With Detailed Reference to Act 1 Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet, Explain How Baz Luhrmann Has Adapted the Scene to Appeal to a Modern Audience.

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-With detailed reference to Act 1 Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet, explain how Baz Luhrmann has adapted the scene to appeal to a modern audience. In Shakespeare’s play, the actors wore elaborate costumes; they wore specific colours to accentuate their characters personality and also to make the play visually exciting. In Baz Luhrmann’s production he did the same, during Act 1 Scene 5 the costumes were very elaborate, this was due to the fact that the characters were at Lord Capulet’s gathering or party. Lord Capulet wore the colour purple, this shows royalty, there was also a similarity to that of Caesar, known as the master of the roman world, and dressing like this could over exaggerate the fact that Lord Capulet is a powerful man. Lady Capulet dressed similar to Cleopatra, the famous Egyptian ruler, this also shows power and that she is a dominant female, seeing as they are both dressed as powerful leaders. Caesar and Cleopatra show two powerful people united by marriage and increasing the power. In the film Act 1 Scene 5 Lady Capulet kisses Tybalt, Caesar and Cleopatra had an affair or alliance and this could explain why she kisses him, this also reflects her personality and could be seen as quite daring and flirtatious. Juliet, one of the main characters, innocent and soft she wears a white dress and dresses up as an angel to forward her personality to the audience. Dressed as an angel and in white shows virginity, purity and that she is beautiful and innocent, this could relate to Romeo’s speech in Act 1 Scene 5 that relates her to a bright light, “O she doth teach the torches to burn bright” line 43 this is a poetic exaggeration, since torches can't really be taught. It is important for Romeo to say this, as the audience cannot see Juliet's beauty directly because in Shakespeare's theatre a boy, perhaps seen at some distance, played Juliet. But the metaphor

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