If you were to ask high school graduates what books they read throughout high school, the majority would say that they have read Romeo and Juliet.  The classic play is read by almost everyone, and I have recently started to read it as well.  After the first act, I have some first impressions. So far, I think that the play is fascinating.  When you know the two main character will die, I constantly am wondering when it will go wrong. The anticipation is insane!    I also have gotten a very strong impression that Tybalt will get in the way of the couple, but when he realises how in love they are he may change.  I think other characters like the Nurse or Juliet’s mom might be in support of the relationship as much as they can. I have a lot of good feelings about the play so far.

On the downside, I also have some negative firsts impressions.  Aside from the obvious language gap, not all of the play makes complete sense to me.  I struggled in a couple of scenes to understand what the plot was. One scene I really had a hard time grasping was the towards the beginning when the people are fighting in the street.  I never completely understood who they were or why they were fighting. Another thing that falls short for me would be where the rivalry began. Aside from those struggles, I have had a good first impression of the book.

In the play, love at first sight has a major impact on Romeo and Juliet, but does it really exist?  When Romeo first sees Juliet, he says, “O she doth teach the torches to burn bright. / It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night / As a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear.” (1,4, 42-44) .  He instantly thinks that she is the most gorgeous person he has ever seen, and he takes that for love. The issue with that is, can you really love someone if you have never talked to them?  Easily the answer is no, but to Romeo, the answer is easily yes. So far the story has been driven by the idea of love at first sight. As we know, Romeo attends the party because he was in love with Rosaline. That is the first time that love really moves along the plot line, but love at first sight doesn’t happen until the party.  At the party, Romeo sees Juliet and is instantly in love. That leads to him pursuing her later that night, and eventually setting up for the second act. I think that love at first sight is os important because if they had not gone straight for love, the relationship might not have worked. They might have been interrupted by the family feud if the instantaneous love had not occurred.  So far, love has had a major impact on the play, and I wonder what else it will impact moving forward.

In the first act, I actually focused on Romeo and his need for love.  Things that become obvious when you read that Romeo is dependant on love.  He loves Rosaline, and the second he is rejected he loves Juliet. He constantly needs someone to love and obsess over.  In the first act scene four, he says, “Under love’s heavy burden do I sink,”. That quote means that Romeo is in love so constantly that it has become a chore.  He loves Juliet so much he can not make a decision without thinking about her, she controls his life, and it’s tiring. Even though it is tiring, he can not help himself because you can not control true love.  That is really important to understanding the play because when Romeo acts what seem impulsively, we know that he is thinking. He thinks about how it will affect Juliet, and what happens to Juliet affects him.  When someone is so wildly in love that they feel constantly reminded of it, what they will do is insane. Moving on, I want to know, what crazy actions will lead them to their death beds?

In the two movies, Zeffirelli and Luhrmann take two very different approaches to the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet.  For starters, the staging is very contradicting. In Zeffirelli’s version, the characters are dressed in Elizabethan time period clothes and attend the ball in a castle from Elizabethan time.  On the other hand Luhrmann has his characters in costumes in a much more modern castle. Also, when Romeo and Juliet first see each other is different. In the Zeffirelli version, Romeo first sees Juliet, and she notices him later.  Contrary to that in Luhrmann’s movie Romeo and Juliet see each other through an aquarium at the same time. The staging of the two movies also is not the same. The Luhrmann version has Romeo drop his mask before seeing Juliet, and has someone singing live in the background.  Unlike Luhrmann, Zeffirelli’s character Romeo has his mask on for the beginning of the scene, and it revolves around the instrumental music they are all dancing too. As far as character development goes, the two interpretations fall far apart. Zeffirelli has his characters seeming more proper and has Tybalt just slightly watching over.  In his version the Juliet seems shy, but in Luhrmann’s movie Juliet is more open to Romeo. The characters from Luhrmann seem more relaxed and casual with each other. Overall the two takes on Romeo and Juliet have a lot of differences.

Despite their differences, Luhrmann and Zeffirelli do have similarities in the movies.  For starters, they both have some things in their staging. Both Luhrmann and Zeffirelli have their characters in the Capulet castle at a masquerade ball.  They also both include lots of dancing and music. In the staging section, both of them have very few props, and the music increases when the kiss happens. When you look at character development, they both follow similar timelines.  First they see each other, then they dance, then they kiss. They also both have Romeo going in for a kiss a time before Juliet allows him to kiss her. Though very different, the movies have obvious similarities.

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