Romeo And Juliet And West Side Story Comparison

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From our early beginnings to now in modern times, friends factor greatly into one’s decision making process and subsequent actions. It is human nature to be affected by the thoughts and opinions of those held close to us. Countless similarities are displayed between plays and their modern-day adaptations, ranging from major influences such as setting to finer details like character traits. Nevertheless, being that they are adaptations, stark differences from the original can be discovered, too. The star-crossed lovers of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, and West Side Story are equally affected by their friends and others close to them, but are influenced in evidently dissimilar ways. The influences exerted by characters are important to analyze so that their variations can be fully noted and understood. Despite fulfilling twin roles, the Nurse and Anita provide very distinct impacts to Juliet and Maria as the courses of their respective stories unfold. Having lost her own child at a young age, Nurse sees Juliet Capulet as her daughter. Respectively, Nurse is more of a mother to Juliet than her own Lady Capulet. With her best interest in …show more content…

The lives of both pairs of lovers ultimately end in tragedy, but they are affected along the way by distinctly diverse friends. Their friends had abundant influence in their actions and it is continuously made clear throughout the plots. This connects seamlessly to real life relationships between friends. Children and adults alike look to their friends as guides to what they should and shouldn’t do. A student is more likely to take a specific course in school with the support of their friends as opposed to an objection. Humans make thousands of decisions each day varying from what to eat for lunch and what colleges to apply to, and each one is impacted by the world and people around