Romeo And Juliet West Side Story Analysis

The archetypal tragedy of two star-crossed lovers, separated by familial hate, is a recurring theme, which never fails to capture the minds of the audience. It is only at great cost, through the death of the central characters that these feuding families finally find peace. This is an intriguing idea, one antithetical. I have chosen to analyze both Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet and Laurent 's West Side Story. The purpose of this essay is showing how the spoken language is utilized in these different plays to meet differing objectives. The chosen scenes to further aid comparison and contrast are the balcony scenes.

Scene VI, West Side Story, finds Tony awaiting the appearance of his beloved, who is living in the apartment above him? Immediately

Akin to Laurent 's play, Romeo and Juliet occurs at night. This illustrates the way Romeo and Juliet 's love exists in a world separate from the hatred of the feud, flourishing only at night, an allusion to the forbidden nature of their relationship.

This rhetorical feature is only one of a large arsenal that Shakespeare utilizes to convey his story. Romeo begins his ritualistic display of affection in a grand manner, his language resplendent with beautiful imagery. At the open, there is little dialogue; Romeo must first woo his intended. This being achieved through antithetical couplets to highlight the differences between Juliet and everything inferior around her; 'Juliet is the sun...Kill the envious moon ', 'She speaks yet she says nothing ', are prime examples of this technique. This is also often assisted by; 'godly ' references that of 'heaven ' and that of the 'angel, ' to emphasize his rhetoric. Indeed, the rhyming verse adds a pleasant sound to the ear, to heighten the effect of Romeo 's words, a technique very much commonplace in that era of

Wherefore art thou Romeo? ' conveyed through a rule of three repetition. Juliet attempts to create divergence between the Capulet name and herself, a reflection Tony similarly attempts. Indeed, she begins a discourse surrounding the nature of what makes a man, what makes a man a 'Montague, ' by asking rhetorical questions to the audience. Romeo responds; their conversation turns into turn taking. Juliet asks the question, Romeo responds; they have seemingly achieved convergence, neither linguistically dominating the other, and here their love unfolds; Juliet ever the realist combats Romeo 's hyperbole, to little avail. Romeo feels it were superior to that his life is 'ended by their hate, than death prorogued, wanting of thy love. ' The display of affection ends, as forbidden love does, rather swiftly by the appearance of the Nurse, acting in a similar vein to that of Maria 's parents, but not before Romeo is called back and forth by Juliet, oscillating, on the stage before the audience. Such action creates tension, and heightens their love for one another, perfect physical cues replicated through the spoken word. Indeed, not only do they mirror one another, by running back and forth, but through their repetition of good night; they are unable to part from one another, and simply repeat what the other says, to stall they 're parting. Indeed, this