Romeo And Juliet With Zeffirelli Essay, Research Paper

William Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet interpreted by Zeffirelli are two

versions of a classic tale of two young lovers. In reading Shakespeare?s Romeo

and Juliet and viewing Zeffirelli?s Romeo and Juliet one becomes aware of many

differences between them. Although the basic storyline remains the same, the

differences are obvious. These differences can be found in the setting,

characters and their speeches, and the culmination of the story. These

differences between the versions produce two entirely different interpretations

of the story. Zeffirelli changed the story by changing important scene by use of

omitting characters or switching the order of the events. For example in Act V,

when the Prince gave his final speech, Friar Laurence was supposed to be present

to give his own confession, but was left out by Zeffirelli?s version. This

left the explanation of why the lover?s were truly dead for the watchers to

question. Shakespeare had Montague raise a statue in Juliet?s honor,

signifying the end of their feud. Zeffirelli, on the other hand, chose only to

show the two lords together making for a weaker end. The omission of characters

from important scene was not the only change noted between the two. Zeffirelli

also took poetic license in the creation of Romeo and Juliet. He gave his lines

to characters when in Shakespeare they were spoken by another. This was shown

during the party scene, Act I, scene V when Lord Capulet was to rebuke Tybalt

and call him?…….saucy boy………? The line was instead given to Lady

Capulet. This exchange of lines between the characters does not always help in

the understanding of the story. The use of adding lines to characters created

different personalities and gave the characters greater insight than in

Shakespeare?s version. It added in helping understand the character?s

motives more. Zeffirelli also had some positive differences than that of

Shakespeare. Since the setting was in the same time period as Shakespeare?s

rendition the reader could visualize the environment and dress of the era. This

made the characters and story more life-like than trying to picture it from a

written page. Zeffirelli also ?fleshed-out? the characters, giving them more

depth and emotion than in Romeo and Juliet. This is shown when the nurse goes to

Juliet and finds her ?dead.? She runs out of Juliet?s chamber screaming

and flailing her arms in a frenzy. The audience was able to interact with the

characters and their emotions by seeing Romeo and Juliet visually, also making

the language more understandable. An example of this is when Romeo kills himself

and Juliet sees him, hears guards, and you are able to see Juliet frantic. As a

result of this, the scene is made more complete, causing the audience to

experience greater tension than reading the play. Even though Zeffirelli gave

more definition to some characters, Shakespeare?s Romeo and Juliet was more

enjoyable. Although he did not give as much information as to what was

happening, he allowed the reader more freedom to interpret the situations on

their own. Without the reader having readShakespeare?s Romeo and Juliet most

of the symbolism in Zeffirelli?s version would not have been understood. The

two different authors used a variety of techniques to change the story or to

have the audience understand the siuations. Though they may seem different at

times, the storyline never changes, it always remains about two young lovers who

tragically die as a result of snap-decisions.