Romeo and Juliet, the dramatic love story everyone knows.
Many times the play by William Shakespeare is compared to the movie produced by Baz Luhrman. Most always when movies are compared to the books, the books are better, but not quite in this case. Yes, the play is very good as well as the movie, but the play has its great parts, and its not so great parts as well. Just like the movie, it also has its good parts also many things that are the same in both the movie and play, but of course they have changed and bad parts.
There are things from the play when made into the movie.The play and movie are both great but have their strengths and weaknesses. At the Capulet party Romeo and Juliet meet. This happened the same in both the movie and play. Romeo is there at the party with his friends Mercutio and Benvolio.
At this time he is in love with a girl named Rosaline, but not for long. As simple as it may seem Romeo falls in love with just a look at Juliet. As he asks her to dance and the talk about kissing, Romeo and Juliet have their first kiss, and certainly not their last. Romeo and Juliet kiss again.
Until the nurse arrives and takes Juliet away.The play did a better job in the story because it gives the detail needed to imagine everything, and once it is imagined nothing can ever compare. In both the movie and the play Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, did not get along with Mercutio, Romeo’s dear friend. One day, the day that Romeo and Juliet secretly got married actually. Tybalt and Mercutio were fighting, and it got out of hand just as Romeo appeared.
Romeo was now standing between his new cousin and his long time dear friend. Now in the play Tybalt stabbed Mercutio right in the side with a sword while reaching under Romeo’s arm. But in the movie he stabbed Mercutio with a piece of roken glass. Then while Romeo stood there in astonishment, he was taken over by anger. He avenged his friends’ death by fighting back at Tybalt, and causing him an untimely death.
This was the same in both the movie and the play, but the movie was better than the play, because it was more dramatic and visual. One of the changes in the movie from the play was how Romeo found out about the Capulets party, which is where he met Juliet. In the play Romeo was just there at the right time, when a serving man came up to him and asked, if he could read and Romeo said yes, so Romeo read the invitation of the party.As the serving man was so grateful for Romeos help he said “Now, I’ll tell you without asking. My master is the great rich Capulet; and if you not be the house of Montagues, I pray, come and crush a cup of wine.
Rest you merry! ” (Shakespeare page 17). So Romeo attends the party, avoiding the fact he is a Montague. The movie on the other hand, Romeo found out about the party while he was playing pool, and a commercial came on as an invitation to the party. The play was much better because it was more fit for the time period, and it was more romantic in a way because if Romeo had not been there he would never find out about the party.It was like fait brought them together.
The best and probably one of the most famous parts of Romeo and Juliet is the end, they both sacrificed their lives to be together forever. Now in the play, Romeo goes to Juliet’s grave site to say his goodbyes to his love, and to rest him with Juliet before he drinks the poison so his body will be with hers. As this happens in the play Romeo drinks the poison just minutes before Juliet wakes up from her “death”. In the play Juliet wakes up and says “O comfortable Friar, Where is my lord? I do remember well here I am suppose to be, and there I am.
Where is Romeo? ” ( Shakespeare page 114). But this scene in the movie was just barely different, though it made a very big impact on the ending. While Romeo drank the poison, Juliet woke up. Then just laid there in the coffin as Juliet stares into Romeos eyes as he stared back while slowly losing air, and unable to breathe. The movie made such a great dramatic effect on the ending because it means if Juliet had woken up 2 seconds earlier, or if Romeo had waited 2 seconds longer to drink the poison they could have been together.That’s why the movie made this scene much better.
The movie and play are equally balanced when it comes to which is better. It is just too difficult to choose when they have things that happen the same like when Romeo and Juliet met, or the big fight between new family and dear friends. Or the things that make them so much better. Such as the play when Romeo finds out about the party, or the movie when 2 seconds could change eternity for the secretly married couple. Those are the reasons why the play is better than the movie, and the movie is better than the play.
