The Techniques of Romeo + Juliet

In act 3 scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio, Benvolio and Tybalt are in the street. Mercutio begins to taunt Tybalt as Romeo enters. Tybalt tries to start a fight but Romeo tells him he must love him. Mercutio then begins to fights Tybalt and Romeo tries to stop it. Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo’s arm and kills him. Through his anger, Romeo then fights and kills Tybalt. In Baz Luhrmann’s appropriation the scene is set in a modern day Verona beach in America. When Romeo tells Tybalt he has to love him, Tybalt becomes infuriated and bashes him. Mercutio steps in and throws Tybalt on a mirror. Romeo tries to stop him and Tybalt stabs Mercutio with the cracked glass and he dies. Tybalt drives away and Romeo drives after him. Tybalt crashes and Romeo gets his gun. He then shoots and kills Tybalt.

The Themes of love causing violence and fate are central to this scene. In the Original play Shakespeare uses symbols such as light and darkness and poison to show how Romeo and Juliet’s love is tied with fate. Juliet uses a sleeping poison to try and save their love but, in the end, Romeo uses poison to kill himself. Romeo and Juliet’s love is light and the hatred of the families surrounding them is dark. In Act 1 scene 5 Romeo says that Juliet teaches the “torches to burn bright”.

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Baz Luhrmann also uses techniques such as lighting, colour and camera angles to express the dark and gloomy mood in the scene. In the image shown here, Romeo has a gun and is shooting Tybalt. Romeo was trying to stop the fighting out of his love for Juliet, but instead it leads to the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt. It is a very dramatic scene which is emphasised by the fast paced camera shots and heavy rain. The dim lighting and dark colours reflect the sad and confronting mood. The high angle shot looking down on Romeo and the rain display his feelings of gloom and depression. It also shows Romeo looking up at a large Jesus statue as he exclaims: “O, I am fortunes fool!” This symbolises his beliefs of fate and how he is very unfortunate.