How can I compare Romeo and Juliet to Amadeus?

Question:I have to do a paper by wendsay if i want extra credit or by monday next week. Seriously, I have no clue whats the same between them. Somebody please help?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I have to do a paper by wendsay if i want extra credit or by monday next week. Seriously, I have no clue whats the same between them. Somebody please help?

Is that the topic you chose, or did your teacher give it to you? I'm very familiar with both plays, and I can't think of what they have in common either--certainly not historically or theatrically.

'Romeo & Juliet' is a romance, written in the Elizabethan era, and originally performed on a thrust-style stage (where the stage is surrounded by the audience on three sides--not quite "in the round"). The staging conventions of the time were quite different, and the play itself was meant as entertainment for the common man (in fact, the theory at the time was that more violence on the stage = less violence on the streets).

'Amadeus' was written by Peter Schaffer in 1979, and revised several times in the years since. As a dramatist, Schaffer tends to exploit modern staging techniques & conventions (if you read his play 'Gift of the Gorgon,' it's an interesting look at his philosophy of writing for the stage). The play is *set* in the late 18th century (well after Shakespeare) and framed as a flashback, with the main character giving long soliloquoys to an audience which he has "conjured". ('R&J' has many famous monologues, but aside from the single prologue, it doesn't really break the fourth wall like Salieri does in 'Amadeus'.)

Even their use of language is quite different. Shakespeare wrote in blank verse (iambic pentameter) using a very heightened sense of language. It was much more accessible to the people of his time, but it was by no means how they spoke on a daily basis. On the other hand, Schaffer takes historical figures, even royalty, and has them all use contemporary, even colloquial, language.

(Actually, it's sort of interesting: you can tell a low-born Shakespearean character because they speak in prose, not poetry. In 'Amadeus,' you can tell Mozart's wife is common because of the turns of phrase she uses--for example, she says 'ta' instead of 'thank you,' which is a stereotypically "North of England" thing to say. That gets into the whole British class system, which is a topic for a much different essay. I once saw a production of 'Amadeus' in Yorkshire, England, where every time Stanze spoke, the audience laughed.)

Also, while Mozart's language and behaviour is rather crude, the play itself is quite cerebral--it is Art, not Entertainment (if that makes any sense).

The only thing that comes to mind is that they somewhat alike thematically. 'R&J' is about a feud between two families; 'Amadeus' is about a man who is feuding with God. One turns tragic when the star-crossed lovers kill themselves; the tragedy of 'Amadeus' is that Salieri destroys Mozart in an attempt to get back at God, and still ultimately fails. It's not much to write an essay about. You might have better luck by comparing and *contrasting* the two plays (instead of just comparing), or changing your paper topic altogether.

Good luck with it!

(EDITED slightly to add more information)

Sorry, I need to correct something. Speaking in prose is not an indication of social rank in Shakespeare's plays.
Prince Hamlet speaks in prose sometimes. Sir John Falstaff does. Hotspur does. Prince Harry does.
Rosalind, daughter of a Duke, speaks mostly in prose.

Bottom the weaver spouts poetry. So does Silvius the shepherd.

This is off the top of my head, but don't use that claim in your paper or you will be flatly wrong.