Love, Rebellion, Responsibility

Act 2&3 Impressions

My impression of act 2&3 was that there was a lot more drama and feelings that came through. The scenes were filled with love and compassion. While reading it was easy to see the longing that the two had for each other and how willing they were to risk it all to be together.

Reading Romeo and Juliet could be confusing at times. I often felt confused by the language. This made me create my own imagination of the story. So when it came to watching the movies I was very excited, as I got to finally see if my imagination was similar. Watching Romeo and Juliet was also a lot more interesting to watch Baz Luhrmann, it was a more modern sense to the movie. A bonus was that Leonardo Dicaprio portrayed Romeo. Zeffirelli’s movie seemed more accurate to Shakespeare’s writing and vision.

One thing that is still confusing to me is the Romeo, Mercutio, and Tybalt fight.  The whole situation did not make any sense. Mercutio fought Tybalt, and Mercutio died. Romeo was so upset about his friend’s death that he fought Tybalt. Then Tybalt was killed by Romeo. This was confusing because just a few moments previous Romeo said he loved him. Romeo had married Juliet the night before and they became family. Romeo told Tybalt that they should love each other now and end their feud.

Mapping out Juliet

Throughout the entire play, I’ve been taking lots of notes on Juliet’s character and how that interacts with her family. After reviewing my notes I have concluded that Juliet is a self-determining person. She doesn’t let other people’s opinions or directions control her. She would even lie to get her way. For example, Juliet’s father told her that she was to marry Paris and the nurse said that she should as well, knowing that she was married to Romeo. Juliet said

The Beginning of the End

Back to the Mercucio and Tybalt fight, this is where the end of Romeo and Juliet’s future ends. I thought about a few more things. They were each other’s demise. They were both likable characters and were killed off pretty quickly. I think that they were killed off because they both have a good bond with one side of the family. This would make the Capulets and the Montagues very angry thought they were killed. The capulets would be very angry with Romeo in the Montagues would be very happy with Romeo for seeking vengeance for Mercutio. I think that their deaths were necessary to thicken the plot of the story. It will also create more tension for both sides of the feud as well as Romeo and Juliet.

Zeffirelli vs. Luhrmann

I think that both Zeffirelli and Luhrmann’s movies had good and bad parts of their representation of the hatred and misfortune of these two. The one that best portrayed it, along with being my favorite was Zeffirelli’s. I like that this one or more like the play and it was less modern. He had the actors act the way Shakespeare wanted them to be. The only thing that was different was that Zeffirelli made his fight scenes longer and more intense. The fighting went on for a while and they made a few jokes. Romeo later chased down Tybalt to fight and kill him. The rest of the scene was very accurate to Shakespeare’s play.

Whos fault?

After I have read a majority of the play with knowledge of what’s left I believe that the blame of how the events occur has to go to Romeo and Juliet. They both knew what they were doing would not go well with their families. They had their goal to be together and did not plan their future well enough.