Sex and Violence in Romeo and Juliet

Einstein questions mankind’s lust for destruction and Freud affirms that man has two basic instincts: sex and violence. The constant state of instability and antagonism between humankind in nature makes peace unavoidable. In the case of Romeo and Juliet, love can attempt to rebel against the specter of war, but it is always beaten down. Tragically, Romeo and Juliet’s love is inextricably entwined with the aggression that plagues their feuding families.

Both Romeo and Juliet try to fight the hostility with love, but all psychical acts (according to Freud) occur in an atmosphere of constraint, and the tension between one’s impulses, and what society will allow, creates an unavoidable instability. Each movie is an interesting interpretation of Shakespeare’s masterpiece; however, Zeffirilli’s Romeo and Juliet is the best representation of true love and human tendencies. Though extremely witty and entertaining, Madden’s Shakespeare in Love does not represent true love and human nature.

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One of Madden’s central devices is to create a background of events, large and small, drawn from Will Shakespeare's daily life. For example, in the opening scenes Madden shows Will strolling through town hearing lines shouted out from town criers such as “a plague on both your houses! ” Moreover, Madden poses Will as at a loss for inspiration. Hence, William gets the foundations of his next play (Romeo and Juliet) from a chance encounter with a rival poet. Madden’s use of time and space is key to the progression of Will’s character.

The events in the queen’s quarters, the tensions between the two playhouses, and the auditions for Will’s new play set up the meeting for the beautiful Viola. Madden creates a real narrative outside the realm of the story of Romeo and Juliet which explains how the masterpiece came to be. For example, the battle between two playhouses, The Rose and The Curtain, is transformed into the feud between the two noble houses of Montague and Capulet in imaginary Verona. Another interesting theme is the idea of chaos.

In numerous moments it seems all will be lost, but as Henslow says several times when asked how everything will work it, he answers, “I don’t know, it’s a mystery. ” Among the chaos, Will’s love and inspiration for fair Viola is the fuel that keeps the fire burning. In other words, Romeo and Juliet's modern adapters direct the spectator's attention to what might have been the inspiration for Shakespeare’s work. Nevertheless, with love, comes violence (as mentioned above). What produces the lovers' calamity is the depth of their feelings.

The truth is, even in a world built on such unfavorable foundations, it should take much more to destroy love. William’s and Viola’s love, on the other hand, is not the best testament to true love. It proves much weaker than the civilization. In the final scenes, the queen decrees Viola leave with her husband. Society succeeds in oppressing their love without resistance. If their love were true, they would fight with every last breath to be together. Lurhman’s Romeo + Juliet, like Madden’s Shakespeare and Love, falls short of true love as well.

Unlike Zeffirilli, Lurhman set out with the intention of making a modern day Romeo and Juliet with great success. He plays brilliantly with love in relation to time and nature. He toys with time in the opening gang warfare scene, playing the typical montage introduction of the players through a series of speedy zooms that isolate, in turn, the important characters on screen. His use of color and chaos is perfectly representative of Freud’s ideas concerning constant instability. Not only that, but his choice in music creates dramatic setting.

The movie itself has numerous speed-up moments but is slowed down in critical scenes to allow viewers to soak up every bit of information. For example, the fight scene is particularly profound. Tasteful music backs the thunder, clouds, and darkness that envelope the screen as Mercutio dies. It is a perfect example of nature coming in and playing a role in the movie. Lurhman does an amazing job with his timing because he allows the viewer to slow down and soak every drop of the scene. One of the most important misreadings of Romeo + Juliet occurs during Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech.

Normally interpreted as the drunken improvisation of a jesting wit in relation to dreams, here Mercutio is speaking about the drug ecstasy. Playing to modern times, Lurhman has Romeo take the ecstasy before heading to the Capulet ball. The meeting scene between Romeo and Juliet is thus overshadowed by the fact that Romeo has just taken a drug that inspires enormous amounts of pleasure. Consequently, the implication is that the relationship is founded on artificial feelings. One could argue that Romeo washes away the effects of the drugs in the sink prior to the Juliet-aquarium meeting, but ecstasy does not wear off that easily.

True, the rest of the movie holds fast to the love tragedy that is Romeo and Juliet, but the drug-induced meeting is questionable in terms of true love. Finally, Zeffirilli’s old Romeo and Juliet is the best example of true love and human nature. Not to mention the style, dialogue, setting, costumes, and music in Zeffirilli’s version are closely related to the themes and feel of Shakespeare’s famous play. From the opening scenes, the viewer is taken into the old world and shown the incredible violence and resentment between the two houses.

Within the first ten minutes, the viewers are given a picture of the impermeable violence similar to that which Einstein wished to stop in his correspondence with Freud. Perhaps love could settle the inherent violence that permeates human nature? In the case of Romeo and Juliet, there love cannot, but it is pure and true. The meeting scene between the lovers is one of absolute beauty. Romeo’s playful pursuit of Juliet is simple, yet elegant. The scene commences at the beginning of a serene song by a boy (incredible choice by Zeffirilli) leading up to the first act of aggression: Romeo’s hand touching Juliet’s.

Although their love is forbidden by their family names, it continues to grow. Unfortunately, their time and space is limited and the constraint on their bond is too great. Their suffering is due to the fact that they do not understand what love can accomplish. Instead of uniting the families, they cause a fresh slice in an already open wound. However, the reason they never progress and mature in their love is because of the tragedies of civilization and the violence inherent in it (as mentioned above). Hatred among men rages without restraint, and for Romeo, it causes him to kill Tybalt, a newly made family member.

Censored wishes of the “Id” arise up and transform Romeo when he says, “Take back the villain that thou gavest me, for fire, fury be my conduct now! ” The exile and eventual plot to unite the forbidden lovers is thwarted again by time and space. Zeffirilli’s final scenes are wet with tragedy as Romeo passes the donkey on horseback, which has the letter explaining the father’s plan. Finally, Romeo is unable to live without his Juliet because his love for her is something more. She is a part of him and without her; he has no reason to continue breathing.

The sum of one lover’s bliss is reliant on the life of his love. If he or she is dead and their love is true, then the lover has no choice but death. Both Einstein and Freud would agree that the Montagues and Capulets (in Zeffirilli’s and Lurman’s masterpieces) represent civilization and human kind’s natural form of aggressiveness. Juliet remarks after the potent “love-at-first-sight” scene in Romeo and Juliet, “my only love sprung from my only hate. ” The brilliance of the two lovers’ story is the ancient hatred between their families.

Conversely, the tragedy of them is that love connects the characters no more to happiness than it does to sorrow, turmoil and murder. Unfortunately, the two young lovers live under the illusion of physical freedom from the duties and constraints of their families/civilization. The hatred between the Montagues and Capulets is deep-rooted and rages on without restraint (much like society today). Romeo and Juliet’s love is eloquent and passionate but without solidity. It cannot hope to combat the aggression plaguing them.

Freud states, “love is…best understood clinically as a response to stimuli” (Freud, 524). The issue is that the stimuli are too short lived. However, what is true love? It is the perpetual question that echoes through the corridors of time with answers always varying. Yet love has a correspondence with time. The way it begins, takes shape, and changes is relative to time and space. In each of the movies, the time and space of Romeo and Juliet’s love is portrayed in the background as apposed to the foreground. The visuals, music, and emotion strike at the subconscious, leaving the viewer in awe.

Madden, Lurhman, and Zeffirilli create masterpieces that people desire and want to see. In conclusion, Freud would argue the lovers must understand that human consciousness exists in perpetual tension and instability. Not only that, but true love offers complete happiness to the lovers. In his lectures, Freud gives a poem from Goeth’s Westostlicher Diwan as an example of real love: So it is held, so well may be; But down a different track I come; Of all the bliss on earth hold for me I in Zuleika find the sum (Freud, 520). The lovers find the sum of all bliss in each other if their love is true.

However, the power and sum of their love does not mean it can combat the nature of violence and society. Each film, respectively, depicts Freud’s ideas on true love and human nature. Though, human nature can be redefined as violence and aggression. Freedom is limited in each one of the Shakespearean films because the tension between one’s impulses and what society will allow creates an inevitable instability. Both Einstein and Freud would agree that try as the fiery lovers might, nature and violence of the instilled houses of Verona will stop there love from flourishing into something greater.