so much that he says he would “Deny thy father and refuse thy name” which basically means he would not be part of that family and leave his parents just to be with her.

Act 3 Scene 1

In this part of the play Romeo changes from a very passive anti fighting character to an aggressive person who wants to kill Tybalt. Dramatic irony plays a large part in this play for instance when the audience know Juliet is married but no one else does and when the letter is delivered in the film and Romeo doesn’t get it and the audience know that Juliet has taken a sleeping potion but everyone in the play thinks she’s dead. The setting of this film is good because it is surrounded in religious symbols like the statue of Jesus and lots of churches and tombs. The use of sound effects is very good because it is like holy music that they use but they use different sorts to create different atmospheres. Another interpretation by Lurhmann is when Romeo kills Tybalt he falls into the water in the shape of a cross.

Act 3 Scene 5

Baz Lurhmann includes the scene of the night before and the bed the following morning because it brings the film more up to date and consummates marriage so makes the marriage more obvious to the audience. Juliet’s thoughts and feelings when Romeo leaves the chamber are that she would rather be dead than live a day without him, and she doesn’t want him to leave. The relationship between Juliet and her father I would describe as distant as in he doesn’t really love her very much and he only wants what is best for him and he doesn’t want her mixing with the Montague’s, There is a sense of abandonment from her mother because she says that if Juliet gets married to Romeo then she is not longer a part of the family and her mother wants nothing to do with her. When Juliet tells her father she doesn’t want to marry Paris her father hits her this shows the threat of physical violence in her family and shows that her father has a very shoe temper.

Conclusion

This story has many aspects of love and conflict I would say there is more love than conflict although there is a lot of conflict it isn’t as intense as the love side of the story and love, and you could say that conflict dominates but as the love is so intense I would say that it is slightly more about love than conflict. I feel that the Baz Lurhmann interpretation of Romeo and Juliet is much more effective as it is a film and a picture paints a thousand words and I find books very boring and things are conveyed much better if there is an image to go with it.