Romeo and Juliet - Disputes Between the Montague and Capulet Families

Romeo and Juliet - Disputes Between the Montague and Capulet Families

  • Submitted By: hardil
  • Date Submitted: 03/12/2009 5:38 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 779
  • Page: 4
  • Views: 860

Romeo and Juliet

The play Romeo and Juliet was written by Shakespeare in the late 1500’s. There has been an ancient grudge between the two families: The Montague’s and The Capulet’s. A pair of star crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, dies due to the hatred between the two families. Even though there are diverse ways to know the purpose of the play, such as reading the novel however, watching the two movies by Franco Zefferelli and Baz Lurhmann best represents Shakespeare’s intentions. This essay will compare “The Tomb Scene” from the two movies and highlight some key dissimilarities, similarities and illustrate how the old version by Franco Zefferelli best represents Shakespeare’s intentions in his scene.

There are some key dissimilarities among the two movies. The first difference that comes across is that in Franco Zefferelli’s version, Friar Lawrence, the priest, tries to take Juliet away from the crypt whereas, in the new version by Baz Lurhmann Friar Lawrence never shows up in the scene. In Zefferelli’s version, Friar Lawrence shows up at the crypt after 42 hours to take Juliet away since she wakes up at that time. When they were about to leave, Juliet sees Romeo’s dead body lying on the floor and she refuses to go back with Friar Lawrence. Whereas, in the latest edition of Romeo and Juliet Friar Lawrence does not appear in the scene. The director of the movie completely omitted a critical part of the movie. Another difference that separates the two movies is their setting. In the older version, entire movie has the setting of late 1500’s which is similar to the time when Shakespeare wrote the play. In Franco Zefferelli’s version, Juliet kills herself with a dagger. In this scene Franco Zefferelli showed us how Juliet actually died in the novel. In contrast, Baz Lurhmann’s version of Romeo and Juliet is very non authentic as most people drive cars and have the latest technology. This version represents the modern world we live in. Furthermore, in...

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