similarities of two famous tales of love essay

Similarities of Two Famous Tales of Love
In one of the most famous love stories of this century,
many elements
from anotherfamous tale of love were borrowed. In many instances,
Westside Story
mirrored Shakespeare'sRomeo And Juliet. Many similarities were
noted from the
characterization to the plot structure.However, they differed as
well.
In Westside Story, some characters shared personalities
with those of
Romeo And Juliet.The families of the Capulets and Montagues were
well
represented by two gangs, the Sharks andthe Jets. Both being
ineffective rulers,
officer Krumpke and the Prince struggle to keep peace if their
cities both to no
avail and warned," If you disturb our streets again, your lives
shall pay
theforfeit of peace."( ) . Due to their differing
backgrounds,
Tony being affiliated with the Jets and Maria with the Sharks,
Tony and Maria
partook in forbidden love much like Romeo and Juliet. Much like
Tybalt, Bernado
disapproved of their love and was quick to fight with anymember
of the Jets or
Tony. However, Anita, Bernardo's girlfriend, approved of their
love because she
just wanted to see Maria happy like the Nurse. Overwhelmed by
all the fighting,

Baby John was much like Tybalt's peace keeping foil character,
Mercutio. Lastly,
Doc tried to help Tony and stop all the insanity around him like
Friar Laurence.
In both stories, comic relief occurred to keep the
audience interested,
but the two plays usually differed in their approaches to comedy.
In Romeo And
Juliet, Mercutio amused the audience with his actions and
soliloquies. Westside
Story didn't have a character like Mercutio, so it used a
combination of their
dance and characters for comic relief. The Jets performed a
humorous song that
mocked Officer Krumpke. Also, to enliven the audience, The Jets
always picked
on Anybodys, a scruffy looking girl who always tried to get in
the gang.
Depsite those different approaches for comedy, Westside Story
immitated
Mercutio and other Montagues' scene with the Nurse, taunting her
and exclaimimg,
" hide her face; for her fan's the fairer of the two " (
), when
Anita went to Doc's,and they mocked her saying so this what a
P.R. woman looks
like and tossing her around.
The settings from these plays did not differ much at all.
Tony and
Maria had to hide their love from their families to avoid being

separated.
Bernardo and Anita already arranged a marriage between Maria and
Chino like that
of Juliet and Paris's arranged marriage. The Jets and Sharks
frequently rumbled
to prove who was the best gang in the Westside like the Capulets
and Montagues
fought to prove who was the best family in Verona, as expressed
by the opening
prologue," Two housesolds, both alike in dignity from ancient
grudge to break
to new mutiny" ( ) . At the conclusion, both
delivered the same
message that the tragedy was everyone's fault not just one
person.
The plots and scenes for these two plays were uncannily
alike. Like
Romeo and Juliet, Tony and Maria met at a dance and it was love a
first sight
for both. Their love lifes were a secret because of the warring
between the
gangs like that of the hostile Montagues and Capulets. Romeo And
Juliet's
famous balcony scene was mimed by Tony and Maria's fire escape
scene. After the
loss of their dearest friends, Romeo and Tony both killed someone
from their
lover's family. After hearing of her brother Bernardo's death,
Maria still
wanted to stay with Tony like Juliet, even if it meant leaving

her whole life
behind and fleeing with him. However, the endings differed a
bit. First, Chino,
the Paris character, murdered Tony to avenge Bernardo's death.
Rather than
killing herself, Maria wept and gave a lecture much like the
Prince's "All are
punished !"( ), saying it wasn't Chino who killed
Tony it was
everyone because everyone was filled with hate.
Thus, the characters, plot, humor, and setting of
Westside Story
originated from one Shakespeare's most prolific plays, Romeo And
Juliet . The
similarities of these two famous tales of love made Westside
Story showed that a
love story from ages ago could reappear and be successful in the
20th century.