preview

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Good Essays

Heads resting on hands, slowing sliding to the desktops. Eyelids fighting to stay open, while other eyes follow each word, as they are read aloud. Some students gaze at the pages, but daydream and never really look at what is on the paper in front of them. Meanwhile, others hide cell-phones, as fingers are quickly texting away. This is a typical day in school, as the students in the English class are struggling to pay attention. The teacher recites the lines from Shakespeare’s classic, Romeo and Juliet, but to most of the students, the words go in one ear and out the other, resembling the voice of Charlie Brown’s teacher. Shakespeare’s work has been around for centuries and has had a great impact on literature. Sure Shakespeare is …show more content…

This is where you can find most students now a days with their butts planted on a seat, playing attention to nothing else. Movies are not common to the school zone, so it is always a relief to get away from the work, relax, and hopefully watch something interesting. Since the students read Romeo and Juliet the day before, now is their chance to get another perspective of it, and that is through a movie. Movies are a step up from the textbook because this way it gives students the chance to see and hear the emotions of the characters. They are able to get a sense of what Shakespeare wanted his audience to experience; however, with Hollywood, it isn’t always what people think. Sure, they make movies interesting, but they tend to be people-pleasers. They can change whatever they want, so it may not be what Shakespeare originally intended. The 1996 version, Romeo and Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, is the best example of how Hollywood changes Shakespeare’s classic. In this movie, the setting is modern day, which instead of swords and castles, there are guns and skyscrapers. The words remain the same, but it does not give the students the correct timeframe in which Romeo and Juliet was written and based on. Unlike the 1996 version, the movie made in 1968 was based in the timeframe in which Shakespeare wrote it. Therefore, this movie would

Get Access