Romeo And Juliet Compare And Contrast Essay

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The first scene in Act III of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is an intense one. When Benvolio and Mercutio are met by the Capulets a brawl between Mercutio and Tybalt ensues, resulting in Mercutio's death. Vengeful Romeo then slays Tybalt and is banished by the Prince. Which media best captures the magnitude of the scene; text, film or a live production? First I will explore the text version of the play. The text version of Romeo and Juliet in the textbook has its upsides and downsides. One upside of reading the script is that you can go at your own pace unlike the uncontrollable timing of a movies. This version of the play has every word found in the original which keeps it exactly how Shakespeare intended it to be. Unfortunately the language is outdated and difficult to understand as shown when Mercutio says “ On top of this the text version simply has what the characters say, not what they do. To fully understand the play (as a student) the help of a teacher and a dictionary are needed. …show more content…

The main reason it would be ranked higher than the text is because watching the movie helps understand what is going on because it appeals to multiple senses. The ferocity in the scene is conveyed by not only through words but also through facial expressions and frantic music. On the other hand the film only shows the producers interpretation of the play. Some lines from the play are missing (e.g. line 20 through 25), but the movie compensates by showing us what is happening. An example of this is in the movie there is an extensive duel scene between Mercutio and Tybalt while in the text it simply states, “They fight.” The largest fault in the film clip I watched was that the whole section of the play where the Prince banishes Romeo isn’t included. Due to this a film version by not be the best option