Romeo And Juliet Vs Zeffirelli's

Romeo and Juliet is a famous and tragic play by prominent writer William Shakespeare. It is a renowned exclusive story of two star-crossed lovers who find their own little world between the enraged enmities of their families. Although there are many re-enactments of this wonderful play, the two most famous are movies from Baz Lurhman and Franco Zeffirelli respectively. Both movies accurately depict the scenes with the original Shakespearean English yet are different from each other in some aspects. The portrayal of Scene ııı Act ı in both movies satisfy the script of the play but are contrastingly poles apart at the same time. Though the 1996 version of the story is unorthodox, it creates interest for the audience on the contrary, whereas,

Shakespeare’s objective was to represent the fight as funny and create interest and entertainment for the readers. He also tries to add humor by taunting Benvolio and Tybalt. Therefore, Mercutio’s death is accidental and is not taken seriously as he was always fooling around so everyone thought that he was acting and was not actually wounded. As a result, Mercutio dies and everyone mourns. When he provokes Tybalt to fight, he taunts him, “ Tybalt, you ratcatcher, will you walk?”(III.I.46). The older 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet correctly depicts the scene as the fight was just comical and also the death was shown to be unanticipated. Moreover, public thought that the demise of Mercutio was dramaturgy and everyone laughed until Mercutio actually died. Whereas on the contrary, the wordplay between characters was exhibited to be full of venom with the intention to kill each other. The expressions of the actors suggested that they are not playing around and cannot wait to kill each other as they were full of anger and revenge. Their fight was also serious instead of tragic comedy and everyone around knew that Mercutio has been injured. The scene was made intense using dramatic effects such as background music, thunder and lightning. The interpretation caught people’s attention but failed to convey the actual message. Therefore, the older version of Romeo and Juliet

In act III scene I, Shakespeare’s purpose was to show that Mercutio died because of Romeo as he was trying to take revenge from Tybalt for insulting Romeo. The scene’s main intent was to show Mercutio’s loyalty towards his best friend and how he can actually give his life for his partner in crime. The theme of love and hatred has dissipated in this scene. The 1996 version of the book accurately follows the instructions and stage directions . Franco Zeffirelli depicted the scene as it is written in the book. Tybalt looks for Romeo and after finding him, he insults him which makes Mercutio defend Romeo. As a result, a fight gets triggered and Mercutio dies. On the contrary, Baz Lurhman fails to produce the scene precisely without any flaws. Tybalt and Romeo doesn’t even touch each other before Tybalt and Mercutio’s fight. In the modern version, the reason why Mercutio eagerly wanted to fight with Tybalt was because Tybalt was pounding on Romeo. Whereas, according to the play, there is only punning going on between the two. Tybalt doesn’t beat Romeo up. Therefore, the production of Franco Zeffirelli leaves Baz Lurhman’s version far apart. Franco Zeffirelli correctly represented and understood the scene whereas on the other hand, Baz Lurhman didn’t follow stage directions and didn't understand the intentions of this