Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Screen
- Cambridge Companions to Literature
- The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Screen
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Preface
- Note on References
- Introduction
- Part I Adaptation and Its Contexts
- Part II Genres and Plays
- 5 The Comedies
- 6 The Environments of Tragedy on Screen: Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth
- 7 Two Tragedies of Love: Romeo and Juliet and Othello
- 8 ‘Sad Stories of the Death of Kings’: The Hollow Crown and the Shakespearean History Play on Screen
- 9 The Roman Plays on Film
- 10 Screening Shakespearean Fantasy and Romance in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest
- Part III Critical Issues
- Part IV Directors
- Further Reading
- Filmography
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To …
7 - Two Tragedies of Love: Romeo and Juliet and Othello
from Part II - Genres and Plays
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2020
- The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Screen
- Cambridge Companions to Literature
- The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Screen
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Preface
- Note on References
- Introduction
- Part I Adaptation and Its Contexts
- Part II Genres and Plays
- 5 The Comedies
- 6 The Environments of Tragedy on Screen: Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth
- 7 Two Tragedies of Love: Romeo and Juliet and Othello
- 8 ‘Sad Stories of the Death of Kings’: The Hollow Crown and the Shakespearean History Play on Screen
- 9 The Roman Plays on Film
- 10 Screening Shakespearean Fantasy and Romance in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest
- Part III Critical Issues
- Part IV Directors
- Further Reading
- Filmography
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To …
Summary
In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Othello, love collides with violent conflict, creating a range of challenges and opportunities for filmmakers and their visions of the plays. Key to the plays are questions of identity, and the borders between Shakespeare’s lovers have been interpreted in the twenty-first century in profoundly political ways, resonating with inter-racial, caste and ethnic conflict, honour killings, domestic violence and discourses of sexual politics and gender identity. This chapter surveys the range of Romeo and Juliet and Othello on screen, considering some of the lesser-known and recent adaptations alongside the landmark films. While not exhaustive, it illustrates the scope and range of possibilities the plays have offered to filmmakers from various cultures.
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- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Screen , pp. 92 - 104Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020