Similarities Between Romeo And Juliet And West Side Story

     Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story both have a lot in common as well as major differences that set them apart. Although West Side Story is a direct rendition of Shakespeare's original play, many of the themes and symbols are altered to fit the modern perspective. The characters have a direct correlation to each other, yet racial issues give them a new light. Many of the events also reflect each other, yet small differences give them uniqueness. West Side Story differs from Romeo and Juliet in characterizations, plot sequences, and themes.

Comparing Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story In this piece of coursework I will be analysing the technical aspects of the opening scenes in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story. I will be talking about the body language, costumes, colour schemes, the sounds, music and camera angles used in each of the films. Both these films are about two lovers who fall in love despite being in rival gangs or families, which eventually leads to both lovers from both the films to being killed or committing suicide.

The meshing of characters between Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Bernstein’s West Side Story formulate significant similarities between the two. In Romeo and Juliet the story of “Two households both alike in dignity,” (Montagues and Capulets) who have been feuding is parallel to the two gangs in West Side Story (Jets and Sharks). This grouping of loyalties keeps the segregation of the two groups at a dead lock, thus producing the tension that keeps the two lovers in each play (Romeo and Juliet, Tony and Maria) in the unattainable, intangible realm of their idealistic love. It is these two groupings that cause the star-crossed

Love is a universal truth that is portrayed similarly in both Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story. Two members of warring groups fall in love. Love is something that we can all relate to in one way or another and it will never change over time. In Romeo and Juliet both Romeo and Juliet have such a strong love for each other that they both commit suicide when the other dies. In West Side Story, Tony and Maria talk of running away and they have such a strong love that they believe that they can end the hatred with their love.

Although the discrepancies between Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story are too frequent to categorize in such limited space, it is impossible for anyone familiar with both texts to not notice the obvious similarities between the two works ("Theme").  From the opening scenes in both, up through the rumble in West Side Story/death of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, the plays mirror each other (Poelstra).  It isn't until the last part of West Side Story, where Tony (our modern-day Romeo) dies and Maria (Tony's Juliet) doesn't (unlike the two star-crossed lovers of Shakespeare's work, both of whom perish), that the major difference between the two works becomes apparent.

Three Hundred Fifty Years of Blind Love: A Contraposition of Shakespeare and Robbins’ Romeo and Juliet Andy Warhol once said, "They say that time changes things, but actually you have to change them yourself." Two hundred fifty years passed between the original Romeo and Juliet and the premiere of West Side Story on Broadway in 1957. However, time did not change the message of the story, simply the creators’ unique visions evolved. Shakespeare’s delivery of the timeless tale of desperate love in his classic Romeo and Juliet proves to only intensify through retelling and modern interpretation. Audiences cherish Romeo and Juliet as one of the most beloved plays of all time from the Elizabethan Age to the present.

A Comparison of Scenes From West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet Cinematography The scene before the meeting scene in West Side Story Maria spins around in her dress the camera then carries on spinning which creates a colourful blurred effect on the screen. The effect makes her look like she is almost spinning into the next scene. When Tony and Maria meet, all the other characters that were dancing, slow down and fade behind Tony and Maria. The room becomes dark and there is a spotlight on Maria and Tony.

In life love can seem awfully hard to find, but the tragic heroes in Romeo & Juliet and West Side Story always seem to find love in the wrong places. Yes they do find love, but the two stories have many differences from each other that impact the whole outcome. West Side Story, directed by Jerome Robbins, sets itself apart from Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare through racial tensions, settings, and tragic hero differences.

R-The story of Romeo and Juliet is one o the most famous love stories in the world. The play was written by William Shakespeare in 1595.

Death love and something you better buckle your seatbelt because we are going on a ride full of plot twist and a lot of death. There is a lot of different things about romeo and juliet and west side story. Love eventually overcomes hate, this relates the stories majorly in both of them because it is the most important thing to the book

Author Shannon L. Adler once said, “Your perspective on life comes from the cage you were held captive in” (“A Quote by Shannon L. Alder”). Adler examines one of the universal characteristics of human nature, implying that people’s dispositions are shaped by how they were brought up and the experiences they have been through. Artists strive to convey similar ideas through the medium of art. Created in 1884, Frank Bernard Dicksee’s oil painting titled Romeo and Juliet pictures the iconic balcony scene from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. A photograph of a scene from West Side Story, a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, also captures a moment between two lovers. Both pieces of art support Adler’s claim about perspective through

West Side Story and The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet express the importance of love’s power and strength overall who consumes it. This theme’s ability to alter the decisions of the characters within the stories allows them to share many parallels. Love can present itself in many different forms, such as the bond between the Nurse and Juliet of Romeo and Juliet with their reliance on one another and their ability to care for each other. “I think you are happy in this second match,/ for it excels your first;... Well thou hast comforted me marvelous much./” (III.

One of the most beloved and timeless tragedies of William Shakespeare is Romeo and Juliet. Its theme of young, tragic love cruelly and unintentionally destroyed by family hatreds has endured from generation to generation. The American composer Leonard Bernstein used the themes, character types, and plotlines of the Shakespearean play to craft his own musical tragedy entitled West Side Story. (Stephen Sondheim wrote the accompanying lyrics, Alfred Laurents the 'book'). Although the settings of these tragic love stories are very different, the parallel characters and plot elements develop the theme that fate cannot be avoided, and that hatred can even be stronger than love.

Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story share many similar themes. Romeo and Juliet both chronicle a story of overcoming prejudice and hatred, forbidden love, and defying stereotypes that nobody thought could be broken. The two stories are similar in a multitude of ways, even though their settings are centuries apart- Romeo and Juliet set in the 1500’s, and West Side Story set in the 1950’s. Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story both teach a lesson of how prejudice can teach you how to hate, and how one of your rivals may be the one who helps you remember how to love.

in four of the scenes, Act 1 scene1, act 3 scene 1, act 3 scene 5 and