Romeo Montague

Romeo Montague
I decided to analyze Act I Scene V of Shakespeare’s original text, which corresponds to Chapters 8, and 11 through 12 in Baz Luhrman’s film version of Romeo and Juliet, and the third scene of our rendition of the play. Leonardo DiCaprio is my counterpart of Romeo in Baz Luhrman’s film. This scene stood out to me for comparative purposes because the film made this single scene of Shakespeare’s play into six chapters and we cut the dialogue down to only a few minutes with only four characters present. Also, I felt that DiCaprio inspired my actions a great deal in this scene even though our representations of Romeo ended up looking very different after many things were taken into consideration.
Section One: Film Adaptation Analysis
DiCaprio had a lot more to work with when it came to props, costumes, and scenery that allowed him to enhance his performance in ways that I was unable to do. The addition of these elements made his portrayal of Romeo more substantial than mine because he was able to interact with more than just Juliet. DiCaprio worked well with his surroundings by playing off of the scenery in a way that made the audience feel as though he really was living in the space the film showed him in. He touches the walls, leans on a pillar, looks in a mirror, and pushes past movie extras in order to pursue Juliet. Romeo is not just a single person who has discovered a new love interest; he is a member of the Montague family and is being watched at the Capulet party.
The use of the elevator in this scene was very interesting because it is an escape for Romeo and Juliet. The movement on and off of the elevator repeatedly in a short amount of time in order to avoid Juliet’s parents added even more believability to the forbidden budding love. Romeo isn’t as concerned about being caught as Juliet is, which DiCaprio displays by keeping his focus on her and by continually attempting to kiss her and succeeding in doing so. While DiCaprio’s physical movements appear to be very influential into the reading of his character when combined with Shakespeare’s language, his vocal inflections were not very telling. DiCaprio’s use of tone and volume did not add anything special to his representation of Romeo.
In the film, Romeo and Juliet first catch a glimpse of each other through a large fish tank after Romeo finishes washing his face. DiCaprio completely changed his facial expression while his face was under the water he was using to wash it and again after he brought his head out of the water. Under the water he appears to be screaming with his eyes wide open as if he was trying to release his frustration with love. Then, when he looks in the mirror he seems to be realizing that he has been under a spell and/or drug that made him see love falsely. This realization is noticed through a questioning look that DiCaprio wears on his face. Romeo also left his mask in the water which strips him down to just being Romeo the man, leaving behind the facade of the knight in shining armor that he has tried to be in order to be in good favor with women. While looking at the fish he spotted Juliet (Claire Danes) through the fish tank and there is a definite look of surprise conveyed when DiCaprio raises his eyebrows. Juliet doesn’t walk away and Romeo keeps his eyes fixated on her even when she turns away shyly. His eyes generate the idea that he is trying to get to know her, and understand her, by taking in her appearance, her beauty. The most interesting part of this scene is that DiCaprio and Danes were not together during the filming through the fish tank. DiCaprio was reacting without actually seeing Danes. His subtle smiles of flirtation and anticipation were made to no one and yet he looks as though he is developing a crush on Juliet.
DiCaprio created a Romeo who was very confident in his abilities in wooing women by enhancing Shakespeare’s words with very physical advances. DiCaprio attempts several times to kiss Danes before he makes contact. Although she moves her head out of the way, DiCaprio maintains eye contact which creates a slight look of discomfort on Juliet’s face. His continuous kissing does make his line “O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?” (2.2.125) during the balcony scene seem very appropriate. DiCaprio’s Romeo is a very sexual being. Danes glances to see if anyone is looking at Romeo and Juliet kissing while DiCaprio’s eyes stay closed or on her only the entire time they are kissing. He is only focused on Juliet which leads the audience to believe that he really has fallen for her in a short amount of time and really does love her.
Finally, the moment that Romeo realizes that Juliet is a Capulet DiCaprio solidifies that he is really talented in manipulating his face to convey emotion. DiCaprio maintains his look of delight in the girl that he is pursuing/wooing as he follows Juliet through the crowd. It would take anyone a moment to realize who is surrounding someone if all their attention was on that one person, and DiCaprio does an excellent job of taking that time to let it register that she is now with Lady Capulet. The audience can almost see Romeo’s thought process on DiCaprio’s face as he works through what has just happened—the nurse said that her mother wanted a word with her, she was taken away, she is now with Lady Capulet, she must be a Capulet, our love is forbidden—and his face goes from happy to shocked to sad. He also semi-whispers “Is she a Capulet?” in a way that seems very natural. The look on his face, paired with the tone of his voice, makes the fact that he is talking out loud to himself completely reasonable; it does not feel as though the audience is “hearing” his thoughts, rather it is just the kind of moment that everyone has where they say something out loud in disbelief. I dare to say that the realization of who Juliet is, is the most “real” instant of the scene because DiCaprio’s cocky Romeo is put into his place and it shows on his face that he does not know how to respond. His character continues on completely lost in thought until he and Juliet are connected again during the balcony/pool scene.
Overall, DiCaprio handles this scene very well despite all of the complex changes his character of Romeo goes through. Romeo began the scene under the drug of Queen Mab which blinded him to real love, then he frees himself and discovers the happiness that the pure and innocent Juliet can bring him, he woos her briefly and then takes away a small piece of her innocence, and finally he is put brought back into a sad state when he discovers that Juliet is the daughter of the Capulets.






Section Two: Play Performance Comparative Analysis
I have seen Baz Luhrman’s film version of Romeo and Juliet countless times and I feel that I know Leonardo DiCaprio’s portrayal of Romeo very well. All of my experience with this film version helped me a great deal when thinking about how I was going to act as Romeo. Watching DiCaprio was really the only reference I had for creating Romeo (other than other film versions) because I have never acted before and therefore needed to learn a lot through observation.
One of the most important things I think I learned from Leonard DiCaprio is the importance of facial expressions in acting. Throughout the movie, DiCaprio’s face gives away a lot of his character’s thoughts when dialogue isn’t being used. For example, in the scene discussed above DiCaprio’s facial expressions adds a lot to the emotional appeal of his character. I didn’t know quite how to make my facial expressions work on a theater stage, however. Watching DiCaprio taught me that it was important, not how to exaggerate my expressions enough to make them visible to the audience who is much farther away from my face than the camera was to DiCaprio’s face.
Also, I was given the idea to make attempts at an emotional connection with my co-performers through eye contact. DiCaprio tries to maintain eye contact during his first meeting with Danes even when she looks away. Intentionally only looking at Juliet made it much easier for me to concentrate on not forgetting my lines while still creating the cocky version of Romeo that DiCaprio had established. It takes confidence in one’s self and strong relationship with the person one is looking at to take part in prolonged eye contact because it can be uncomfortable for both people involved; with this in mind, I thought that it was best for Romeo to brush aside the potential uncomfortable situation and focus only on the desired outcome: intimacy with Juliet.
Although I did not think of it at first, DiCaprio did teach me about what to do with my arms and hands. Whenever I do not have something to hold onto I feel awkward, therefore the exaggerated movements of DiCaprio helped me feel comfortable in making flamboyant motions. Watching DiCaprio’s body movements also led to the idea of Emily and me dancing during the scene so that we would be engaged in the contact that DiCaprio and Danes had so much of.
The main differences in our approaches to Romeo came about because of the obvious differences between DiCaprio and me, and the media we were working with. DiCaprio was establishing Romeo as a purely heterosexual character and was comfortable interacting with Danes as a woman; I was not trying to hide the fact that I was a woman playing a male character. DiCaprio was also working with a more forgiving media by being on film that could enhance different aspects of his performance and lead the audience to “see” and “experience” different parts of Romeo.
Due to the nature of me being a girl and Emily being a girl, I decided to not attempt to create intimacy through “romantic physical contact” (i.e. kissing). Instead of making numerous attempts to kiss Juliet (like DiCaprio did), I told Emily to move us into a slow dancing movement so that we could maintain eye contact, the audience had equal chances to see both of our faces without us having to look directly at the audience, and we would be able to fake the kissing parts a lot easier.
The attempt at an “intimate” moment through a dance was not something that DiCaprio and Danes had in the film, but I think that it was appropriate for us to do in our rendition of Romeo and Juliet. The dance was an appropriate way to show intimacy because it enabled the characters of Romeo and Juliet to bond on a romantic level while allowing the audience to see that they were not being disgusted by physical contact.
DiCaprio had to use facial expressions in a way that was slightly different from how I used them. I relied more on my vocal inflections than on my facial expressions because of the distance between the audience and me. Also, I was very nervous and decided it would be easier for me to remember my lines if I did not look at the audience. Not looking at the audience while talking would make it harder for patrons to see my facial expressions of emotion, as well. It was difficult to portray emotion through vocal inflection, however, because I was concentrating so hard on remembering my lines, but the language that Shakespeare had written doesn’t leave very many people guessing at his meaning for this play because most people have prior experience with it. We relied a lot on people understanding the overall play, whereas DiCaprio approached the play as if it was the first time people would be experiencing Romeo and Juliet.
In addition to the technical differences (props, costumes, scenery, lighting, music, etc.), DiCaprio had more time to work with when establishing Romeo and Juliet’s relationship; because of this time difference, the film relationship appeared much less rushed that the relationship that Emily and I created. We had to cut out a lot of dialogue and didn’t have the time to set up Romeo spying on Juliet like DiCaprio spied on Danes. Instead of seeing each other through a fish tank for the first time, Emily and I walked through the “party” (audience) and it wasn’t until we were both on stage that Romeo noticed Juliet.
My approach to portraying Romeo was to make him seem like a hopeless romantic that just wants to be in love because he enjoys the feelings that love stirs up inside of him. DiCaprio’s approach to portraying Romeo, on the other hand, made him seem more like a boy who was more after the physical satisfaction that a woman could bring to him, even though he really did want to establish a deeper, more fulfilling connection. Our approaches took different pathways mostly due to the fact that we are very different people and it would have been difficult and uncomfortable for me to create a very physically driven version of Romeo. We both seemingly strived to give Romeo a subtle sense of innocence when he was interacting with Juliet.
If our playgroup had had been allowed multiple chances to record this scene, at some point I think it would have come off as flawlessly as DiCaprio’s performance.