Baz Luhrmann's Romeo And Juliet

Star-crossed lovers, hopelessly in love, because of their families are now united in death. This timeless storyline, originally written by William Shakespeare, has appeared in many mediums of art throughout the years. Nearly every artist who has sunk their teeth into this classical piece of literature has added their own twist to change the effect the piece has on the viewer; in 1996 Baz Luhrmann came out with his own film version of the classic tale. Like most recreated versions he made many impactful changes that overall added to the drama at the end of the play. For example he chooses to show that the law is chasing Romeo, takes out the fight scene with Count Paris, and Romeo Drinks the poison after Juliet wakes up. The first noticeable
In the film there is no Paris in the last scene (William Shakespeare's Romeo Juliet), whereas in the original play transcript Paris plays a large part in the final scene. In the play Paris is at Juliet's Grave and says, “The obsequies that I for thee will keep nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep” (The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet 5.3.17-18). This is showing that Paris did truly care for Juliet, so much in fact that he plans on going to her grave every night to cry over her death. By taking this out it shifts the focus to the love between Romeo and Juliet, he doesn’t show the possibility of another love story in the film, it’s only Romeo and
In the original text Romeo takes the potion and dies, then Juliet wakes up to find him dead (The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet 5.3). However, in the movie as Romeo is drinking the poison Juliet begins to wake up, but she is to disoriented to realize what is happening untill it is too late (William Shakespeare's Romeo Juliet). This adds the irony that if she had woken up just a few seconds earlier she could have stopped him from killing himself. In addition to that Romeo and Juliet get a few final moments together wherein they can share a final kiss. This transformation also adds to the drama of the film, it is more emotional for Romeo to die in Juliet's arms than it is for him to just