West Side Story With Romeo And Juliet

Essay, Research Paper

What would Romeo and Juliet be like if Juliet hadn’t died. What if Paris killed

Romeo, instead of vice versa. What if instead of occurring several centuries

ago, it took place on the streets of New York City during the 1950s, with a

bunch of fresh-faced youths posing as street toughs and dancing and singing

their hearts out. Well, just take a look at West Side Story, and you will have

your answers. It is impossible for anyone familiar with both texts to not note

the obvious major similarities between the two plays. 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), that

the major difference between the two works becomes apparent. Granted, instead of

tension between feuding families, West Side Story offers prejudice between

races, as illustrated between street gangs, the Jets and Sharks. Some of the

characters in West Side Story are carbon copies of those in Romeo and Juliet:

Maria (Juliet), Tony (Romeo), Bernardo (Tybalt), Lt. Schrank (Prince), and Anita

(Nurse). Others appear to be a composite of characters, namely Riff, a

combination of Benvolio and Mercutio, and Doc, who appears to fulfill the role

of Friar Laurence (possessed somewhat of a peacekeeping nature: "You

couldn’t play basketball.", he asks, when informed of their upcoming

"war council" [Laurents 57]) yet, at the same time, it is implied in

the film version, not the play that he is a pharmacist, and there was, after

all, an apothecary in Romeo and Juliet . The tomboyish Anybodys, a Jet wannabe,

would best fit into the role of Balthasar (although Doc’s character fits into

this role marginally as well), since it was she who aided Tony in escaping after

the rumble, which resulted in the deaths of Riff and Bernardo, as well as later

informing the other Jets that Chino, the Paris of the Sharks, had a gun and was

hunting down Tony. In the opening act of Romeo and Juliet, Sampson and Gregory,

servants of Capulet, harass Balthasar and Abraham, servants to the Montagues.

"I will bite my thumb at them; which is a disgrace to them, if they bear

it," boasts Sampson (I.i.48-50). In the opening scene of West Side Story,

several Sharks, the Puerto Rican gang led by Bernardo, harass A-rab (notice the

similarity in name to Abraham), a white dude, a Jet, and therefore, an enemy of

the immigrants. In no time at all, other Jets, led by Riff, rush to A-rab’s

side. No words are exchanged between the gangs, since it is, after all, a

musical, and they basically just jump around in exaggerated fashion.

Nevertheless, the scene, like the opening of Romeo and Juliet, sets the stage

for the remainder of the production. It is here where Lt. Schrank and his

faithful compatriot, Officer Krupke, happen on the scene to break apart a

potential rumble just like Escalus, Prince of Verona, did in Romeo and Juliet:

"If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of

the peace" (I.i.103-4). Or, as Schrank would phrase it, "I got a hot

surprise for you: you hoodlums don’t own the streets" (Laurents 6).

Following the altercation between the gangs, it is decided by Riff that the time

has come to take care of the Puerto Ricans once and for all, "clean em up

in one all-out fight!" (Laurents 10). Riff will challenge them at the dance

at the gym later that night. But, he wants his old pal Tony, who founded the

Jets with him, in as his Lieutenant (Laurents 12). So, he goes to fill in Tony,

who has made a sincere effort to forsake the gang life by becoming gainfully

employed at Doc’s candy store. This is where another parallel occurs: just as

Benvolio talks Romeo into attending the ball at the Capulets, Riff talks Tony

into attending the dance at the gym. Prior to the dance, a sweet-faced

seventeen-year-old gal, fresh up from Puerto Rico, prepares for her first big

social event in America. Here, even the exact act and scene (I/iii) are the same

as in Romeo and Juliet, where Lady Capulet and the Nurse speak to Juliet of her

possible impending marriage to Paris. The dance, where Tony and Maria first

meet, is comparable to the Capulets’ ball, where Romeo and Juliet first

encounter one another. At the Capulets. ball, it seems to be Romeo who falls

in love at first sight, since he spots her before she eyes him: "What lady

is that, which doth enrich the hand of yonder knight." (I.v.44-5). After

exchanging a few words, Juliet becomes smitten with the loquacious youth, yet

she doesn’t reveal this until the balcony scene. Tony and Maria, on the other

hand, notice each other at

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