Similarities Between Romeo And Juliet And West Side Story

Have you ever had a feud between you and someone or something? A feud can be anything, a person, a family, maybe it is a referee in a sport. In West Side Story by Tony Kushner and Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare there are many feuds that go on. These stories take place in two very different places. For Romeo and Juliet we are set in Verona Italy in the 1300. In West Side Story we are in Manhattan, New York in the 1950’s. Although the settings of these tragic love stories are vastly different, the parallel characters and plot elements of both stories help to develop the theme of love and hate. In West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet there are many similarities, but also many differences. Many characters in West Side Story are very similar to characters in Romeo and Juliet. For Romeo and Juliet

In Romeo and Juliet the Montagues and Capulet are feuding while in West Side Story there is the Jets vs Sharks. Their feud is very similar, similarities include the death of Mercutio and Riff and the death of Tybalt and Bernardo. Also whenever riff dies Tony kinda pushes him into Bernardo. This is very similar to Romeo and Juliet where Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo's arm. Not everything is the same though, for example, in Romeo and Juliet the families are feuding for really no reason, but in West Side Story they are fighting over territory. The Jets want their territory and the Sharks want the Jets out. They are similar though because they are both very poor. They both work for everything they have and they don’t have anything handed to them. Another plot parallel between Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story is how Romeo and Juliet both die and how Tony dies. In Shakespeare's play both Romeo and Juliet die but in West Side Story only Tony dies because Chino shot him. This is a big difference because only one dies in West Side Story but in Romeo and Juliet both the main characters