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Because the set, characters, and dialogue come together perfectly as one, the screenplay in the film Shakespeare in Love is very effective. The actors chosen for the film fit their parts. Not only do they fit their parts for the film acting, they also fit their parts for the stage acting within the film. “Each type of acting requires its own particular gift or talent. ” (Boggs, Petrie) Some actors can do both types of acting, others can’t. In this film, the actors did a great job in both types of acting.
Will (also known as young Shakespeare) plays a role as a young struggling poet and does a good job at it too. Viola, the girl he’s in love with also does a great job playing a beautiful talented actress. The protagonist in the film is Will Shakespeare; he is the main character in the film and most of the film centers around him. The antagonist is Lord Wessex, who tries to keep Will and Viola apart and even tries to kill Will. The confidant in the film is the nurse, whom Viola shares her secrets with.
For a long time, the nurse is the only one who knows about the secret relationship between Viola and Will. The nurse is also the static character. She does not change during the film. The developing characters are both Will and Viola. They are developing characters because they change each other throughout the film. Will’s love for Viola changes him and makes him a better person while Will helps Viola make a transition from child to an adult. A flat character in the film is Lord Wessex who is the complete opposite of Will.
He is aggressive, manly and goes after what he wants. The round character is Will, who we learn so much about. His characteristics and personality are exposed, making him a round character. Will is a depressed, lonely, confused man that is until Viola comes around. The exposition opens up with “war of the theaters”, a rivalry between two theaters in London. Will, a writer for one of the theaters is going through a writing “freeze”. He cannot come up with anything good. There are many complications throughout the film.
For one thing Will falls in love with Viola. Will is married but separated at the time and Viola’s parents have arranged a marriage for her with Lord Wessex. The conflicts heat up even more as Viola finds out that Will is married and Wessex finds out that Will is Viola’s lover. A life is lost because of Will’s lie in order to save his relationship with Viola. In the denouement, Will and Viola go their separate ways because they were not meant to be together. The film ends as Will writes a new play. For she will be my heroine for all time, and her name will be… Viola. ” (Shakespeare in Love) A dramatic question in the movie is how similar is Shakespeare’s work to this modern day film, named Shakespeare in Love? So much foreshadowing goes on in the film. The main one is when Will comes up with a play called “Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter” which is just like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and exposes what will happen in the film. Works Cited Boggs, Joseph. The Art of Watching films, 7th edition. McGraw Hill, New York, New York. 2008