The play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare has been replicated, patented, filmed, recorded, memorized, and acted out dozens of times. So many times, that only the original, printed as a book, can be considered his preserved work of art. This is the only point to which a reader can experience Romeo and Juliet in its quintessence.
In the written play Juliet was more independent and sassier. I feel that if the directors of the film, Romeo and Juliet (1968), seized this aspect of her character Juliet would have had more flexibility and variety in her personality. Otherwise, she is simply a star-crossed lover with no path in life other than to love and care for Romeo. This conflicts with one of her reasons for rejecting consent to marry County Paris. For example, in the play when Juliet and Paris first meet in the church with Friar Lawrence, Paris is overjoyed to encounter her and proclaims his loyalty and happiness.
Paris
Happily met, my lady and my wife!
Juliet
That may be sir, when I may be a wife.
Paris
That ‘may be’ must be, love, on Thursday next.
Juliet
What must be shall be.
In the film, Paris only remarks the first line in the block quote above as a greeting. Juliet is very shy, conserved, and submissive as he talks to her. She does not even look him in the eye. She becomes small and then goes crying to Friar Lawrence. This may have been the objective of the directors, but I believe Shakespeare did not intend to create a character who played damsel in distress the entire time. Friar Lawrence reflected a lot of what reminds me of the people of today. While every other character was intertwined and lost in the love story, Friar Lawrence was the realist and problem-solver. My thoughts while watching and reading Friar Lawrence’s role are that he was the kind of person who understands and supports Romeo and Juliet’s love because he once felt their love. However, he also rolls his eyes at them because he knows how it ends. He knows it always ends the same. Lastly, I appreciated that Shakespeare set the plot into reality by using characters with personalities and traits we would see today. The Nurse was a very outgoing, jolly, comforting and larger lady. Friar was an old, wise, man, who can solve any problem you bring. I believe Shakespeare did this because Romeo and Juliet’s love was too perfect, to heavenly. He needed to include something to bring the audience back to earth in order to make his play realistic and engaging. He did this by using characters we see in any society.
Additionally, I really enjoyed the repetitive musical theme of an orchestra playing “Nino Rota” in the background. This is something new to this unit because we were able to watch a film. The music made the film a millions times more impactful because the audience would know when an important scene was occurring. By the end of this movie, the theme song represented birth, love, and death all in one theatrical performance.