Essays About William Shakespeare
The presentations of both love and hate reach their first climaxes in Act 1, in the meeting of Romeo and Juliet, and in the hatred that Romeo stirs in Tybalt during that meeting. The characters playing major roles in this scene, Romeo, Juliet and Tybalt, are each seen to experience both ends of the emotional…
Setting: I have decided to set my version of the play Romeo and Juliet in a modern day period. I will set my scene (image) in Africa. The main issue between the Capulets and Montagues will be race. The Capulets are a renowned English family and the Montague’s are also a well-known African family whom…
To compare and contrast to film adaptations of William Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo+Juliet’ and to focus on the following scenes; -the opening scenes -the party scenes -the fight scene where Tybalt and Mercutio die. -the final scene Conditions Started in school, finished at home. Opening Scene (Zefferlis version) Zefferelis directed this version of Romeo and Juliet….
This play addresses a combination of themes such as forbidden love, innocence and experience. Written in the 17th century and set in Verona, Italy, this play involves two young individuals ‘Romeo and Juliet, who fall in love and break a barrier, that has hunted the families for much time, and then comprehend about unison by…
In Twelfth Night Shakespeare has used many different conventions of comedy. He used love at first sight, cross dressing and a love triangle in which Cesario (who is a female dressed as a man) falls in love with Orsino, who is in love with Olivia, who in a bizarre twist to the story falls in…
Despite the genre of the play, and the supposedly happy ending, Shakespeare is quite ambiguous with his thoughts on the subjects of love and infatuation. Love is generally represented as something that is irresistible, spontaneous and overpowering. It is portrayed as being dangerous and something that can destroy a person, and is very difficult to…
William shakespeare, a famous poet and playright, has written many sonnets and poems in his time. One of his most famous plays was the ‘Twelfth Night’; a romantic comedy written during the Elizabethan era; where women stayed at home, being the ideal ‘mother’ of the house, not having a real voice compared to the men….
In Act 2, Malvolio appears to be arrogant, puritanical and malicious. In this scene, he tries to stop Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Feste from being so noisy in the middle of the night. When Malvolio enters the stage in Act 2 Scene 3, the first thing he does is asking a series of five…
In Act 1 Scene 5, when Viola attempts to woo Olivia for Orsino she calls her ‘most radiant, exquisite and unmatchable beauty’. This is the type of language Orsino would use to compliment her beauty. She uses courtly love language which would have been mocked in the Renaissance era as Shakespeare did in Sonnet 130…
Twelfth Night is a comedy written by William Shakespeare. It follows certain patterns which are commonly found in Shakespeare’s comedies; it ends in marriage and is based around disguise and false identities. The play starts off with a ship that that was shipwrecked just off the coast of Illyria, and the two main protagonists, Viola…
In this essay I intend to analyse and describe how Baz Luhrmann has converted William Shakespeare’s written play of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ into a modern play, I will show proof and understanding of how he has succeeded in bringing the play into the modern world. The play ‘Romeo & Juliet’ is known as a legendary…
In a play we as the audience learn about its characters by their speech, actions, tone of voice and their stage directions. It is usually very easy to see a character’s personality in a play as the playwright usually makes it easy to understand who is “Good” and who is “bad”. It must be remembered…
Why is Juliet under so much pressure in this scene? Explain the difficulties she faces and comment on the way she reacts to the adults around her. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a complex play which shows the tangled web of human emotions. Elizabethan England was an era of male dominance. Juliet finds herself in…
I will first introduce the two different films: 1. Baz Luhrman version – this version is set in modern times, in a large city, Verona. The language is Shakespearian but everything else has been converted to modern style. 2. Franco Zefferreli – This is set in medieval times. Most things are as the original text….
In this essay I will be writing about the intensity of act 1 scene 5 of the famous tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and how it has parallel links to previous scenes in the play. Act 1 scene 5 is a critical scene because it is the first time Romeo and Juliet meet and fall in…
In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, Friar Laurence plays a major role; in the impossible marriage of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet’s “death” plan as well as in Romeo’s death. Without the Friar many crucial and tragic events would not have happened in Romeo and Juliet, but how much does Shakespeare convince us that the Friar…
Using Shakespeares’ Romeo and Juliet and Baz Lurhmanns’ film version (1997) comment on how Lurhmann offers his audience a very contemporary interpretation of a 16th century play. Use acts one scene one and act three scene one to discuss the dramatic devices used in both versions and how they impact on their audience. How does…
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. He had three children, two of which were twins. The time in which he lived in was the Elizabethan era. Fathers used to ‘sell’ their daughters to a man they thought would be suitable for her. As you see in Romeo and Juliet, some young girls used…
Act 3 Scene 5 is a pivotal scene in William Shakespeare’s renowned tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. It includes Romeo’s departure to Mantua, where he has been recently banished, Lord and Lady Capulet’s announcement that Juliet is to be married to Paris, and Capulet’s subsequent outburst in hearing that Juliet is not willing to cooperate….
William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew raises many important issues, reflecting the context of the times it was composed and their values. In its modern 20th century reproduction, 10 Things I Hate About You, many of these issues are appropriated into different and also similar values and themes with the same relevance it has…
Shakespeare’s second tragedy, “Romeo & Juliet”, was written between 1594 – 1596. The tragedy is brought about by fate and the story is based on an Italian Legend, which was well known in England at the time. Baz Luhrmann directed the modern day film. It is shot in Mexico, although it is meant to be…
Luigi da Porto originally wrote “Romeo and Juliet” in a prose format. Shakespeare took the basic story line and transformed it into a play. The affair of the two lovers lasted a period of several months in the original prose whereas Shakespeare dramatised the play into a period of five days. This could well have…
In the play of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ so far, The Capulets and the Montagues have been given a decree: That if they were to disturb the streets of Verona again, than it would be punishable by death. The supreme prince Escalus made this Judgement with severity because of the other Two brawls before this most…
In the year 1996 Baz Luhrmann, a famous film director, adapted Shakespeare’s classic play, “Romeo and Juliet”. He directed the newer version with the intention of making the film more enjoyable for a wider range of people, bringing different aspects of play into different perspectives. In this essay I will be looking at how Baz…
In this essay I am going to discuss how I would direct Act 3 Scene 5 from William Shakespeare’s, “Romeo and Juliet”, first produced in 1595. Since then, there have been modern productions where the original text has been adapted for film. Considering this, I am going to direct a film version, explaining in detail…
Media is contemporary communication, it is featured everywhere and influences, even controls our lives by moulding our fashion, views, ideas and tastes. Media is television, radio, newspapers, magazines, telephone and any kind of advertising. Media often forms from speech. Moving image is our specific topic of media, focusing on Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s…
Act 2 Scene 2 is a well known scene in the play Romeo and Juliet. The theatre that the majority of Shakespeare’s plays were ad still are performed is called the Globe theatre. It was open in 1599 and is shaped as a wooden ‘o’. This obviously causes restrictions because of the stage being towards…
Baz Luhrmann and Franco Zeffirelli portrayed the film ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in very different ways. Most of the scenes in the film are portrayed in different ways although there are some similarities. There are some very obvious differences including the intended audience, the setting, the place and the timing of the play. There are some…
Shakespeare presents Isabella as a key character in Measure for Measure. Isabella is the sister of Claudio who has been condemned to die under the power of Lord Angelo, so she is vital to the plot as she attempts to persuade Angelo to pardon her brother. Interestingly, at the beginning Isabella is joining a convent…
Isabella is one of the most important characters in Measure for Measure, along with Angelo and the Duke. Before Act 5 we have a good idea as to her character, we know that she remains by her principles and is not easily influenced by people, even close family. She wanted the rules at the convent…
