Two scenes that really stood out to me in both WSS and Romeo and Juliet are the scenes where Romeo/Tony contemplates the beauty and wonder of Juliet/Maria. In Romeo and Juliet, this scene is the famous "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks.." soliloquy, and in WSS it is the song "Maria". Both pieces very strongly reflect the anticipation and joy of a young love, and how you just have to verbalize it or it will explode inside of you. The song does not use any specific words, phrases or sentences from Romeo and Juliet, but certainly displays the same sentiments and ideas on various occasions.
There are many similarities between the song and the scene; the main one being that the character is singing/speaking of his newfound love for someone, and how exciting and entrancing that can be. I think both kind of capture the shallowness of young love, but also the self-assuredness that comes along with it. Though both speak mostly of physical beauty and "how she makes me feel" the language in Shakespeare's writing is far more in depth than that of Sondheim's lyrics in the song. This is most likely just because of the times, but it is much easier to be moved by Romeo's flowery language than by Tony's exclamations of Maria.
Both effectively captured the mood. I feel that Shakespeare's Romeo was a bit more lusty than Tony, but they both expressed joy and hope for the future.
So happy you wrote about this! I loved how you phrased 'both kind of capture the shallowness of young love, but also the self-assuredness that comes along with it'. I think it's an important thing to mention, the fact that it IS young, it could become more, but it is still incredibly intense for these two characters.
ReplyDeleteWell said Hannah. I also love these two scenes and am glad you chose to discuss them. I agree with mostly everything except for your claim that Romeo's words are more moving than Tony's song. I feel that, had both these scenes been spoken, this would be true, but because Tony is singing, it increases the emotion and meaning that much more. It is as if he is so passionate that mere spoken word is not enough. For this reason, I believe that they are equal in what they convey.
ReplyDeleteI like the WSS version of this contrast. You do make good points though. I agree with the shallow young love you were talking about. In WSS I like the simplicity of it. Saying Maria a bunch of times shows how significant the single word is.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Stu. I never really thought about the shallowness of young love. Thats totally how it starts in the beginning of a young relationship :P But I do have to say... I'm still a sucker for the romance behind it :P
ReplyDelete" I think both kind of capture the shallowness of young love, but also the self-assuredness that comes along with it."
ReplyDeleteI love this statement, many people don't realize young love is often very powerful because it's really a new beautiful thing that people haven't learned to almost "deal" with maturely if that makes sense.