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Differences between west side story and romeo and juliet in literary terms
Views of love in romeo and juliet
Differences in west side story and romeo juliet
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Differences are what make people who they are. If everyone was the same, life would be boring. People have been saying this for as long as anyone can remember. However, differences can oftentimes be fatal. The ways in which diversity and divisions affect people and their relationships can be shown in Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, as well as the film West Side Story, directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. Romeo and Juliet takes place in the 1500s in the city of Verona. This tragic play tells the story of two teenagers from opposing families, the Capulets and the Montagues, who fall in love with each other against all odds. Eventually, the tensions between their families are too intense for them to bear, and the lead lovers of the …show more content…
In order to do so, one must be informed of the relationships being affected in Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story. To clarify, one is able to compare the ways in which race can affect relationships in both the play and the film because race divides. Even though race is not the issue in Romeo and Juliet, it is similar to the actual issue, which is bloodline, or the family one comes from. It is a pattern in world history that people want to feel superior. One can find it wherever they go, even in present-day High School. The problem of superiority comes in the form of the Capulets and Montagues fighting over who the richer family is in Romeo and Juliet whereas in West Side Story, it is the Jets believing they are superior to the Sharks simply because they are white. All in all, these dividing factors, no matter what they are, create the same hatred that will cause problems for the love that follows. In Romeo and Juliet, the young lovers that the play revolves around are obviously Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is a Montague, a few years older than the newfound love of his life, Juliet, who, incidentally, is a Capulet. The two meet at a party hosted by the Capulets that Romeo is not supposed to be at. However, the two fall in love anyway despite their bickering families. They soon are wed by a Friar, in secret of course, since they know their families will not approve of them being together. In the end , Romeo …show more content…
Romeo would be the same person if he was a Montague or a Capulet or anything else. One could say the same about ethnicity. A person is not what they look like, or what a name on paper says about them. A person is their soul, their brain and their heart working together to create a personality that is the only thing that can ever define them. Juliet supposedly loves Romeo for who he is on the inside. She could care less what family he comes from. The same goes for Tony and Maria in West Side Story. In this film, the brawl occurs between rival gangs in New York City, the Jets and the Sharks. The reason for their argument, race, has been previously discussed. Now one must focus on the relationship that blooms from these two battling posses. Tony, a modern day version of Romeo, belongs to the Jets gang, which would clearly translate to be the Montagues. Maria is a Puerto Rican who comes from the Sharks, or the contemporary Capulets. Obviously, she would be playing the role of Juliet. Similar to the way in which Romeo and Juliet meet, Tony and Maria meet at a school dance and instantly fall in love. However, unlike Shakespeare’s protagonists, most everyone is aware of Tony and Maria’s feelings for each other, and openly disapprove. This is clearly a problem for anyone who wants to start a relationship with someone. Tony and Maria cannot start their lives together without approval from both of
Romeo and Juliet is a well known story, which commonly is aspired after. What you do not normally hear is that the idea of identity strongly contributes to plot. While going through struggles and difficulties, Romeo and Juliet are constantly trying to associate with their identity. The gender, age, or family affiliation of the characters in Romeo and Juliet heavily provides and devotes to the actions of this play.
3 Dec. 2013. Kerschen, Lios. A. A “Critical Essay on ‘Romeo and Juliet’. ” Drama for Students. Ed.
West Side Story, a film directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, is a relatively modern adaptation of William Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet. As both, the film and text, explore the perceptions of deep-rooted feud between two parties, it also includes the influence and pressure it has on young love. Although numerous similarities are encountered throughout the play and movie, there are distinguished concepts obtaining great difference. However, the two mediums of this tragic love story have three prominent issues of story, themes and characters instilling both similar and dissimilar concepts.
In the film, West Side Story. The two rival gangs, the jets and the sharks meet at the school disco. They refuse to dance with any member. of the opposing gangs, which results in a dance showdown. At different ends of the dance hall, Maria and Tony lay eyes upon each other.
The play Romeo and Juliet is a widely known tragedy written by Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet features two rival families and their children. When a daughter of Capulet and son of Montague meet at a party, sparks immediately fly. However, because of their family rivalry, they married in secret, and were happy. That is until things took a turn for the worse.
Romeo and Juliet are not supposed to be together. Upon seeing Romeo, Juliet sends The Nurse to find out who he is. Nurse returns saying, “His name is Romeo, and a Montague, / The only son of your great enemy” (I v 36-37). They instantly become desperate to see each other all the time, ignoring the fact that their families are feuding. Juliet likes the proverbial forbidden fruit, saying, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called / Retain that dear perfection which he owes / Without that...
The romantic tension between Romeo and Juliet and Tony and Maria in Shakespears original play and its modern day remake, Westside Story, is what makes them have such passionate and entrancing scenes. The main reason for romantic tension in these two plays is because the two couples can’t be together like they want to be. There are many different aspects that create different quality of romantic tension in these two scenes. Although the two plays have similar plots, the romantic tension between the two lovers is very different because of the setting, the language and the circumstances in which the lovers face.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet centres on the relationship between two young protagonists, but much of what occurs during the play is as a result of the inequality between men and women. Juliet’s arranged marriage with Paris, as well as the ancient feud between Capulets and Montagues eventually contributes to the deaths of their children.
Love is a beautiful thing, it always works out in the end. Everyone is always happy and no problems occur. West Side Story, a musical by Leonard Bornstein based on Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet parallels a love story of two star-crossed lovers. The play takes place in 1961 in New York City. This musical displays importance because it shows that nothing can overcome the power of love. This play is based on a love story between the main characters of Maria and Tony. Theses two are from different gangs that trouble to get along. They are from different gangs that do not get along at all. Roughly two hundred blocks make up Manhattan’s West Side, which stretches from Central Park West to the Hudson River. For the most part, the street youths
In both Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story, prejudices are so strong between two distinct groups of people that the hatred is passed from generation to generation, always against the same rival group. The prejudice is so influential, that the act of hating them becomes as common as their mere existence. In Romeo and Juliet, there are two distinct groups of people, the Montagues and the Capulets- Romeo a Montague and Juliet a Capulet. The Montagues and Capulets have hated each other for as long as anyone can remember- the two families are in a constant feud. The children of one family hate the children of the other, the servants spit upon their rival servants. The prejudice runs so deep, in fact, that the simple thought of cross-socialization is absurd. In West Side Story, the premise is quite similar. The two rival gangs are the Jets- the Americans, and the Sharks- the Puerto Ricans. The Jets hate the sharks because they feel as if they are encroaching on their territory when they walk the streets of New York as easily as the Jets. The Jets and the Sharks have been in a constant state of uproar since the Puerto Ricans first started moving to America a...
Filmed in 1961, West Side Story is a modern-day telling of Romeo and Juliet. Two youths struggle with their forbidden love as two gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, duel. At the end of the film, Maria says, “You all killed him […] with hate!” This is a universally acknowledged theme that hate can kill. West Side Story is said to be a “morality play about “our” everyday problems: racism, poverty, and the destructiveness of violence” .
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy of an ancient feud where the children of two families at war fall deeply in love with each other. Set in the 16th century William Shakespeare’s play has many different themes running throughout it, which include love, hate, death and conflict. The play opens with a fight but ends with suicide that creates peace between both families who unite from their losses. The conflict, violence and aggression in the play happen from revenge and an ancient family grudge. An audience from the 16th century would have enjoyed Romeo and Juliet because of the real life drama and tragedy the play goes through. The patriarchal society gave women absolutely no rights and they had to obey their man’s ordering a patriarchal system. The theme of conflict is revealed as the characters argue over Juliet’s disobedience.
The leaders of both gangs fell to the ground. Riff by the hands of Bernardo, then Bernardo by the hands of Tony. Angry and confused, Maria still retains her love for Tony even after her only brother was slain, but little did they know the jealous Chino had caught on to the lovers. In order to escape the justice of the law, Tony had to make his escape but first found aid among his friends. A message was sent through Anita, girlfriend to Bernardo, for Maria was detained by the police at the time of questioning.
West Side Story was one of the plays I did with the Light Opera Company while in high school. This play follows the lives of Maria and Tony a couple whose background in significantly different and takes place in the 1950′s in New York City. It follows the love of the couple, Tony a man from the Polish American working class gang and Maria the sister of Bernardo the leader of a Puerto Rican
William Shakespeare has provided some of the most brilliant plays to ever be performed on the stage. He is also the author of numerous sonnets and poems, but he is best known for his plays such as Hamlet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Romeo and Juliet. In this essay I would like to discuss the play and movie, "Romeo and Juliet", and also the movie, Shakespeare in Love. The play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is set in the fictional city of Verona. Within the city lives two families, the Capulets and the Montegues, who have been feuding for generations.