Love's Transgression in Romeo and Juliet Movies

The Critical Analysis of
Act 5 in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ films.
“My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!”- Juliet (1.5.137)
Love and Hate, two cardinally linked key themes that run throughout William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, illustrating loves transgression; meaning that one cannot have love without hate, nor passion without violence. This is demonstrated in the two young lovers’ (Romeo and Juliet) tragic love affair that exists amid the turmoil of two feuding families’ hate, one emotion ultimately being fuelled by the opposing emotion. Throughout the text, there is evidence of the existence of this transgression of love and it can be understood and interpreted in a variety of ways in the lead actors’ dialogue. I shall be exploring how two directors have understood and demonstrated their ideas of love’s transgression, namely Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann. I will critically discuss the final act (Act 5) of the pl...