A Final Farewell to Romeo and Juliet
             Some people say that Romeo and Juliet is one of the greatest tragedies ever. It has certainly gone down in history as one of Shakespeare's most famous plays. The fame of this play has brought it to the attention of two movie directors, one many years before the other. The resulting motion pictures, Zephirelli's version (which will be referred to as "the old one") and Baz Luhrman's updated version (otherwise known as "the new one"). Throughout these movies, there are discrepancies between the original play and Hollywood's take on it. A great many of these differences are in the basic plot and script of these stories, but a more interesting source of difference can also be found. When Shakespeare wrote the play, he meant it to be a visual affair and to be performed. So in reading the paper version, the reader misses out on some important aspects of the play, such as props, scenery, costumes, music, lighting, stage directions, and even the correct pronunciation of some of !
             the lines. Some of these had little or no affect on people's reaction to the play, but some drastically impacted a viewer/reader's response. In addition to changing the viewer response, the visual and auditory additions of the movies helped to better illustrate Shakespeare's theme that love will triumph over hate.
             The first group of written versus performance differences is all visual. These include props, costumes, and scenery. One of the more interesting types of props is the swords used in the fighting scenes. While reading the play, a simple stage direction such as "They fight." (Shakespeare 229) doesn't have nearly the same effect as a dramatic swordplay scene with beautifully choreographed stunts and elaborate swords. By seeing the violence and bloodshed between the two sides in conflict, the reader can better envision the bitter way ...