Professor Wolfe Markham
English Composition 2
24 July 2014
Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespears’ “Romeo and Juliet” is a wonderful play about two star crossed lovers. Shakespear is known to many as the greatest play writer of all time, as he is always able to fill his stories with some amazing word play, dual meanings, jokes, allusions, and themes that still apply to readers today. The play itself has inspired famous movie directors to adapt the film and put their own twists on it. The love story tragedy has inspired a present day version of Romeo and Juliet created by Baz Luhrmann. The movie, entitled “Romeo + Juliet” takes place in Verona Beach, Florida, which is a word play on the original setting of the play, Verona, Italy. Luhrmann does an excellent job in creating the perfect modern day movie depiction for the play. He is able to create a masterpiece that would make shakespear himself approve of. Luhrmanns movie gives us a modern day version of the play, and is able to recreate scenes from the play with spot on accuracy. He uses characters that perfectly portray how a reader would imagine them in their mind. Also, his clever use of setting, mood and atmosphere all help to make it …show more content…
For example, in the duel between Mercutio and Tybalt, Mercutio is stabbed or “scratched” by Tybalt and proceeds to die. It went from being a nice day to dark and gloomy at the start of the fight. When the fight was over, Mercutio retreated towards the sea where there were large waves and thunderstorms. The storms signified the impending doom that was falling on Romeo and both the Capulets and Montagues. During the storm, Mercutio exclaims “a plague on both of your houses”, cursing each family. When Romeo gets his revenge in the duel against Tybalt, after Romeo shoots him, thunder strikes and the noise goes silent and intensifies. You can hear a pin drop which makes it very