"Romeo and Juliet" and "West Side Story": A Thematic Comparison

Romeo and Juliet shows how the story of true love can break the ancient grudge between two families. The conflict in the story is Capulets against Montagues. From ancient times, the two families have held grudges against each other. As the book states. “Two households, alike in dignity...from ancient grudge break to new mutiny. Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean” (1.Prologue.1-4). The grudge between the two families led to fighting and even death.

     The plot sequences are also different in West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet. Prince Escalius is completely neutral about the Capulet and Montague brawls as well as all public disputes. He is the voice of reason in their turmoil, and serves as the peacemaker. Lieutenant Schrank, although he tries to stop the brawl, is more biased towards the Jets. His prejudice almost permits the brawl to go on, and the Jets certainly take the hint. Romeo and Juliet marry each other secretly, and that in itself binds them together. It was because that Juliet couldn’t marry Paris for fear of bigamy that she had to go to Friar Lawrence for help. This ultimately led to both protagonists' death. Tony and Maria never

The film and play Romeo and Juliet has a similar story line to West Side Story. However this story is based in Verona, Italy and the rivals are not gangs but families, the Capilates

Romeo and Juliet is a story based on conflict. The conflict in the story is Capulet against Montague. From ancient times, the two families have held grudges against each other. As the book states. “Two households, alike in dignity...from ancient grudge break to new mutiny. Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean (1.Prologue.1-4).” The grudge between the two families has led to fighting and even death.

Love is a universal truth that is portrayed similarly in both Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story. Two members of warring groups fall in love. Love is something that we can all relate to in one way or another and it will never change over time. In Romeo and Juliet both Romeo and Juliet have such a strong love for each other that they both commit suicide when the other dies. In West Side Story, Tony and Maria talk of running away and they have such a strong love that they believe that they can end the hatred with their love.

Hatred, resentment, and love are all a form of disaster. When the are mixed together it creates the greatest natural disaster of all time. Romeo is a romantic and heavy hearted. He is exiled because he killed Tybalt. Eventually he decides to go see Juliet, even though he could be killed. Juliet is love struck and a little naive. She wants to marry Romeo, even though he is a Montague and their families hate each other. At the end of Act III, eventually she decides to marry him or end her life because she can not live without him. In the great love story, Romeo and Juliet, the two lovers were doomed from the beginning. The hatred that their parents have for eachother, end up killing both of their children.

Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story are both iconic, enjoyable stories that most people have heard of. Romeo and Juliet was written much earlier than West Side Story was, however it was still based on older Italian stories. These stories can teach us a lot about our daily lives and how we live them. In order to do this though, we have to make other comparisons throughout the story first. So, let’s dive in and analyze the differences between the stories, their origins, and their authors.

Hate is one very important idea examined in Romeo and Juliet and is explored by Juliet when she states ‘Here's much to do with hate, but more with love’ (1.1.166). William Shakespeare conveys the consequences of hate in his play through the ancient feud between the Capulet’s and the Montague’s, the irrational decisions made and the deaths that resulted. It is the ancient feud between the two families that lead to the irrational decisions made by Romeo and Juliet as well as their demise. It is questionable as to whether Romeo and Juliet’s lives would be spared if their families were not feuding.

In Romeo & Juliet the setting is in the time of the 16th century. West Side Story was filmed in the 20th century. There are a lot of differences between the two. In Romeo & Juliet the settings was during the era of the realm, big ball gowns, and sword fighting. But in West Side Story there are guns, dancing and singing, and rumbles. Romeo & Juliet has a monologue of old English language. As for West Side Story is written in modern English language. In West Side Story, doc says to the boys “Why do you kids live like there's a war on?". The times are different in Romeo and Juliet they didn't worry about wars they only cared about the royal families and the fights between the two families, but for West Side Story they worry about

The meshing of characters between Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Bernstein’s West Side Story formulate significant similarities between the two. In Romeo and Juliet the story of “Two households both alike in dignity,” (Montagues and Capulets) who have been feuding is parallel to the two gangs in West Side Story (Jets and Sharks). This grouping of loyalties keeps the segregation of the two groups at a dead lock, thus producing the tension that keeps the two lovers in each play (Romeo and Juliet, Tony and Maria) in the unattainable, intangible realm of their idealistic love. It is these two groupings that cause the star-crossed

     What would Romeo and Juliet be like if Juliet hadn't died? What if Paris killed Romeo, instead of vice versa? What if instead of occurring several centuries ago, it took place on the streets of New York City during the 1950s, with a bunch of fresh-faced youths posing as street toughs and dancing and singing their hearts out? Well, just take a look at West Side Story, and you will have your answers. It is impossible for anyone familiar with both texts to not note the obvious major similarities between the two plays. From the opening scenes in both, up through the rumble in West Side Story/death of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, the plays mirror each other (Poelstra).

Although the discrepancies between Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story are too frequent to categorize in such limited space, it is impossible for anyone familiar with both texts to not notice the obvious similarities between the two works ("Theme").  From the opening scenes in both, up through the rumble in West Side Story/death of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, the plays mirror each other (Poelstra).  It isn't until the last part of West Side Story, where Tony (our modern-day Romeo) dies and Maria (Tony's Juliet) doesn't (unlike the two star-crossed lovers of Shakespeare's work, both of whom perish), that the major difference between the two works becomes apparent.

As the famous philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” This quote represents the truth about the classic tragedy play of Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare and the movie “West Side Story” directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, in which the two set of couples go against their own families and fall in love with their own enemies. In the play, Romeo falls in love with Juliet, who was on the opposing family, and Tony, who belonged to the Jets, falls in love with Maria, who was part of his rival gang, the Sharks. Even though both versions have a similar plot of events and portrayal of characters, they contrast with each other in many ways.

Romeo and Juliet is set in fair Verona around the 13th century, while West Side Story is set in New York around the 1950s. In both pieces they each have certain locations that are identical to each other. We encounter street fights, a small community with shared values, while a ball and balcony in Romeo and Juliet become a school dance and fire escape in West Side Story. These adjustments in both pieces drastically change the theme as in West Side Story the time era shows racism to anyone who wasn't American.

In the play Romeo and Juliet and the musical Wet Side Story, the two pairs of lovers were part responsible for their tragic fates. First, Romeo’s and Juliet’s families were enemies. In comparison, Tony and Maria of West Side Story were practically apart of gangs that were enemies as well. Second, both couples knew they shouldn’t have been together especially if they had to hide it. Third, Romeo and Juliet gave up hope when they committed suicide. Last, the couples knew their situations would be dangerous and would cause more feuding than there already was.