West Side Story by Arthur Laurents is the modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story is a movie musical in which the narrative is actually presented through the song. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a play where the characters speak and act out their mind utilizing the poetic verbatim of Shakespeare. Both these literary pieces have several distinct variances and some interesting similarities. Being a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story attempts to recreate the same characters in a novel manner. Romeo and Tony are presented as the strong young men who remain confident and courageous to follow the prohibited "love" presented by Juliet and Maria. The present paper attempts to analyze the common similarities and differences in the novel and the play. It is indeed essential to understand the synopsis of both the works to analyze them in a detailed manner.
Romeo and Juliet is the Romantic tragedy written by Shakespeare that recounts the tale of two star- crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet who die for love. They meet at a party and both of them admire each other. But they fear the truth that their families will never allow them to marry and lead a life together. Getting the help of Friar Lawrence, they marry secretly. With the aim of living together with Romeo, Juliet acts dead from drinking the sleep potion. Romeo, ignorant of the plot, kills himself thinking that Juliet is dead. When Juliet wakes up from the sleep, she finds Romeo dead and she kills herself.
West Side Story is the musical that presents a modern Romeo and Juliet, who gets involved in New York Street gangs. It explores of racial revulsion and calamity that result from it. The two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks are the protagonists who want to take control of the streets in which they live. The sister of the Shark gang’s leader becomes passionate towards the rival gang leader, which ultimately results in the fight amid the two. The fight ends in tragedy. The plot of the movie progresses through theatrical, animated dances and some of the most striking music ever inscribed for a musical. The entire plot gets highlighted with the exuberant dances and fantastic music. Derek Miller comments:
In West Side Story, the star-crossed lovers' ingenuous dream of a world with a place for them found its finest expression in the unbridled ecstasy of song and dance, which speaks their own incomparable theatrical language (481).
Both the works have many similarities and differences. The plot needs to be analysed initially to point out the likenesses and dissimilarities. The fight scene amid the opposing parties is in both the works. While the West Side Story depicts the fight of the Sharks and the Jets, Romeo and Juliet portray the fight of the two rival families, Capulet and Montague. Another significant similarity is the protagonists’ falling in love. Romeo and Juliet gets into a relationship as they meet for the first time at a ball of Capulet and Tony and Maria of West Side Story find themselves in love during a dance party. Both the male lovers of the works go to their women’s apartments to see them. Romeo goes to the forbidden Capulet house to meet Juliet and Tony goes to the apartment of Maria to see her. The next similar scene is the murder scene where Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin Tybalt as Tybalt murders Romeo’s best friend, Mercutio. Similarly, Tony murders Maria’s brother, Bernardo as Bernardo kills Tony’s best friend, Riff. Another similarity is the death of the male protagonists Romeo and Tony. Romeo kills himself by drinking poison whereas Tony gets killed by Chino.
There are quite a number of dissimilarities in the plot. While Romeo and Juliet get married in a church, Tony and Maria pretend to get into wedlock in a bridal shop where Maria works. In the play, Romeo tries to stop the tussle between Tybalt and Mercution on his own, but in West Side Story, Tony attempts to end the fight between Bernardo and Riff as Maria pleads him to. Another striking difference is the death of the female protagonist in the play. When Juliet shoots herself for love, Maria desperately cries out of sorrow at Tony’s death.
Apart from the plot, the characterization also shares similarities and differences. The character protagonists of both the plays are from two different sects. Romeo and Juliet belongs to the opposing families, Capulet and Montage. Both these families were enemies for a long time. In West Side Story, Tony is from America and Maria is from Puerto Rica. Both Romeo and Tony share similar emotional boundaries. Romeo’s emotional extremity is visible from his actions. He takes all risks to enter the enemy household of Capulet so as to meet his lady love. His further actions of murdering Tybalt, committing suicide are the results of his emotional discrepancies. Similarly, Tony also kills Bernardo out of emotional ruptures and his bravery is visible when he challenges Chino to kill him. Both the protagonists show great courage to progress forward in love even they face myriad hurdles during their life. Likewise the female protagonists Juliet and Maria share several similarities and differences. Both of them are pure and remain faithful to their lovers. Maria when to Juliet is more powerful, active and excited. Whereas Juliet is more a weak character as the play begins. She develops a strong personality once she starts a relationship with Romeo. Her bravery is evident in her act of sacrificing her life for the sake of her love. The settings where the lovers meet for the first time also share many similarities. Romeo meets Juliet in Juliet’s room or balcony at night. Tony also meets Maria at night in Maria’s room or balcony. Another evident difference is the setting of the place where the two plots are set. When West Side Story takes place in Manhattan in the New York City, Romeo and Juliet takes place in Verona, Italy.
Music predominates in West Side Story even though both the works give significance to music. Through melodic songs, the characters convey their feelings that are else unspeakable. David Callaghan points out:
Paul Wonsek's scenic design hinted at a darker, less presentational approach to the material; through texture of three-dimensional set pieces, including wire fencing, brick walls, and concrete stoops, conveyed a menacing, film noir-like depiction of the West Side slums. His de-signs were most effective during the gym scene, utilizing vibrant colour choices that delineated the clashing gangs in a way that was less visually apparent elsewhere (333).
The disposition of melodies echoes the temper of the characters, and the tunes encourage the hearers to empathize with the characters. Thus the music functions as an auxiliary device that enables the listeners to comprehend the sentiments of the characters. Apart from many similarities and differences, both works remain unique in many respects. These works possess many qualities that enable them to be considered as classics and great works of art.
Works Cited
Bernstein, Leonard, Arthur Laurents, and Stephen Sondheim. West Side Story: A Musical. New York: Random House, 1958. Print.
Callaghan, David. Theatre Journal 61.2 (2009): 332–334. Web
Miller, Derek. Theatre Journal 61.3 (2009): 479–481. Web
Shakespeare, William, and Richard Hosley. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. New Haven: Yale UP, 1954. Print.
