Tragedy turned into comedy, comedy turned into drama. A woman turned into a man for following her artistic aspirations. A love story turned into an resigned acceptance of the life’s course, while never forgetting the shivering of love. “Shakespeare in Love” captures the paradox of life, love, friendship and gender relationship, aspects illustrated in the context of the Elizabethan England. Nevertheless, these aspects and their interpretations transposed in the movie are still applicable in our nowadays society.
The movie is dynamic and appealing through its script, story, insight and interpretation. The tragedy of a love that cannot be or the drama of a woman who cannot follow her aspirations unless dressed as a man are serious concerns that describe the realities of a society. Yet, they are exposed with humor and vivacity and the drama within these realities seems far away when on the scene, acting for probably the most popular tragedy the world was given, “Romeo and Juliet”.
In “Shakespeare in Love”, creativity is a subject treated with great significance, as this is the source of tragism that characterizes its “Romeo and Juliet” playwright. Nonetheless, creativity is the outcome of falling in love and this feeling transcends over drama, over the writer’s block, over gender discrimination in theater and character interpretation, over double – crossing situations. Falling in love brings the protagonists on the scene of living and feeling the “now” and “here”, not thinking about anything in their lives, being captured into a fantasy world, where they do not take into consideration the consequences of their actions.
Therefore, the movie “Shakespeare in Love” is about here and now, is about carpe diem, is about living the moment at its best, not wasting even a particle of it, being guided by feelings of love, which blends naturally with the passion for acting, and the passion for writing, and the creative fire that it sets.
The movie could be interpreted from a more down to earth perspective as well. As Roger Ebert indicates, this movie underlines the idea that Shakespeare was once a young man who, besides being a playwright and making his way into theater, let go of his libido (para 2) and fell in love, acting according to his age.
This interpretation focuses around William Shakespeare, the man, the young playwright, the theater symbol and it follows these aspects of his life in the context of remembering a great personality, who travels through time and space because of his playwrights. The movie “Shakespeare in Love” covers one year in Shakespeare’s life (“Film Education” 1). The context of creating “Romeo and Juliet” playwright is exposed within this romanticized interpretation of Shakespeare’s life: the young Shakespeare is cheated by his lover and he transforms the initial play that he planned, called “Romeo and Ethel the Pirate’s Daughter”, which was supposed to be a comedy, into the tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”. This indicates the fact that he was affected by that event and that he wanted to take revenge on the girl who cheated on him, by killing her. As he meets the person who was meant to play Romeo, Kent, and he discovers that Kent is actually Viola, a girl hiding in a man’s clothes for being able to act on stage, he falls in love completely. As stated in the beginning of this essay, the love story that develops among them leads to creativity. This might imply that Shakespeare’s romance with Viola de Lesseps might have influenced the development of “Romeo and Juliet”, mostly, considering the fact that they did not remain together, as a result of the society they lived in. Like this, the playwright “Romeo and Juliet” might represent a symbol of a love relationship broken by the society and of everlasting loving feelings, even after the separation, even after death.
Works Cited
Ebert, Roger, Shakespeare in Love. Accessed on 17 October 2012, retrieved from http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19981225/REVIEWS/812250306/1023. 1998. Web.
Film Education. Teacher’s Notes. Accessed on 17 October 2012, retrieved from http://www.filmeducation.org/pdf/resources/secondary/ShakespeareInLove.pdf. N.d. Web.
