Romeo And Juliet Comparative Essay

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines love as “strong affection and tenderness felt by lovers.” The tragedy Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a story told of star-crossed lovers living in Verona, Italy in the 1500s. Following both tropes of “love at first sight” as well as “forbidden love”, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet follows Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague, the descendants of families who have been feuding for ages. The two characters do everything they can to be together despite the difference in their families. Alas, in this Shakespearean tragedy, both of the young lovers end up taking their own lives through a complicated misunderstanding. In contrast to the tragedy however, which was written in 1597, a film adaption was

In Baz Luhrmann’s film, Romeo never kills Paris, whereas, in Shakespeare’s tragedy, he does. As far as Romeo and Paris know, Juliet is dead, when she is actually in a deep, potion-induced sleep. Paris cries, “Oh, I’ve been killed! If you are merciful, open the tomb and lay me next to Juliet'' (Romeo & Juliet 5.3.72-73). Romeo is also present in this scene of the tragedy, mourning his one true love, Juliet, even though she is alive at this point in the story. Romeo runs into Paris at the Capulet family tomb and tells Paris to go, but he refuses, which provokes Romeo and starts a fight between the two that ends in Paris being killed. This detail was completely left out of Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation. This is a prime example of how the two works of literature are

In both the movie and the play, Romeo and Juliet’s love for one another led them to suicide. The Chief Watchman states, “Prince, here lies County Paris killed. And Romeo dead. And Juliet. She was dead before, but now she’s warm and hasn’t been dead for long” (Romeo & Juliet 5.3.195-197). This quote shows how both forms of literature, even with their differences are the same. In both the play and the movie, Romeo and Juliet’s love is forbidden due to their family’s feud. They struggle to be together and are eventually driven to extreme measures to escape their situation. Romeo, believing that Juliet is dead, takes his own life, and when Juliet wakes up and finds Romeo dead, she also takes her own life. Overall, even with the differences shown throughout the play and the film adaptation, they are still the same