Comparing Baz Luhrmann's Romeo And Juliet

William Shakespeare is considered one of the greatest playwrights of all time. One of his most famous plays, Romeo and Juliet, written around 1595 was remade into a modern day movie. The movie, Romeo + Juliet by Baz Luhrmann, was released in 1996 and represented the story of Romeo and Juliet. There are many old stories that have been remade into modern day versions. An example is the Bible which has been remade into many different movies including The Ten Commandments by Cecil B. DeMille and The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson. The original story Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is about two teenagers, Romeo and Juliet, who fall in love and their families’ feud ends with death of Romeo and Juliet. The play Romeo and Juliet by William

In the movie, the character Mercutio is a jokester, but he is very overdramatic. In the play, Mercutio is a jokester, but he is not as dramatic as the character Mercutio in the movie version. In the book, when Mercutio is about to die, he makes out this pun: “Ask for me / tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man” (III.i.97-98). Mercutio is always joking around and never grave, but tomorrow he will be grave as in not funny because he will be dead. In the movie, Mercutio says this same line, but he is very over dramatic in the way he excessively laughs and walks around while he is dying. This shows how Mercutio is a jokester in both the play and the movie, but his death scene in the play is less dramatic and more reasonable than his death scene in the movie. William Shakespeare meant for this scene to be a serious and sincere scene where Mercutio makes a joke even in the situation he is in. Baz Luhrmann went a bit too far in how dramatic Mercutio is in this

In the movie version Romeo + Juliet by Baz Luhrmann the character Paris is not shown in the final scene. In the play version Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Romeo kills Paris in the final scene. In the play, the last words of Paris before he dies are, “O, I am slain! If thou be merciful, / Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet” (V.iii.72-73). The movie version leaves out this important detail of the final scene and Romeo poisons himself while lying next to Juliet. William Shakespeare probably wants to show how much Romeo wants to be alone with Juliet when he poisons himself. Baz Luhrmann skips over Paris being killed by Romeo and lets Romeo be alone with Juliet without killing