Final term Paper 12/7/08

Emily Knippel
December 6, 2008
English 327: Shakespeare Tragedies
Dr. Gleason
Final Term Paper: Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare’s most well-known play of his career and arguably one of his best. It has been performed for over 400 hundred years and continues to wow audiences today. Although sometimes criticized for being overused within classrooms, teachers continue to teach Romeo and Juliet in classrooms due to its deep, passionate plot and emotional rollercoaster of young love, family feuds, and death. Shakespeare himself is a very talented writer, however in many cases; his language usage can confuse those attempting to read and / or act out his masterpieces and as a result, shy away. With that said, Romeo and Juliet contains a bit of drama, tragedy, and comedy helping students, actors, and audiences understand Shakespeare’s unique talents in one beautiful performance.
Baz Luhrmann, a popular director of cinematic film, create a modernized Romeo and Juliet in 1996 in attempt to attract younger audiences with multiple gun fights and actions scenes as well as a beautiful love story. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, Luhrmann was able to lure audiences into what was seemingly a typical, everyday action packed drama, while still keeping the beauty of Shakespeare’s masterpiece. As a student and future teacher, I found Luhrmann’s rendition of Romeo and Juliet to be quite entertaining and educational. Giving students like me the opportunity to view Shakespeare’s once labeled boring play into a new, modern piece of entertainment has really helped us to not only understand Shakespeare better, but also to respect and relate to the masterpiece on another level.
Because my past semester’s Shakespeare: Tragedies class responsibilities including practicing and performing the role of Juliet in an abridged version of Shakespeare’s most well known play, I knew that research and repetition were necessary for me to really “nail” my role. Luhrmann’s 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet was the most recent and well known of all the cinematic performances and my choice for research.
Danes performance as Juliet was not only unique, but intriguing. I as well as other viewers could not seem to take our eyes and ears off of Danes as she portrayed an innocent, interesting, but mysterious Juliet. This is a very risky, artistic decision that most actors would not attempt, however, in light of the modernized setting and plot, Danes risky decision could not have been more appropriate. Specifically discussing the balcony scene where Juliet and her love, Romeo, romantically converse of their current love and distant, but clear future plans together. I felt that Danes was able to take each line in a different light. Every emotion seemed to be brought in while acting this scene and I could not help but be entertained.
Within the beginning of this scene, Danes enters her outdoor patio and pool area to look and the stars and ponder her true, but forbidden love. Looking at the stars, picturing her future, Danes opens her portion of the scene with one of the most famous statements in Shakespeare’s masterpiece, “Oh Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet” (II.2.33-36). Wearing a simple white dress, hair partially pinned back, and minimal makeup, Danes looks puzzled, realizing that she is in love with a Montague, a sworn enemy of Juliet’s family, the Capulet’s. She, wise beyond her age, is talking to herself, looking up at the moon wondering why her family could hate such a man. She does not understand why the name Montague automatically means enemy when in fact, Romeo is guilty by association. Walking slowly towards the pool, Danes continues.
“’Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title. Romeo, doff thy name; And for thy name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself” (II.2.38-49).
Kneeling at the pool, with a big smile on her face, she realizes that what she wants is Romeo. I found the beginning of the scene to be very juvenile. Danes is attempting to act younger than she is in real life due to Juliet’s written age of twelve. As is, Danes chose a very “by the book” action of pacing while thinking. In many films, we see actresses of preteen to teenage age, pacing back forward in their bedroom as they talk to themselves about whatever is currently making them upset and / or angry. In Danes case, she is trying to portray a twelve-year-old girl whom is in love with a seventeen-year-old boy and does not know how to handle it. Their families are known enemies and therefore Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is strictly forbidden. With that said Danes acting is very believable as a modern Juliet and truly creates a very realistic picture of what modern Juliet would act and be like.
Later within this scene, Juliet and Romeo end up falling into the pool due to Romeo startling Juliet. While traveling around the pool arm in arm, kissing sporadically, Juliet blatantly asks Romeo to explain himself stating, “…Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say 'Ay,' and I will take thy word: yet if thou swear'st, thou mayst prove false; at lovers' perjuries then say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo, if thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully…” (II.2.85-106)
Within many Danes films, specifically Romeo and Juliet have noticed that Danes uses her eyes rather than her body to project an emotion. Within the pool section of this scene, one can notice that Danes uses her eyes more than her body to tell what she is feeling. The character of Juliet comes from a rather rich, proper family. Because the women of a house are considered a lesser species, one could say that an emotional outburst with ones body and hands would be utterly unacceptable. Women, specifically Juliet are seen as timid, quiet women with little to no opinion; quite similar to a robot. Although a bit of a stretch, I feel that although Juliet is playing modernized woman, she is still rather timid.
In contrast however, as the pool section continues, Danes become more affectionate towards Romeo. Excessively showing passionate kisses, Danes becomes more flirtatious and overly emotional. This could be interpreted as a girl maturing into an adult woman, acting out in a way that adult people would towards their significant others. With that said, I do not believe that Shakespeare had written this scene as a make out session. I will give Danes credit for her facial expressions. They do profess a sense of nervousness and perplexity throughout the entire scene.
In addition, when exiting the pool, Danes reaction to Romeo after he bluntly asked if she would actually leave him so unsatisfied (II.2.125), Danes turned rather apprehensively as though she was worried that her true love was only looking for a physical act. Danes quickly replies, asking “What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?” (II.2.126) Luckily his response was an insinuation that he was looking for confirmation of their future plans. Leaping into the pool at Romeo, Danes completes the scene by showing one last expression of love and stating “But to be frank, and give it thee again. And yet I wish but for the thing I have: my bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite…dear love, adieu! Anon, good nurse! Sweet Montague, be true. Stay but a little, I will come again” (II.2.131-138).
In general, the ending of the scene well acted, but not what one would expect out of Juliet. Danes expression of the words was beautiful as well as well acted and appropriate for Lurhmann’s vision. However, although we all have said “Shakespeare is dead”, I do believe that we as a class and audience can read his play and envision an idea of what Shakespeare would have expected out of his play. Lurhmann’s rendition is not traditional or boring. Shakespeare obviously wrote a play in order to entertain audiences and as a result, Lurhmann’s film and specifically Danes acting is unique and acceptable.
Sadly though, I must point out that I do not believe that Danes took Shakespeare under consideration when playing the role of one of his greatest characters of all time. Although it does seem that she understood her role as a twelve-year-old girl who has fallen in love with a forbidden man, some of her actions within the pool section of the “balcony” scene, although modernized, do not express a timid, twelve-year-old girl that has just recently fallen in love for the first time. In addition, Danes speaks many of Shakespeare’s great lines beautifully, however, I as most people, are used to a stage version of the play. Danes does not seem to have grasped that the words she is expressing were once and are still being performed in theatres throughout the world. There is a monumental difference between acting in a film and acting out a play. In the theatre, each night is a new film. Actors must learn to use the emotions given by the other actors on stage and act accordingly. Within this entire “balcony” scene, I felt that although Danes is a good actress and played her part well, as far as the role of Juliet is concerned, something was missing.
When acting in a Shakespeare play, one must realize the importance of every line. We as actors are presenting a masterpiece to audiences and it is our duty to make our writer and director proud.
On Thursday November 20th, 2008, I along with four other people presented an abridged version of Romeo and Juliet, choosing the main scenes of Shakespeare’s great work. One of the most memorable scenes of the play and most successful scenes within our performance was the balcony scene of Act II. Acted out between myself as Juliet and Kathryn Foley as Romeo, we attempted to wow our audience. Although we may not have wowed them, we definitely entertained.
Because many of my play members as well as myself are English majors, we decided to act out the balcony scene using traditional measures including an outdoor setting, a balcony with Juliet looking yonder, and Romeo, patiently waiting below the balcony waiting for his (or her) love to speak. Due to a time crunch, both Foley and I cut sections of our lines, however, in general, the line cut did not take away from the scene in any way nor did anyone comment on any confusion or a lack of line flow. I thought that the scene was rather successful and as a result was very proud of both Foley and myself.
As previously discussed, when I was assigned the role of Juliet, I knew that I had my work cut out for me. As Juliet, I realized that I must rehearse as much as possible as well as researching different actress’s portrayals of the role in order to get a few different ideas. Although I did research Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet, specifically Olivia Hussey’s performance as Juliet, I primarily concentrated on Claire Danes performance within Lurhmann’s modernized version of the Shakespeare classic. Danes performance was easier to relate to since she was attempting to create a modern-day Juliet as well as the obvious fact that we as a class watched, discussed, and analyzed this particular film in depth. In general, I found Danes performance to be very helpful however, because my play group decided to keep most of the original text and perform a traditional version of Romeo and Juliet, our performances ended up being very different.
We opened the balcony scene with Juliet standing on her balcony looking out at the world, gazing at the stars, wondering what to do about her current situation with Romeo. Pondering her next move, Juliet speaks one her most famous line, “Oh Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet” (II.2.33-36).
Thinking back on Danes performance, I did use many of the same facial expressions and confused / worried tone of voice while acting. It is very evident that Danes’ facial expressions are what make her the actor that she is today. Specifically acting as Juliet, she used her environmental surroundings to helping tune the audience into her thought process and emotions. I took this under consideration when performing on stage and as a result, I do believe that using my surroundings as well as changing my tone of voice and facial expressions helped make the scene more realistic.
Later in the scene, Juliet expressed her concerns that Romeo may in fact not reciprocate the feelings Juliet has for Romeo. Cutting down this particular section due to its length and our groups’ time restraint, I stated “…Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say 'Ay,' and I will take thy word: yet if thou swear'st, thou mayst prove false; at lovers' perjuries then say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo, if thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully…” (II.2.85-106)
As Danes performs this scene with worry and stress attached to her vocal tone, I mimic her with the same tone. Although I did attempt to mimic facial expressions, obviously on stage, above on a balcony, the audience cannot see my face as well Danes in the film. Therefore, I had to adapt and rely solely on my voice in order to try and express my feelings and emotions towards Romeo. Sadly in the section of the film, Romeo and Juliet are basically one person, attached hand in hand in a pool as well as vocally enhanced by microphones. I on the other hand was not given a microphone nor was I in close enough range to Foley and the audience to whisper. Because of this, I needed to somehow act as though I was whispering to avoid drawing attention to myself by other people within the house. All I could do was lean over the balcony and quietly yell my lines to Romeo (Foley) to insinuate that I was whispering while still allowing the audience to hear me.
As one can notice, Danes and I had many similarities in our performances. My excessive research helped me to understand the different acting tactics that Danes used as well as different ways to adapt on stage as opposed to in a film. I learned that although facial expressions are crucial to any good scene, vocal tone and body presence are the most important aspects of a successful performance. When attempting to express certain emotions, a person’s tone of voice can either confirm or reject the initial mood. For example, when acting out the last line of the scene, I had to express the emotions of happiness that Romeo does return my love, while still expressing nervousness because I hear my nurse from within the house. Stating “But to be frank, and give it thee again. And yet I wish but for the thing I have: my bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite. I hear some noise within; dear love, adieu! Anon, good nurse! Sweet Montague, be true. Stay but a little, I will come again” (II.2.131-138), I tried to keep a nervous tone to my voice while still acting happy. Danes does an excellent job of taking multiple emotions and combining them when expressing one or two sentences. She seems to really nail scenes when combining these emotions and as a result I tried very hard to mimic this when completing this scene. Although we did have different settings and time limits, both Danes and my scene ended successfully.
Because film and theatre are very different due to props, settings, stage space, and time, Danes and I did have a lot of differences when acting the same scene. On stage, I was in a balcony, looking down on Foley expressing my words and emotions as quietly as possible, but loud enough that the audience was still able to articulate what I was trying to profess. Danes on the other hand was next to Romeo. She had microphones, unlimited time, more props to use, and endless takes in order to get the scene exactly how she, the other actors, and Luhrmann wanted. Because I only had one shot to get the scene right as well as minimal props and another actor’s performance to worry about and therefore took a safer root when performing.
Specifically discussing props, Danes use of the pool created a more sexual expression of love than I did when verbally expressing my love from a safe distance on the balcony. This did change the mood of the scene in general. I wanted to portray Juliet as an innocent girl in love with a man solely based on emotion. Luhrmann and Danes seemed to want to portray Juliet as a sexual person, attracted to Romeo on a more physical level as well as an emotional level.
Another prop used was the outdoors. Using the sky and actual natural environment created a different, more whimsical setting than our intimate stage. The visuals provided by the sky as well as Danes constant use of the sky as her focal point brought depth to her inner emotions and verbal pondering. I on the other hand had to adapt without the use of an actual sky which obviously makes the action of looking out at the stars less realistic. Anyone who is ever on stage knows that actors and their audiences must use their imagination when acting or viewing a play. With the exception of a few theatres such as the Globe theatre, most stages are completely surrounded by walls and a ceiling. The Schroeder Auditorium at Cardinal Stritch University is no exception to this and as a result, every person attending our performance as well as the actors had to make sacrifices.
Over this past semester, I have learned a great deal about William Shakespeare and his tragedies. Specifically centering on Romeo and Juliet, I realized that although Shakespeare may have had an idea of how he wanted his play to be performed, he never really could have expected that a masterpiece such as Romeo and Juliet would be interpreted and acted in one specific way. The words written on a page are only the beginning. Whether it is performed on a stage or behind a camera, a play must be acted in front of an audience in order for it to be a success.
Danes performance has taught me that although Juliet does have a written description of how she could be portrayed, that does not automatically mean that she should be portrayed that way. Danes performance was memorable. She successfully expressed most lines written by Shakespeare, while still taking a unique risk, stepping out of the box.
Although I may have attempting to portray Juliet in a more traditional light, I did use many of Danes physical expressions such as facial expression, vocal tone, and body language when acting on stage. It helped a great deal to research different actors and their individual portrayals of Juliet, however, I learned rather quickly that no two Juliet’s will be the same, yet all are beautiful. Shakespeare created a wonderful play that could never be acted in one specific way. If he had expected that all actors would follow in his “tunneled” vision of what the play of Romeo and Juliet should be or worse, we as actors believe that Shakespeare was so dense to insinuate that a play should be professed one way or no way at all, than Romeo and Juliet would not be the masterpiece that we know and love today. My classmates as a whole proved this true when acting out their individual Shakespeare plays in our performance. Each group did an excellent job of interpreting Shakespeare’s works without every really acting in a traditional fashion. We all performed in unique ways, creating individualized renditions of great Shakespeare tragedies, something that I know Shakespeare would have appreciated.

Works Cited
1. Romeo and Juliet. Ed. Peter Holland. New York: Penguin, 2000.
2. William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. Dir. Baz Luhrmann. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. 1996. DVD. 20th Century Fox, 2002.