" Bernstein's musical is unapologetically topical, dealing with the 1950s obsession with juvenile delinquency and even common theories to explain it, as in the song "Gee Officer Krupkie" which suggests alternatively that delinquency is caused by society, psychology, and also a young thug being "no damn good." While Shakespeare's conflict between young desires and old hatreds and resistance to change could apply to a variety of contexts, from ancient times as in the case of Pyramus and Thisbe, to the lovers of Brooke's history of Italy, to New York City gangs, to Bosnia, Bernstein's specific focus on the linguistic differences between Puerto Ricans and whites in their speeches and songs, the significance of juvenile crime in American society, and specific cultural ideals like that of 'making it' in America would make it difficult to, for example, set "West Side Story" in another place and time, as many filmmakers and playwrights have done with "Romeo and Juliet," as in Baz Luhrmann's 1996 modernization of the aesthetic, if not the language of the Shakespearean tragedy. Bernstein, to make the tale more plausible to a contemporary setting, also made some notable alterations, namely the absence of adults in the story. While in "Romeo and Juliet," the parents of both lovers are just as determined to wage familial warfare as the quarreling servants in the street and the angry young men engaged in dueling (particularly Old Capulet, who tries to force his daughter to marry Paris), there are no parental figures in "West Side Story" urging the young people to fight. Rather, the absence of caring and responsible parental figures is part of the tragedy. There is only Bernardo, who is still extremely young, almost as young as Maria (although he perceives himself as her guardian), who is roughly the same age as Tony. Doc, the 'Friar Lawrence' figure has a relatively minor role in the tale. Rather than an elderly Nurse, Maria's semi-willing intermediary in her affair is Anita, a young, opinionated and highly...
Because Maria and Tony are chronologically older than their Renaissance counterparts, all of the actors of the Bernstein musical seem more alike in age than different. All of the characters are victims of society and the way that poverty drives the white gangs to hate Puerto Ricans, and the prejudice against the Puerto Ricans in society drives Puerto Ricans to hate whites.
Shakespeare's play, Romeo Juliet, film version: note defend effective ineffective. Do unknown young actors, Leonard Whiting Olivia Hussey, opposed recognizable stars, made film appealing? Please explain Although some might be inclined to believe that it is impossible to compare two works of art because they should each be analyzed from different points-of-view, it is only safe to consider that William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet needs to be compared with the
JULIET Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet. British actor, director and playwright Robert Rawles went one step further and used his passion and expertise of the theater and Shakespeare to rewrite Romeo and Juliet in a true modern-day language version called Rikki and Julie to help students better explore the play
Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is considered the epitome of romantic text. When someone talks about doomed love or true love, they always go back to Romeo and his paramour. So much is made of the love story between the two, that the tragedy of the events has come to be misinterpreted as adding to the romance. With this misunderstanding has become this notion that Romeo and Juliet
Juliet's speeches to the Friar after learning that she must marry Paris in a week's time indicate this as she lists the horrors she would rather endure: "bid me leap... / From off the battlements of any tower...lurk / Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears..." (Riverside 1130, IV.i. 77-80). She continues in much the same vein, and this is not her only moment of such emotional extremity.
This makes the film Juliet seem more mature and alienated, although the cinematic portrait of Romeo as somewhat estranged from his boisterous male friends, such as Mercutio's dim view of women, is consistent with Shakespeare's portrait. However, in the Renaissance Shakespeare, Romeo does not attempt to physically touch Juliet in the first balcony scene. In the film the more 'knowing' lovers soon transgress the physical boundaries of the balcony. The
To Tybalt, he cries: "I do protest I never injur'd thee, / but love thee better than thou canst devise." His language is insistent, but Mercutio's death is more than he can bear: he takes it personally and is blinded by the abuse he feels that he has suffered. His language changes from insistence to accusation. First, he feels his pains: "This gentleman… / My very friend, hath got
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