Romeo & Juliet: Movie Vs Script

Essay by GroeneHigh School, 11th gradeA, December 2007

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Romeo and Juliet Comparative EssayWhat are the differences between the 1968 movie and the script?Romeo and Juliet is a well known play written by William Shakespeare. It is a tragedy and one of the most popular plays throughout the Western world. The play is about feuds, secrecy, love, hatred, imagery and miscommunication. Shakespeare wrote this play in the 16th century and since then there have been some minor and major changes in popular culture. The 1968 movie directed by Franco Zeffirelli has deviated from the script and he has also reflected the cultural and social changes in his version. Some of the changes were part of the director's vision; other changes were probably made to appeal to the youth. In comparison to the original script some scenes have been cut, others prolonged or even added to and the tone and emotions of some of the scenes have changed.

In the movie, Romeo and Juliet, some scenes have been cut out. This has been done for several reasons. One of them is to give more time to other scenes, but also to make the movie appeal more to the youth. An example of this is found in how Act 2 scene 3, the Friar's monologue is cut out. The modern audience would not want to listen to and watch this "boring" monologue. A couple of important scenes were also cut out, such as scene where Romeo intercepts the messenger with the names of the list, but also Paris' death. Another important scene that was cut out is the one where Romeo buys the lethal potion from the apothecary. I believe the cuts were made up to speed up the movie and also to reduce the number of subplots, such as the character Paris.

As I have mentioned before...