Comparing Zeffirelli's The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet

When one thinks about the word love, one would think about marriage, kissing, and happiness. However, love can cause people to get injured or die. This lesson is evident in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare by having irony and characterization. Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet (1968) tried to express this lesson through the use of atmosphere and body language. A lesson that can be learned from Shakespeare’s play is that love can get someone killed and Zeffirelli’s attempt at presenting this lesson in his film was a failure so the negative effect was that it made the deaths of many of the character seem to stem from stupidity rather from love. It can be seen in Shakespeare’s play that love tends to influence people to be at risk of getting hurt and die. In the conversation between Juliet and Romeo, Juliet questioned Romeo’s intentions of coming to her house: “The orchard walls are high and hard to climb/ And the place death, considering who thou art/ If any of my kinsmen find thee here […] they will murder thee” (II.ii.63-70). In response, Romeo replied, “For stony limits cannot hold love out/ And what love can do that dares love attempt/ Therefore, thy kinsmen are no let to me […] And but thou love me, let them find me here/ My life were better ended by their hate/ Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love” (II.ii.67-78). In this dialogue, Shakespeare used characterization to show Romeo as a risk taker since he went into Capulet property, risking his own life just to see Juliet. When Juliet tells Romeo of the dangers, Romeo said he would rather die for Juliet’s love than not die but still have the desire for Juliet’s love. This shows that love can influence people such as Romeo to do daring actions he normally would not do if he was not under the influence of love.
The play also showed how love can be a motivator for dying. Shakespeare utilized dramatic irony when Romeo made his soliloquy while in