Romeo And Juliet Film-The Opening Scene
Question: Describe the first ONE or TWO scenes in the text. Explain how verbal and/or visual features were used in this scene (or scenes) to suggest what the text would be about.
I will be writing about one of the first scenes in the visual text "Romeo and Juliet", written by William Shakespeare and directed by Baz Luhrmann.
One of the first scenes in "Romeo and Juliet" was the fight between the Montagues and Capulets at a gas station in Verona. A foolish Montague bites his thumb at a Capulet and a fight is about to break out when Benvolio (another Montague) tries to keep the peace and orders everyone to put up their guns (or swords as they are called in the film). However, when Tybalt arrives and Benvolio tells him that he wants to make peace ("I do but keep the peace
"), Tybalt just sneers at him and replies, "Peace? I hate the word as I hate hell all Montagues and thee." This then leads to the long awaited fight, which not only affects the Montagues and Capulets, but also causes a lot of destruction to the city of Verona. This scene then finally ends when the Prince arrests Benvolio and Tybalt ("
put your mis'tempered weapons to the group!") and warns the two families that if ever they cause any more civil disruption, then they will pay with their lives.
There were a number of visual techniques that were used during this scene to suggest that this visual text would be about the hatred between the Montagues and Capulets and how this hatred would eventually affect these two families. A visual technique used to show the hatred between the families during the scene was the use of close ups, including the close up of the "Add Fuel to Fire" sign, and the fearful faces of the Montagues, which led up to the arrival of Tybalt and created a lot of tension and apprehension. The use of close ups for this purpose made me think about how greatly Tybalt was feared because of his volatile, violent personality. Another...
View Full Essay