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Is Romeo a hero or victim in the 1996 film "Romeo + Juliet"?

While a traditional view of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet may be that Romeo is a tragic hero, the 1996 film adaptation directed by Baz Luhrmann seems to portray him as the victim of his circumstances. This may be due to several of the key acts of artistic license taken by Luhrmann; his interpretation includes shifting the setting to 1990s Verona Beach, dramatizing the role of Tybalt, and heightening key moments in the text.


Moving the setting from Verona to "Verona Beach"--a gritty coastal city that looks like a cross between Rio and Venice Beach and which is overrun with gangsters--seems to up the stakes for the plot. The men here are armed not with swords but guns. Mercutio's Queen Mab speech shifts from a commentary on our dreaming and waking lives to a celebration of party culture and drugs. The modern elements here make it evident that Romeo is a casualty of his privileged lifestyle and the terrible influence of his friends. 


Tybalt, in particular, seems to have been rendered with more flair than usual. Played by John Leguizamo, Tybalt flounces about in Spanish-inspired attire, brandishing his gun at every opportunity and spitting out his lines with unparalleled fury. His role as antagonist in Luhrmann's rendition is far more obvious than in the play; he cruises the town with his gang of goons looking for trouble. In his final showdown with Romeo, Tybalt's death seems less like an act of foolish impulsivity on Romeo's part and more of an act of heartbroken necessity. After the gruesome death of charismatic Mercutio, Romeo seems to have no choice but to slay Tybalt.


Finally, we see Romeo faced with heightened crises in this version. When he meets Juliet, he is not staring at her from across a crowded room; rather, he is having a bad trip on ecstasy at a costume party and spots her through an aquarium in a bathroom. Their first kiss takes place in an elevator, and the classic balcony scenes ends in the couple floating around in the Capulet's pool while Desiree's "Kissing You" plays theatrically in the background. Perhaps the most dramatically altered moment is the scene of the couple's suicide. Rather than awakening to discover Romeo already dead, Juliet awakens at the precise moment that he has swallowed the poison. She must watch in horror as Romeo dies, and Romeo must die with the knowledge that he's made a grave mistake--the ultimate victimhood. Juliet then shoots herself in the head with Romeo's gun. In an all too realistic moment, their bodies are hauled off at the end of the movie by coroners. Rather than romantic, these moments are rendered gritty, surreal, and particularly tragic.


So, though Shakespeare's language has not been altered in this film rendition, the contextual changes and creative choices seem to cast Romeo in a new light: that of hapless victim, destined for tragedy in this world of petty privilege. 

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