Die in your arms

Norman Cousins has once said that “The tragedy of life is not death but what we let die inside of us while we live.” Believing not in fate or religious, I wholeheartedly accept the idea that although Romeo and Juliet’s death for love is miserable, it is in fact the best choice they make to protect their sacred love, much better than both of them living with dead hearts. Romeo and Juliet, two warriors of love, deserve a lot more better than an emphasizing on tragedy. Therefore, as the future Broadway Big Boss, my design of the last scene of play ROMEO AND JULIET will absolutely be refreshing and impressive, unprecedented and weepy( as well as the budget of the preparation). 

To start with, I would especially emphasize on the deaths of Romeo and Juliet by addressing multiple details. However, before the actual death, I would like to firstly stress the scene which Romeo uses “mattock and wrenching iron(5.2 22)” to force open the tomb. Being a grieved man who desperately wants to see the beloved woman of his life, Romeo should immediately knee down at the second he sees Juliet’s gravestone. Although he might use tools as he mentions to Balthasar before, he should eventually digging for the coffin by his hand, with murmuring and crying. Small amount of blood needs to drop from his hands, indicating how heartbreaking and anxious Romeo is. Furthermore, I want to exaggerate the pain and courage of both characters. In order to achieve this, I would like to keep Romeo alive for a while after he drank up the poison. When Juliet actually wakes up, she would find Romeo with breath but dying beside her. When Romeo realizes that Juliet is not died, everything was too late. He raise his right arm, trying to touch Juliet’s face for the last time but failed; he tries to say something with smile, but hip lips only tremble without making any sounds. Juliet then kissed him with tears, holding his hand and stabbing herself with Romeo’s dagger. Their faces are peaceful and satisfied, seems like that they have been holding each other’s hands from youth to senium, from sunrise to sunset. Nevertheless, they are forever young, and their love is forever strong as well.

Setting and costumes are really important factors of the success of my plan too. One of the most significant setting, the tomb, has to be put in an absolutely dark place. In order to achieve this, I would like to make the background totally black with a falcate bright moon on the top, suggesting the message that the ending is not “orbicular” but “fragmentary”. If possible, I would turn off all the light, only keep the moon and a light on the top of the tomb. As for the coffin, the texture and color must be looked like white marble, contrasting to the dark environment. The costume of Juliet would also be white, which indicates her innocence, braveness and loneness in the frightful darkness. After her suicide, the blood would blossom like a rose starts from the wound. The red rose which fills half of Juliet’s white dress, represents the love of Romeo and Juliet:Love is not only beautiful like the rose, but also requires blood and causes pain. 

In conclusion, it is never a easy task to make up a successful scene, which requires dozens of factors to make the stage powerful, believable, tragic and realistic. Furthermore, everyone would has a distinct image of a certain scene, just like what Shakespeare says: “There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes.” The deaths of Romeo and Juliet are feats of great daring and symbols of the purest love. What are the deaths of Romeo and Juliet in your eyes?