Intertextuality

Explain how inter-textuality was used in the film Shakespeare in Love:

In the film ‘Shakespeare in love” inter-textuality is mostly used in character representation, plot, scenes and themes used.This all relates to the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare. Inter-textuality is ‘when the makers of a text uses elements of another well known text(s) within their product (text).’Character representation is one of the elements used in the film ‘Shakespeare in love’, that can be linked to the characters in the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

In the film, one of the main characters,Viola has various similarities with a main character from the play, Juliet. Viola had a nurse that took care of her necessities, in the same as Juliet also had a Nurse that did the same job. Viola andJuliet are both passionate lovers, both to William Shakespeare and Romeo. They were also forced to marry a man that they didn’t love, in Viola’s case because Lord Wessex was betrothed to her and Williamwasn’t good enough for her because of his social status (high end peasant). Juliet was forced to marry Paris, because her parents thought he was a good man for her and because he was related toPrince Escalus, and she wasn’t allowed to marry Romeo because of the problems between their own families, the Montague’s and Capulet’s.

Scenes are another important element in the film ‘Shakespeare inlove’, that can also be linked to the play Romeo and Juliet. The creator of the film, uses various scenes that are from ‘Romeo and Juliet’, in order to evolve his story between Viola and William, tocreate a similar story to the play.

One example is the scene that takes place in Viola’s balcony, where she talks about Shakespeare without knowing he is hiding, listening to what she is saying abouthim. The same event happens in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Juliet talks about Romeo about how she loves him, and he is hiding as-well listening to what his love has to say. In the film, Viola uses almost...