A Comparison Of Romeo And Juliet And West Side Story. Essay, Research Paper

A Comparison of Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story.

There is a lot in common between the two plays Romeo And Juliet and West

Side Story. The main male characters have many things in common. In fact,

Toni and Romeo both miss the beginning fight at the beginning of the plays, they

both fall in love and end up getting killed. The difference between the two is

that Toni takes place in the 1950s”, while Romeo happens in Elizabethan times

(the late 1500s). The two main female characters also have many things in

common. Juliet and Maria both come from families that hate each other’s

boyfriend’s families. Something that makes Juliet different from Maria is that

Juliet dies and Maria lives. In both of these plays the main male character

kills a relative of their lover. In Romeo And Juliet, Romeo kills Tybalta,

Juliet’s cousin. In West Side Story, Toni kills Bernardo, Maria’s brother.

There was a person in both play’s that tried to make peace. These people were

the Prince and the Lieutenant. The Prince, from Romeo And Juliet, had told

Romeo and Juliet’s families that if there was another riot that the heads of

each family will be killed. The Lieutenant, from West Side Story, had told the

Puerto Rican’s and the American’s that if they get into another fight they all

will have to go to jail. The difference between the two peace-makers is that the

Prince has more power than the Lieutenant. In the story of Romeo and Juliet,

Paris wants to marry Juliet against her wishes. Her father wants Paris West

Side Story to marry Juliet. Juliet goes off and marries Romeo without telling

anyone. In Chino wants to marry Maria against her wishes, just like Paris in

Romeo and Juliet. Maria and Toni do not get married, which is in contrast to

Romeo and Juliet. Marcucio in Romeo and Juliet, is killed while battling Tybalta.

In West Side Story Riff is killed in a knife fight with Bernardo. Both deaths

are accidental and cause the hero’s ( Romeo and Toni) to kill the close relative

of their lovers (Tybalta and Bernardo). Both stories conclude in the sad

reconciliation of two fighting factions at the cost of the lives of the two

young lovers.

After comparing and contrasting the two plays I’ve come the conclusion

that Romeo and Juliet is better than West Side Story. It is better because the

language and the story moves in a more interesting manner. “A grooming peace

this morning with it brings. The Sun for sorrow will not show his head. For

never was there a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo”.