Mercutio And Juliet Comparison

There are very many differences between Mercutio’s death scene in two movie versions of “Romeo and Juliet”. There is the Franco Zeffirelli version, which was made in 1968 and the Baz Luhrmann version, which was made in 1996. William Shakespeare was the original writer of “Romeo and Juliet”. Mercutio’s death scene is a very important part of “Romeo and Juliet”. The differences between this scene in the two movies can completely change how the story unfolds and how the audience feels about certain characters. Weather is a major difference between these two movies. In the Zeffirelli version, it is always sunny. Since it is always sunny, it catches the audience by surprise when something bad happens. In the Luhrmann version, …show more content…
In the Zeffirelli version, Mercutio had a bad temper and was drunk, but he also seemed kind of playful. He started just playing around with the Capulets when they came into the scene. They mess with him in return, but he doesn’t take it as a joke. His bad temper kicks in and they draw their swords. His joking, playful side comes out again during the fight, and they just mess around, not exchanging any blows, until of course Mercutio is stabbed and dies. In the Luhrmann version, Mercutio is outgoing and playful, but has a bad temper as well. He was playful with the Capulets when they showed up, and as they joked back, he went to serious and mad like the other Tybalt. Unlike the Zeffirelli Tybalt, he never went back to being playful. He just got madder, and madder, and madder. These differences can change how the audience feels about Mercutio and whether he was really innocent, or if his death was on …show more content…
In the Zeffirelli version, he doesn’t take Mercutio and Tybalt’s fight too serious. He tells them to stop when they first start and fades into the crowd of onlookers until the end when he tries to stop them again and causes Mercutio’s death. After that he goes and kills Tybalt. Since Tybalt had accidentally killed Mercutio and Romeo killed Tybalt on purpose, that means that Romeo is the only real murderer in the movie. In the Luhrmann version, Romeo is constantly telling them to stop fighting and is beat up by Tybalt. This, and the fact that he was wearing white during this scene, makes Romeo seem very innocent. Romeo also murders Tybalt in response to Tybalt killing Mercutio. This makes it seem not as bad to the audience since he murdered in response to another one. The differences in these two versions can give the audience completely different views and feelings towards and about