In this essay I will be discussing the theme of violence in the story of Romeo and Juliet. I have seen two versions of Romeo and Juliet. The first version I saw was the classic Zeferelle film.

Romeo and Juliet

In this essay I will be discussing the theme of violence in the story of Romeo and Juliet. I have seen two versions of Romeo and Juliet. The first version I saw was the classic Zeferelle film. The next Romeo and Juliet film I watched was the modern Baz Luhrman version, which stars Leonardo Dicaprio as Romeo.

The story of Romeo and Juliet is about two families that have an ancient grudge against each other. The Montagues and the Capulets. Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet. Romeo and Juliet fall in love and get married. The problem is that friendship between the two families is forbidden. Juliet’s cousin kills Romeo’s best friend so Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin. In the end Romeo thinks Juliet is dead so he kills himself. However it turns out Juliet isn’t dead and she wakes up to see her true love Romeo dead. Juliet is so upset she takes her life.

The main scene of violence is Act 3 Scene one, which involves the monstrous battle between Mercutio and Tybalt and then the avenging fight, Romeo versus Tybalt. Here is a detailed summery of the scene. Benvolio and Mercutio are in the street. Tybalt arrives, looking for Romeo. It’s a hot day; you can sense tension in the air. Mercutio provokes Tybalt, by saying “Could you not take some occasion without giving”. Romeo arrives in an extremely up beat mood as he has just married his true love Juliet. When out of the blue Tybalt begins to insult Romeo by saying “Thou art a villain” This means Tybalt is calling Romeo a criminal. Tybalt also says “ Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries that thou has done me, therefore turn and draw”, which means Tybalt is saying “that does not change the fact you hurt me, now turn round get out your sword ready”. But of course Tybalt is Juliet’s cousin and Romeo does not want to put his dream marriage on the line for a pointless argument. Therefore Romeo says to Tybalt “Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting.” Romeo is trying to explain to Tybalt that he cannot fight him because he is now part of his family, but Romeo cannot tell Tybalt he has married Juliet. Appertaining means appropriate.

Mercutio and Tybalt are confused and don’t understand why Romeo will not fight. As they have no idea that Romeo had just married Juliet. Mercutio is annoyed at Romeo and begins to fight with Tybalt. The fight goes on pretty equally and not as violent as I would expect. But then Romeo jumps in and stands between the two fighters to calm the situation. This decision would be the biggest regret of his life as all he does is distract Mercutio from the bout and Tybalt gets his chance. Tybalt lunges his sword at Mercutio and kills him.

...

This is a preview of the whole essay

You can tell a lot about Mercutio’s character from this scene. Mercutio is portrayed as always up for a fight, and always the joker. Even when Mercutio is on deaths door after Tybalt stabs him he is still acting like the clown. As Mercutio is stumbling up the town centre steps he says, “If you send for me tomorrow you will find me a grave man”. Also his friends ask if he is ok and he says “A scratch a scratch!” Even though he was at the time bleeding to death. This show Mercutio’s true personality, even when he is on deaths door he is cracking jokes.

After Romeo realises Mercutio is dead he feels very guilty and blames himself for his best friends death. Which in my opinion is partly right because if Romeo hadn’t got involved Mercutio might have stabbed Tybalt instead. Tybalt was trying to get Romeo but got Mercutio and in the film you can see the guilt on Tybalt’s face, which you don’t realise when you read the text. But on the other hand Romeo only got involved because he was worried about Mercutio.

Romeo can’t get the fact that Mercutio his best friend is dead and it’s his entire fault out of his head. He looses his head and all his common sense by the looks of it. There was no way he could think straight and he wasn’t concentrating on the consequences of his rampage. Romeo chases after Tybalt and begins to fight with him. Next, Romeo begins to turn very vicious and ends up killing Tybalt in a gruesome battle. After Romeo had murdered Tybalt he shouted “Oh! I am fortunes fool” which means go like lightening and he has been fooled by fate.

Romeo cannot believe the monstrosity he has committed. The Prince arrives and Benvolio has the task of explaining what had happened that fatal day. The Prince decides to banish Romeo from Verona.

I think the Baz Luhrman version portrays the theme of violence better. In this feature film they use incredible camera angles. They have included a lot of close ups like zooming into The bottom of the characters guns which have there family name on, There teeth, and particularly Tybalt’s boots. Like when he stubs out his cigarettes. I like the way they use guns instead of swords but they still use the original dialogue.

I think the Zeferelle version relates more to the original play by Shakespeare. But it’s fight scenes are not as gripping and exciting to watch as they are in Baz Luhrman version. In my opinion I think the background music to the fight scenes in this version fit the setting better whilst in Baz Luhrman’s version they have all ranges of music such as western, rock and pop. But during the fight scenes they have western songs which I believe make it look like a comedy and very amateurish. Which it certainly isn’t.

The thing I like the most in the Baz Luhrman version is the way they use a huge rock with a big hole in it to be associated with a proscenium, which is a stage. I think the director has chose to do this to remind people that Romeo and Juliet was originally a play performed at a theatre. Where Romeo visits to recall what has happened. I like the fact that they use guns instead of swords because it shows the level of violence that much more. Also it makes the scenes look even more dangerous, Swords don’t seem to have that much impact while Guns put you on edge.

In conclusion I believe that Baz Luhrman’s version of Romeo and Juliet relates to the present whilst the Zeferelle classic version relates more to Shakespeare times, which I suppose is more appropriate. Overall I think Baz Luhrman’s modern version portrays the theme of violence in Romeo and Juliet with much more excitement and has amazing camera angles, music, and acting. While Zefferelle’s version acts Romeo and Juliet out more like the original productions.

By Sarah Edwards