An essay analysis of Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

The following example essay on “Romeo And Juliet” is an analysis of a literary work by William Shakespeare. The essay reveals the plot of the play and talks about the main characters.

This essay is about Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is a play, by William Shakespeare around 1595. It is a play about two star-cross’d lovers both in families that hated each other, the Capulets and Montagues. The main themes in this play are love, hate and conflict.William Shakespeare used language and characters in act three, scene one to create dramatic impact by the way the characters spoke in act three, scene one.

Mercutio plays with words and talks like the whole thing is a joke when it is quite the opposite. This creates dramatic irony when he is killed, because the way he was talking before and after he was stabbed, it seemed he was only joking around so when he died it was a shock. Mercutio said,”Consort, what dost thou make us minstrels.

”Mercutio was trying to provoke Tyblat, we know this because Mercutio says,”A word with one of us, couple it with something, make it a word and a blow.”This also creates dramatic impact because Tybalt refuses he said,”You will find me apt enough for that sir, and you will give me occasion.”This gives Mercutio and Tybalt dying even more of a dramatic impact because Tybalt did not want to fight Mercutio in the first place.Something else that adds to the dramatic impact in Benvolio speech at the beginning of Act three scene one.

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Benvolio says,”I pray thee good Mercutio lets retire, the day is hot, the Capels are abroad, and if we meet, we shall not ‘scape a brawl, For now these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.”The words he uses are very dramatic. Hot could have more than one meaning and the fact that is repeated makes it very important. Hot could mean literally the weather is hot or that people are likely to be hot headed, it also could symbolize passion and anger. “Mad blood” makes use think of madness and bloodshed which could happen.

When Tybalt and Mercutio are shouting at each other before Romeo enters Benvolio says,”We talk here in a public haunt of men.”This creates dramatic tension, because it reminds us of the princes warning in act one.When Romeo enters and says,”Tybalt the reason I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage”This is dramatic because there is such a contrast between love and hate. Tybalt is talking about fighting and Romeo starts talking about love.

This confuses Tylbalt and makes him even angrier.Shakespeare also used the characters to create dramatic tension. He portrays Mercutio as someone who can loose his temper easily. This creates tension in act three, scene one because we know this and he is nearly in a fight. Also Tybalt is shown as someone who can be argumentative in the opening scene when the montagues and capulets are fighting in the street. In act one Benvolio is trying to stop the fight and tybalt says to him,”What drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all montagues and thee: Have thee a coward.”We have also seen that Romeo can be temperamental.

One minuet he is unhappy and gloomy and the next he is delighted and in love.Before act three, scene one starts we know there could be a fight between Romeo and Tylbalt because Tybalt had sent Romeo a challenge. This shows Tybalt wants a fight.When Lady Capulet says,”I beg for justice, which thou, prince must give. Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live”This creates tension because we Know Romeo dies and we know the prince said anyone fighting in the streets would be killed. So Romeo could be killed now. Also she says it in rhyme which shows she is saying something very important. When Benvolio retells the story it reminds us of what happened.We know it was all Tybalts fault.

The prince however does not know all the details even after Benvolio has told him what happened. This means we do not know how the Prince will react this also creates tension. When the Prince passes sentence he is adamant that under no circumstances he will change his mind, he says,”I will be deaf to pleading and excuses”The Prince also says he can not pardon murderers because if he does everyone might start killing. He says.”Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.”Zeffierlli and Luhruman are both film directors. They both directed different versions of Romeo and Juliet. Zeffierlli directed his version in 1968 and Luhurman directed his in 1997.

I am going to discuss the ways they both directed act three, scene one and which had more dramatic impact and why.The ways in which Zeffirelli and Luhurman present act three scenes one are very different. I feel the Luhruman production had the most dramatic impact, because firstly it was set in the modern world so I could relate to it more than the Zeffirelli, which was set in the time of Shakespeare. Also in the Luhruman version there was more atmosphere, the weather was more dramatic, there was a storm brewing when the Capulets came and after Mercutio died it broke into a huge storm.

In the Zeffirelli version it is not very interesting the characters do not change their appearance or their mood. In the Luhruman version however the characters changed dramatically one minute they were happy the next they were angry and emotional. Their appearance also changed greatly they were a lot more upset and some were crying. This helps build tension because you can tell someone had been hurt.In the Zeffirelli production there was no music to add to the atmosphere. Where as there was in the Luhruman there was a lot of music which helped to build up the tension, especially when Tybalt was hitting Romeo trying to make him fight.In the Zeffirelli scene it is very hard to tell the different characters apart because they are all dressed in the same way.

In the Luhurman scene the characters are dressed very differently. Even if you do not know which family the characters belong to (Montague or Capulet) you can tell by the clothes they are wearing and by the way they acted. The montagues wore bright shirts and were more carefree. The Capulets wore black and had tattoos they were very serious. This could represent that the Capulets were tough and evil.In the Luhurman version the camera was used to help create tension as well.

The camera used close-ups to create tension for example when Tybalt was beating up Romeo. The close- up was on Romeo’s face. This dramatic because we can see the blood on his face and we can see he did not want to fight and he was not angry. When Romeo shot Tybalt it was slow motion, which made us, think about what was happening. Also the camera paused on the gun for a few seconds which was very dramatic but what made it even more dramatic was the picture of Mary (mother of Jesus) on the handle. This showed how something good could be used for something so evil.

When Romeo shot Tybalt after we head the shot ring out we did not hear anything else until Romeo dropped the gun on the ground. This creates tension because we did not know what is going to happen next.In Both the Zeffirelli and the Luhurman version there was another scene put in act three, scene one. In the Zeffirelli version it was put in just after Romeo killed Tybalt.

It was Act three, scene two when Juliet heard that Romeo (her Husband) had killed Tybalt (her cousin). Juliet was very upset and confused. First she blamed Romeo, then she blamed Tybalt. She says,”Shall I speak ill of him that is my poor husband? Ah poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name.”In the end she takes Romeo’s side. In the Luhurman version it was put in after Mercutio died and Romeo killed Tybalt. It is also act three, scene two but it is before Juliet knows Tybalt is dead. Juliet is saying how wonderful Romeo is.Luhurman decided to have act two flashing in and out of scene one because it gives the scene more tension. Juilet says,”Give me my Romeo, and when I shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars.”This shows how much Juliet loves Romeo.

Then we saw Romeo driving through Verona, screaming. We then saw Juliet inside in her white bedroom with holy statues behind her. This shows she was innocent and pure. We then saw Romeo outside in the dark and rain killing someone in front of a church with a gun, which has a holy picture on it. This is dramatic irony because we knew something Juliet did not know.In the Luhurman version it was more violent. There was a lot more blood and the fighting was more real.

The colours were also more violent they were mostly red and black, which symbolizes evil. For example in the sky after Mercutio died it was red and black.There were also fewer characters in the Luhurman production. There were only the main characters that were very upset. Unlike the Zeffirelli version where there were a lot of people who were not that upset. It was easier to understand the Luhurman version because of this.In the Zeffierlli version the fight was not taken seriously.

The entire crowd was laughing like it was just a show. So when they took the bodies to the Prince I felt it was unfair how everyone suddenly turned serious, and the Prince gave a too strong a sentence. My reason being that from what I had seen it was all a joke. In the Luhurman version however the fight always seemed serious and nothing was done by accident as in the Zeffirelli version. I felt it was more realistic. I also felt the sentence the Prince gave (even though it was the same) was fair according to what I had seen.They way Lady Capulet said,”I beg for justice, which thou, Prince must give.

Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live.”This was much more dramatic in the Luhurman scene. Lady Capulet said it crying in the rain without a great crowd behind her like in the Zeffirelli version. I felt it sounded like she meant what she was saying in the Luhurman version.I have enjoyed reading this play but I feel I would of enjoyed it more if I had not of had to write about it. This was one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays so everyone knows the story. I think this helped because at least I had some idea of what I was reading. I think I wrote about the best part of the play.

It was the pivotal point of the story and the most interesting. Without this part, the play could have gone any way and I do not think that the play would be as good without this part. I think now I have read William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and understood it.That I will be able to understand and enjoy his other works as well. Many other people have been influenced by this play and it is the main theme in most love films. I think the reason most, young people know the story of Romeo and Juliet is because of the film made in 1997 directed by Baz Luhurman. This helped the younger generation understand Shakespeare. So they may be interested in the wonderful world of Shakespeare and pass it down to the next generation so Shakespeare can live forever.