Romeo and Juliet is such an iconic romance story that almost all high school students end up reading it, at one point. Here are some of my thoughts…

First Impressions

I’ve read the first act of Romeo and Juliet and so far it has been exactly what I expected. The writing of Shakespeare is challenging to read. I struggled to read it the first time, and I also did not comprehend much of the text. This left me very confused and frustrating to continue reading. After I had read the entire first act for the first time, I found a solution to my problem. My teacher in my English class had given us a website that put Shakespeare’s words into more modern English. The website is called No Fear Shakespeare.

Another thing I noticed was the feeling. When you hear of Romeo and Juliet you instantly think of this tragic romance of two star-crossed lovers.  As I was reading I instantly picked up the feeling that Shakespeare wanted us to have. I could almost feel the pain that Romeo had when he couldn’t be with Rosaline. There was another moment of feeling that came through the text was when Romeo came across Juliet. There was almost a feeling of satisfaction when he saw her like he knew she was the one.

Love at First Sight

In the paragraph above I mentioned how the feeling came across when Romeo and Juliet met. This was obviously love at first sight. This leads me to question what love at first sight really is. Personally, I have never experienced love at first sight, but I do believe that this happens. Love at first sight seems to be based on a visual aspect of someone.  While reading this I thought that love couldn’t be true if it was all based on looks, until I read “O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.” (Romeo and Juliet 1. 5. 118) This showed how he truly loved her. He knew he could get in trouble because she is supposed to be his enemy, but she is worth it to him.

Juliet Capulet

There are three forces in the play, there is love, hate, and family. I have been taking notes on the Capulet family. Juliet’s family so far has had a huge impact on the story. The Capulet’s have a feud with the Montague family. This makes it impossible for Romeo and Juliet to be together. Juliet is a very self-determined girl. Her family has a lot of things they try to push on her but she doesn’t let them control her. She will follow her path, even if it upsets her family.

Luhrmann vs. Zeffirelli

There are two Romeo and Juliet movies that I have seen clips from act one. Even though these are the from the same story and have the same script they are two very different movies.

The different stories of Romeo and Juliet have their differences, one example of this is the when Romeo met Juliet. When Romeo and Juliet meet in Zeffirelli’s it is at the party it’s almost exactly like the original story. In Luhrmann’s, Romeo and Juliet meet in a more modern and casual way. They were divided but turned a corner meeting eyes, after seconds of talking they kissed. They were clearly in love and show passion towards each other. In Zeffirelli’s the two stared at each other from across the dance for a while, later Romeo pulls Juliet behind the curtain. They talk for a bit and later kiss.

A second example is the setting, Zeffirelli’s vision and Luhrmann’s vision of the story make like they are two different stories but they contain the same plot. The setting of the movie is what separates the two apart the most. In Zeffirelli’s movie, the setting, costumes, and music all were set to look like the original time period. In Luhrmann’s movie the setting, costumes, and music were all set to a more recent setting.

As I continue to read I question, how are the two families going to react to their love? What type of preventions will take place to keep them apart?