Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story by William Shakespeare

Romeo & Juliet, on the other hand, is set in the city of Verona, Italy.Ĭ) Romeo & Juliet is a regular play, written by William Shakespeare, back in the 1800’s, with much poetry to it. The White European Ethnic American Jets, and the newly arrived Puerto Rican Sharks, both of whom are vying for the small piece of turf, or the crumbs left to them by United States society at large. Manhattan) West Side, between two warring street gangs

To death, and neither of them survive, West Side Story's Tony dies after being shot and killed by Shark gang member, Chino, in retaliation for his having stabbed Shark gang leader, Bernardo, to death, after Tony knifed Bernardo to death for having killed his close buddy, Riff, while Maria survives.ī) West Side Story is set in 1950’s-1960’s New York City’s (i. There are some important differences between Romeo & Juliet and West Side Story, however.Ī) Unlike in Romeo & Juliet, where Romeo drinks poison, but survives, Juliet, thinking that Romeo has died, stabs herself

Based on Shakespeare’s renowned Romeo & Juliet, West Side Story, like Romeo & Juliet, is about forbidden love and romance across familial barriers in a large city, amid constant feuding on both sides, which resulted in violence and death, and finally, reconciliation between the two families, which took the resulting deaths to happen.

Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story by William Shakespeare