Essay Comparing Romeo And Juliet And West Side Story

The play Romeo and Juliet written by Shakespeare and the movie West Side Story there are a lot of parallels but also many differences. In Romeo and Juliet one of the main characters name is Romeo Montague. He is a young man who fell madly in love with the daughter of the Capulets, Juliet. This would be perfectly fine and great for each family if the two families (search for synonym) didn’t have an age old grudge. While in West Side Story one of the main characters name is Tony and he is part of the gang Jets who are in a turf war with a Porto Rican gang called the Sharks. Tony ends up falling in love with a girl named Maria, who is part of the Sharks. As you can see there are already many similarities and differences between Romeo and Tony and that was just the very basics of their character.

As you progress through the story line, it will be quite clear both characters are very impulsive and driven almost entirely by their emotions. Romeo and Tony are also about the same age and are struggling with almost the same problems. They both are in love with women that are family with their sworn enemies. Also, both of the men end up dying because of their love. The basic story is the same: two young people madly in love with people they can never be with. The biggest difference between the movie and play is the setting. Romeo and Juliet was set in Verona, Italy and West Side Story was in the Upper West Side of New York City, New York. Also, West Side Story was set in the mid-1950’s while Romeo and Juliet was from the either the fourteenth or fifteenth century. Because of this huge time difference they are constantly acting in a way that would confuse the other party. This played a huge rule in the different conflicts and repercussions of each