"Romeo and Juliet" and "West Side Story" are both timeless dramas that will
live forever, but "Romeo and Juliet" is a classic that has a much more powerful
and tragic impact on the reader than "West Side Story". Although both of these
stories have many similarities, there are also many differences. These
differences include the differences in soliloquy, the fact that Maria doesn't die, the
fact that we never see Tony or Maria's parents, the issues of marriage, and the
importance of gangs and families to each story. To understand these
differences, one must read both Romeo and Juliet, and the similar tragedy, West
Above are named a few of the differences between William
Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and Arthur Laurent's "West Side Story".
One main difference is that in Romeo and Juliet the soliloquy is spoken while in
West Side Story there is soliloquy, but it is in song.
While both equally
express the character's feelings at the moment, the soliloquy in Romeo and Juliet
uses words and poetry that have a much more powerful and effective impact on
the reader than the simple song in West Side Story. An example of this is
when in Act II, Scene II of Romeo and Juliet, otherwise known as the balcony
scene, Romeo expresses his thoughts in a soliloquy until Juliet shows up. While
in Romeo and Juliet all of this is spoken, in West Side Story this is written as
music shared between Maria and Tony.
Another major difference between these two stories is that in Romeo
and Juliet, Juliet sees Romeo dead and decides to kill herself. In West
Side Story, Tony (the Romeo of the play) does die, but Maria is not so stricken
and overwhelmed that she decides to kill herself. This is very important...