Tony Wyzek; The Character Not So Related To Romeo Montague “Every one of you hates every one of us, and we hate you right back.” This quote is from West Side Story which was based on Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story illustrates personality differences between many characters including Tony and Romeo. Even though the movie was based on the original script of Romeo and Juliet, it is important to remember that their characters are a little different. In this paper, I will prove to you that just because Tony and Romeo may be alike in some ways, overall their characters are not similar. One of the most important differences between Tony and Romeo is their status. Romeo comes from a rich and powerful family and is pretty well known. He has good …show more content…
Romeo in Act 1 Scene 2 is just crying because his relationship with Rosaline was damaged. He complains and talks as if his life is completely ruined. And instead of trying to do something about his sorrows he just cried and complained to other people. This shows us that Romeo cares a ton about his love life and when something bad happens to him he likes to weep about his life. (Shakespeare & Durband, 1985) Then there is Tony who completely changed his life around. Tony left his closest friends to create a brighter future for himself. He was aware of how his life would turn out if he stayed in the gang so he took action. This is a big difference between the two characters and shows how maturely they handle their life. While Romeo is crying about finding true love and fixing relationships, Tony is working to clean up his past and make a better life for himself. This shows us that the two are completely different in their …show more content…
When Tony first sees Maria he dances with her and they talk for a short period. Eventually, they are pulled apart and he then goes on to sing a whole song about her, but it is only about her name. Some of my favorite lyrics from this song are, “Maria! / I just kissed a girl named Maria! And suddenly I’ve found / How wonderful a sound / Can be / Say it loud and there’s music playing... / Say it soft and it’s almost like praying. / Maria.../ I’ll never stop saying, Maria!”(Kushner) So this whole song is just about her name, but when Romeo first sees Juliet he starts muttering poetry just about her beauty. Some common lines are, “Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”(Shakespeare & Durband, 1985) Tony and Romeo go about different ways to describe the person they are in love with. Tony sings about the name Maria and Romeo talks about Juliet's beauty, these are two different ways to describe