Romeo And Juliet Compare And Contrast Essay

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

When two people are meant to be together, no time is too long” (Anonymous). Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and West Side Story by Arthur Laurents show the pure evils of acting extremely hastily and how it can change the outlook on the future. Romeo and Juliet are two young lovers who were taught to hate one another and who suffer deeply because of the consequences of fate. Romeo and Juliet’s deaths were sure to be tragic as was hinted at early on throughout the play. Both families suffer with the loss of their children as well as other family members. Maria and Tony are split from one another because of extreme violence, hatred, and the differences between their New York City gangs. Each of them

Romeo and Juliet shared a secret, forbidden love, much like Tony and Maria’s. The Montagues and the Capulets- both sophisticated, wealthy families would have been driven mad to hear that their children had fallen in love, and had plans to marry secretly and run away together. The jets and sharks- two street gangs- would quite literally kill one another upon finding out about Tony and Maria’s short-lived romance. Neither of the groups wanted for the two to fall in love- whether it was because of a family hatred traced back for generations or because of a simple dispute over the street- their love way truly forbidden. When their love was discovered, there was a sense of betrayal, that by loving their enemies they were destroying their allies within their own groups. The gang members of West Side Story felt as if they had to get revenge for the death of their leader- and that led to more killing. Revenge became a common denominator in both

Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is a tragic love story about two young lovers who are forced to be estranged as a result of their feuding families. The play is about their struggle to contravene fate and create a future together. As such, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood would try and emulate Shakespeare’s masterpiece. This had been done before in many films. Prominent among them were, Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 “Romeo and Juliet” and Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 “William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.” Both films stay true to the themes of Shakespeare’s original play. However, the modernised Luhrmann film not only maintains the essence of Shakespeare’s writings, Luhrmann makes it relevant to a teenage audience. This is

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.

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.

In an act of trying to seal her fate, the Capulet’s arrange for Juliet to marry Paris. Paris is a wealthy man of the upper class, and by Juliet being united to him, she will be able to maintain her upscale status. With marrying a man of high class, Juliet can continue to bring honor to her family name. The rift between Juliet and her parents widens when they force her to marry Paris. The ultimatum given by Capulet shows his dominance and his demand for obedience, “Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch!/I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday,/Or never after look me in the face.” (III.v.161-163). This final proposition spikes Juliet’s resentment to her parents to grow stronger. Despite the expectations set on Juliet’s shoulders, she defies her parent’s wishes by getting married to Romeo without their knowledge. West Side Story resembles the same circumstance when Bernardo forces Maria to go to the dance with Chino, a member of the Shark’s gang. Both these occurrences are important to the plot of the story because instead of being swayed by authoritative figures, these young lovers continue to fight for their passion. The families in both tragedies pursue what they believe will be best for their young, even if they are not present to see it be

In life love can seem awfully hard to find, but the tragic heroes in Romeo & Juliet and West Side Story always seem to find love in the wrong places. Yes they do find love, but the two stories have many differences from each other that impact the whole outcome. West Side Story, directed by Jerome Robbins, sets itself apart from Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare through racial tensions, settings, and tragic hero differences.

The text Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and the text west side story by Arthur Laurent’s deals with the main themes of love and conflict. The two stories are similar in multitude of ways, even though their settings are centuries apart. The author explore (other themes) family, friendship, and hate. Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story both teach a lesson of how to hate, and how one of your rivals may be the one who helps you remember how to love.

The Tony award winning musical West Side Story shares much of its themes and characters with the infamous tragedy Romeo & Juliet, and it can be argued that the creators of the musical used the old tale as a template. They do this by developing characters of which are parallel to those in Shakespeare’s drama, as well as, following the same plot in which two born enemies share a forbidden love. This is done to develop the concept of two enemy characters falling in love unexpectedly, thus, forming the plot of their struggle to have a relationship whilst everything is going against them.

Three Hundred Fifty Years of Blind Love: A Contraposition of Shakespeare and Robbins’ Romeo and Juliet Andy Warhol once said, "They say that time changes things, but actually you have to change them yourself." Two hundred fifty years passed between the original Romeo and Juliet and the premiere of West Side Story on Broadway in 1957. However, time did not change the message of the story, simply the creators’ unique visions evolved. Shakespeare’s delivery of the timeless tale of desperate love in his classic Romeo and Juliet proves to only intensify through retelling and modern interpretation. Audiences cherish Romeo and Juliet as one of the most beloved plays of all time from the Elizabethan Age to the present.

West Side Story is the iconic American musical that is a 1957 Broadway production choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Arthur Laurents is the author of the original book with the setting taking place in the upper west side New York city in a blue-collar neighborhood during the mid-1950s. (The Broadway) Because West Side Story is a movie musical, it will be a lot of narrative conveyed through the song. The movie West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet have many similarities and differences consider their plot, their character and their setting. The major plot of the musical is about a rivalry between two different ethnic group gangs, the Sharks and Jets. The Sharks are Puerto Rican and the Jets are white. Leonard Bernstein composed the dynamic and influential music. In the mix of the conflict between the two gangs, a former member of the Jets, Tony, falls in love with the leader of the Sharks sister, Maria. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet clearly influenced this movie, and there are parallel characteristics. For instance, Romeo and Tony, Juliet and Maria, Mercutio and Riff, Tybalt and Bernardo all have similar characteristics. As for the specific film, I decided to watch the 1961 version.

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.

Death love and something you better buckle your seatbelt because we are going on a ride full of plot twist and a lot of death. There is a lot of different things about romeo and juliet and west side story. Love eventually overcomes hate, this relates the stories majorly in both of them because it is the most important thing to the book

Yet, this scene also has some differences. The biggest difference in the storyline is that in Romeo and Juliet, the main characters both commit suicide and in West Side Story, Tony is killed by Chino, but Maria lives. This was likely changed do to the fact suicide was frowned upon in the 1950’s. Then, in the last scene the families and gangs decide to resolve their feuds . In Romeo and Juliet, the surviving parents of Romeo and Juliet agree to build gold states in honor of their children.