Introduction
The first work of art is a play, Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare. Many experts believe it have been written between 1591 and 1595. However, this play was first published in 1597 in a quarto version. It was first performed in a theatre in London.
The idea behind Romeo and Juliet is to depict the ill effects of family rivalry on the innocent children of these families who find themselves victims of circumstance. It is a tale of two young people from two wealthy families in London falling hopelessly in love with each other oblivious of the impossibility of them ever being together. At the time of falling in love, they already knew that close contact between them may lead to a disaster since their families were great rivals. Nevertheless, they cannot help but love each other. They both are devoted to make their love last to an extent that they decide to get married in private by a friar, who believed that he could reunite the families if he got their children to marry. Unfortunately, Romeo’s kin gets into a fight with one of Juliet’s relatives in which Romeo’s kin is killed and Romeo kills Juliet’s relative. For this, Romeo is exiled but before going, he spends a night in Juliet’s room and they consummate their marriage. However, Juliet wants to meet Romeo again so she goes to the friar for advice. He gives her a drug that will keep her in a dead-like sleep on the eve of her wedding Paris so that Romeo could meet her at the family tomb. A messenger is sent to Romeo who ever reaches and Romeo learns of Juliet’s apparent death from his servant. He goes to an apothecary and buys poison before he goes to the tomb. There he meets Paris who has come to mourn Juliet privately and Romeo kills him before he takes the poison. Soon Juliet wakes to find Romeo dead, so she takes his sword and kills herself. The families meet at the tomb and mourn their beloved, and it becomes necessary for them to unite to avoid of such a tragic event. Thus finally, they are united not by their children’s marriage but by their children’s death.
The second work of art is a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci titled the Mona Lisa, which was painted between 1503 and 1506. It is currently found in the Musee du Louvre, Paris France. It is an oil-on-poplar painting which measures 77 centimeters by 53 centimeters. The idea behind the ‘Mona Lisa’ is to depict the human beauty in its fullness. This is because in the painting, the artist used such colors that made the image in the painting assume a life figure. The smile on the face of Mona Lisa has over a long time been the reference point of a graceful lady; since the word Mona is derived from the Italian word Madonna (shortened to Mona) whose English equivalent is my lady. Indeed, given the posture of the lady depicted in the painting, and the different views one can make on the painting depending on the position of view, it serves a perfect purpose of showing the different views one can have of a single lady. The views will be different but the subject is the same, thus, showing the varied beauty of a woman that cannot be specifically described. It thus agrees with the saying that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. When looked at from one side, it is like the image of the woman is still able to see you from every angle just like when you change the position. This serves to reinforce the higher perceptive nature of woman; who generally have an ‘all seeing’ eye. At the time of its painting and even now, it still depicts the ideal beauty of a woman.
When comparing the two pieces of art, one goes back in time to between 1503 and 1506 while that of Shakespeare was printed in 1597. Most importantly both of these arts are centered on human life and the imminent tragedies, the Mona Lisa depicting the epitome of female beauty while Romeo and Juliet depicts the futility of human rivalry and the triumphancy of love upon hate. On the other hand, they contrast in the usage of the art. Da Vinci uses a human image and colors that enhance the idea that the image is of a human being so that man can think of it as a representation of the female beauty while Shakespeare uses words in the play to bring out the daily encounters of rival people and the silent feuds going on in different families. He uses a play which can be enacted to give more life and timelessness to the message he is passing instead of it being told like any other fairy tale.
References
Carol, S., & Boswell, J. (2007). The annotated Mona Lisa: A crash course in art history from prehistoric to post-modern . New York: Andrews McMeel Publishing.
Cook, T. A. (1999). The Curves of Life: Being an Account of Spiral Formations and their Applications to Growth in Nature, t Science and to Art with special Reference to Ms. of Leornado Da Vinci; with 11 Plates. New York: Courier Dover Publications.
Levenson, J. L. (1985). Romeo Juliet . Manchester: Manchester University Press.
