Romeo And Juliet Essay, Research Paper

Most of you of you know the story Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. But did you know that a man by the name of Mr. Laurent wrote a parody called West Side Story. These two story both express the same points about young love, feuds, and unneeded death. Romeo and Juliet is set in Verona, Italy in the 1400 s as West Side Story takes place in New York City, USA in the 1950 s. In the two stories there is some kind of feud going on between the two families. In West Side Story they are fighting over ethnic, racial, and economical differences. The Jets are the Polish born Americans, and the Sharks are the Puerto Ricans who are immigrants. In Rome and Juliet they are wealth, powerful families who have been feuding for years. They are the Capulets and the Montagues. In this paper I will be comparing the last 3rd of the two stories.

The first part I will talk about is very different in the two stories. In West Side Story it would be the feud in which the Jets harass Anita and she tell them that Maria is dead instead of late. In Romeo and Juliet it is mistiming because Balthasar tell Romeo that Juliet is dead. Now to explain in West Side Story Maria is delayed by the officer and she can not meet Tony at the store so she send Anita instead and when she gets to the store the jets are there and they harass her. When they are done she is so mad that she tells them that Chino killed Maria. She told them that If you were lying in the street bleeding I would spit on you . The Doc hears this and tells Tony. In Romeo and Juliet Balthasar saw Juliet being put in the tomb and went to tell Romeo not knowing it was a fake death. When he got to Romeo before the letter Romeo believed him and went Juliet.

In West Side Story Tony runs out in to the street yelling for Chino to come find him and kill him like he killed Maria. Tony was in mid-tears and mid-insanity. He was in hysterics and could not be stopped by anyone. In Romeo and Juliet Romeo was also in hysterics and not in his right mind. He went to a man and bought a poison to use when he got to Verona. And he went to the tomb and found Paris and in a rage he killed Paris (also not able to be stopped).

In Romeo and Juliet Romeo gets into the crept and talks to Juliet and then drinks the poison and dies with no idea that Juliet is still alive. Then Juliet awakes and fins Romeo dead and taking his dagger says Oh, happy dagger this is your sheaf . And she kills her self. In West Side Story Tony sees Maria and runs to her, but as they get very close Chino shoots his gun and kills Tony. Then Tony says as he is dying I didn t believe had enough . And he dies in Maria s arms. This sends Maria in rage and she turns the gun and both the Jets and the Sharks. And she blames both gangs for the death of Tony. She although lives and doesn t kill anyone.

In conclusion West Side Story ends in a more effective and more emotional manner. The adults have no say or influence in the ending of this story. Both gangs carrying out Tony s corpse symbolize the end of the feud. In Romeo and Juliet the adults have more of an impact on the ending. As the funeral is ending Mr. Capulet agreed to give the Montagues the dowry, and Mr. Montague said a great statue was to be raised of Juliet to show her greatness