How does Baz Luhrmann keep the sprit of Shakespearian theatre alive in his interpretation of Romeo and Juliet?

How does Baz Luhrmann keep the spirit of Shakespearian theatre alive in his interpretation of Romeo and Juliet?

Baz Luhrmann has successfully kept the spirit of Shakespearean theatre alive in his interpretation of the play using the theme of the old day (The Elizabethan age.) but the context of the modern-day. Some of the many things that Baz Luhrmann has done to keep the same spirit as Shakespeare’s original version of the play which we will be looking at. Are The Idea of fait, Metaphor’s, semantic field, events, pathetic fallacy and dramatic irony. So that is what I will be exploring and looking into in this exam.

In Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet at the beginning it starts with the prologue and in the prologue it says:

“From forth the fatal lions of these two foes a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, whose misadventure piteous overthrows doth with their death bury their parents strife.” That is an example of fait as it tells us that in this play two people from different families who love each other are going to kill them self’s so that is an example or idea of fait in Rome and Juliet. Another example of fait in Romeo and Juliet is when Romeo has a dream that he is in a church and Romeo finds him self dead this happened before the party and he feels that something bad is going to happen at the party due to this dream. Both of these examples of fait have been dealt with well or kept the same by Baz Luhrmann. For the first one Baz Luhrmann made the prologue be presented by a news reporter on a TV which is a good transfer to a modern-day theme. Then Romeo’s dream before the party was shown by him walking down a path with modern LED lights in the form of a cross and plants in pots and also fake candles. These things suggest that he might be walking down a path in a church where something is being celebrated or a funeral is happening. So Baz Luhrmann done a good job of making it look modern and still keep the same spirit as Shakespeare had made and intended to in theatre.

In Shakespeare version of the play (Romeo and Juliet) at Act 1 Scene 4 he uses a metaphor which is what I will be talking about in this section of the essay. The metaphor which I will use as an example is the one in Act 1 Scene 4 as I believe that it is a very important metaphor in the play and it has a hidden meaning. In act 1 scene 4 Romeo says this:

“I fear too early, for my mind misgives

Some consequence yet hanging in the stars

Shall bitterly begin his fearful date

Which this night’s revels, and expire the term

Of a despised life closed in my breast

By some vile forfeit of untimely death.

But he that hath the steerage of my course,

Direct my sail. On lusty gentlemen.”

The part which says “But he that hath the steerage of my course, Direct my sail.” Is a metaphor this is a metaphor because he speaks as if he is a boat which is an object not a person so that makes it a metaphor. And the reason I think that this is an important part of the play Romeo and Juliet is because he is saying that somebody controls him and decides what he does and what will happen to him and he can not do much about it so he just goes with it and does not resist and I think the boat is a clever way of saying it to the reader or the audience. In Baz Luhrmann’s version of the play he did not change much to show that bit of the play but he did make Romeo have a facial expression which showed us the audience that he was extremely worried about that dream and that he could not do any think about it.

Shakespeare puts a semantic field around Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. Some of the reasons why I think there is a semantic field around Romeo in the play is because every thing that happened makes it feel as if it is Romeo’s destiny. For example the coincidence that happened in Act I, Scene v of the play where, out of all the people in the world, the servant who had the list for the Capulet party found Romeo to ask him to read the list because the Capulet servant could not read. Also in the movie the Artist (Baz luhramann) kept in the movie a vital part which was an important coincidence that changed everything but because it was in the modern-day Baz luhramann put it on a TV rather than a serving man finding Romeo.

Surprisingly there where many more of these vital coincidences, for example when Romeo had a dream that the party he was going to was going to lead to his death but he is still going to go because he feels as if it is his destiny to go to the party so he does not fight it and just goes with it. In the both the play and the movie it really does make an atmosphere of mystery and meaning at the same time. In order to strengthen this semantic field, Shakespeare uses metaphors an example of this is when Romeo talks as if he was a ship because he says things such as “but he hath the steerage of my course direct my sail!” In that same speech by Romeo he is trying to say that he feels as if god is guiding him and stirring him towards his fiat which creates a semantic field.

In addition to this There is one last thing which creates the semantic field around Romeo this is that at the very beginning of the play in the prologue it says “where two star crossed lovers take there life’s” this creates a semantic field because it makes it feel as if it is fate and that means that it is going to be his fait to die with Juliet this creates a strong but simple semantic field.
And that is why I think that Romeo has a semantic field around him in the play.

There is another really important thing which Baz Luhrmann has captured well in his play this is pathetic fallacy. In Baz Luhrmann version of the play Romeo and Juliet he has included lots of pathetic fallacy for example when Romeo killed Tybalt because Tybalt killed Mercutio Baz Luhrmann placed a storm in the back ground and that is a example of pathetic fallacy. Another example is when Belthesar comes to Romeo and in forms him that Juliet is dead he gets angry and drives to the church the police chase after him and a thunder storm begins that is pathetic fallacy and also dramatic irony this is because we the audience all know that Juliet is not dead and is sleeping from the potion that friar Lawrence gave to her but Romeo did not know because the letter which friar Lawrence sent to Romeo was not received because of a plague in the town and that is a example of dramatic irony because we know but they do not.

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