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Similarities And Differences Between Romeo And Juliet And West Side Story

1100 Words5 Pages

West Side Story by Arthur Laurent is the modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story is a movie musical in which the narrative is actually presented through the song. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a play where the characters speak and act out their mind utilizing the poetic verbatim of Shakespeare. Both these literary pieces have several distinct differences and some fascinating similarities. Being a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story attempts to recreate the same characters in a new light. Romeo and Tony are presented as the strong young men who remain confident and courageous so as to follow the prohibited "love" presented by Juliet and Maria. The present paper attempts to analyze the common similarities and differences in the novel and the play. It is indeed …show more content…

The plot needs to be analyzed initially to point out the likenesses and dissimilarities. The fight scene amid the opposing parties is in both the works. While the West Side Story depicts the fight of the Sharks and the Jets, Romeo and Juliet portray the fight of the two rival families, Capulet and Montague. Another significant similarity is the protagonists’ falling in love. Romeo and Juliet fall in love as they meet for the first time at a ball of Capulet and Tony and Maria of West Side Story fall in love during a dance party. Both the male lovers of the works go to their women’s apartments to see them. Romeo goes to the forbidden Capulet house to meet Juliet and Tony goes to the apartment of Maria to see her. The next similar scene is the murder scene where Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin Tybalt as Tybalt murders Romeo’s best friend, Mercutio. Similarly, Tony murders Maria’s brother, Bernardo as Bernardo kills Tony’s best friend, Riff. Another similarity is the death of the male protagonists Romeo and Tony. Romeo kills himself by drinking poison whereas Tony gets killed by

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