Fate was a big influence in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Creating an exponetional spiral of events that later lead to the eventual demise of the two star crossed lovers. This anyaltic Essay will be exploring how far fate had control on the world of Romeo and Juliet. Fate was also a very relatable “character” in the times of Shakespeare’s rule over entertainment. Since everyone in the Elizabethan times adhered to religion. Therefore plays and entertainment of that time had confer to this. This essay will explore how fate was used and how it was represented.I am also going to be talking about dramatic irony
” These violent delights have violent ends” is the warning that is given To Romeo by friar Lawrence , one of the main representatives of fate in Romeo and Juliet , he is the person that he tells first about Juliet. And he is also the person who wants the families to stop fighting. I also conclude not only is who the one who aids Romeo and Juliet and is a represent active of fate but also has a sub character of the ordinary man who just wants peace and the feud to stop. Romeo himself has a premonition about his death,” I fear too early, for my mind misgives, Some consequence yet hanging him the stars.” is one of the lines that Romeo says that is also a premonition. Premonitions are also very strenghting to the sense of dramatic irony and make it more suspenseful when something bad happens.
The play’s story line thrived on coincidence and the fact that it all seemed as if it was leding to an ultimate point something that would happen that would be a amazing twist, examples of the coincences are found through out the play.One of the main examples of coincedence is the fact that the servant who romeo and Benviolio meet is a sevant of the capulet house and alerts romeo to rosaline presence in the masquerade.
Juliet has only one premonition but it is a big one, she has a vision of them a coffin, when she is about to marry Paris and is having second thoughts . ” O god, I have ill divining soul! Methinks I see thee now, thou art so low, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyesight fails, or thou look’st pale.” As you can there is blantant symbolism but in Shakespeare’s times even blatant symbolism is better than no symbolism, there is the “thou art so low” which clearly indicates the fact the they are going to die and as in western civilization they are going to be in a coffin. There is also the “or thoust look pale”, which is what a body looks like after death. Also the fact that the dramatic irony and suspense Is strengthened Every time there is a premonition.
There were other reprensetives of fate but these were were the ones who had premonitions or predictions. This is the end of the segment of fate .
Next I’m going to talk about the wiliam shakespeares intentions and how the director of Romeo+Juliet, baz luhrmann fullfils them effectively.
The first obvious interpretation is guns instead of swords. Which is an effective modernisation of Romeo and Juliet age weaponry. They are also effective to create a larger sense of volatility since the they are more relatable to us at this time than daggers or swords.
Second is the fact that the prologue is replaced by a television newscaster an. By a dramatic montage of New Mexico and Veracruz since this is where the movie is set and the reason that the movie is filmed there because they are both known for there crime.
There are also some changes to the main story line like lord and lady caplet and montague were given names As opposed to the shakespeare original in which the names were never mentioned.Friar Lawrence became Father Lawrence. Prince Escualse became Captain Prince. There was also no Friar John, who was in the orignal play.
Also there were some plot details that were shifted like the fact that in the movie Juliet wakens as Romeo poisons himself and they see each other alive as he dies and then Juliet kills herself.
Both Shakespeare and Luhrmann endeavored to delight their audiences with beautiful costumes and familiar music, and to teach them with the basic moral precepts inherent in the story
Luhrmann’s costumes are also highly modernized. This opening scene finds the Montague boys parading around in Hawaiian shirts and sporting unnaturally colored hair, while the Capulet boys favor leather and metal-heeled boots. These are some drastic changes from the traditional Elizabethan wear of the time.
Finally, Musically in this act, the audience is provided with modern hip-hop, electric guitar sound effects, a nod to musical themes from spaghetti Western showdowns, and a chorus chanting a direct Latin translation of the play’s prologue. Luhrmann explains in an interview on the Music Edition of Romeo + Juliet that Shakespeare used all varieties of music to reach the highly varied audience in the Globe Theater: church music, folk music, and popular music of the times. Luhrmann echoes this in his version of the drama. Overall i think that Luhermann pulls of Romeo and Juliet beautifully and i think Shakespeare if alive now would be truly moved that his works of beauty are inspiring such works of creativitiy. Perhaps he has succeeded in capturing the soul, I think the one thing he could have improved in the film is that i dont think that ennui of people who were just watching as their city got ravaged by these two famlies’s hatred for each other was emphazied because in a movie you have a larger field of things you could do and i dont think he used that opputuinty very well. Overall he still captured the heart and soul of Romeo and Juliet and thats what counts.
This Is the Polymath
Signing Off