by Emmett Saigal

Created on: June 01, 2011

Which version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is the most successful and why?

Shakespeare’s original version of Romeo and Juliet is indisputably the most successful. Rather than being manipulated by the director and their single minded ideas, it allows readers to conjure their own ideas and images in their heads from the descriptive brilliance that Shakespeare wrote.

In Act 2 scene 2, when Romeo is talking to Juliet it’s full of love and compassion and is very serious, however, in the 1996 film it is humorous. This is portrayed in many ways, first when Juliet comes onto the screen she doesn’t notice Romeo even though he is practically standing right next to her. It’s also shown when they fall into a swimming pool. There are also security cameras and a lax, ignorant guard to add a comedy effect. This is definitely not how Shakespeare intended it to be when he wrote it.

Within the text it says “I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes and but thou love me, let them find me here; my life was better ended by their hate, than death prorogued, wanting of thy love”. This is showing how he is willing to let the Capulet’s find him with Juliet if she didn’t love him. It gives a lasting impression how in-love they are, how one is willing to give their life just so they know the other loves them. This quote was also used in the film; however it didn’t have the same effect. In the film it was said, and then the nurse shouted “Juliet!” in a humorous fashion which didn’t make it sound serious whereas in the text it is said passionately and so it come close to give the same lasting effect.

Both the 1966 and the 1996 films miss large chunks of text. Some of the most compassionate text that Shakespeare wrote on the famous balcony scene and it was simply struck out of the film. For example, in the 1996 film Romeo says “It is my lady O it is my love: O that she knew she were”, then missed from line 12-25. These are also missed out: 50-59, 95-107 and many others weren’t included in the play. This meant that crucial lines were no longer in the film.

People who watch the film and don’t read the text can therefore never really see the entire story. Infact in completely changes the storyline in some cases, for example in the 1996 version it is set in the USA in modern times which is a pitiful attempt at turning the magnificent work of Shakespeare into a movie. The story

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