Westside Story Essay Research Paper Romeo

who helped her through her youth. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet fakes her

death by drinking a potion given to her by the Friar, and awaits Romeo in

the family tomb. In Westside Story, Maria becomes angry, because she

is told that Tony was killed by Chino; when in fact, Tony was still alive.

When Maria heard the news of Tony s death, she went looking for Chino

to kill her, too. To Maria s surprise, while she is searching the streets for

Chino, she finds Tony, who is then shot and killed by Chino. The biggest

difference between Maria and Juliet, is that in the end of Romeo and

Juliet, Juliet commits suicide when she finds Romeo dead. Whereas, in

Westside Story, Maria is never killed. She does, however, plead to be

killed also, so she could be with Tony, as well as, threatening to kill all the

men that had anything to do with the violence.

The other comparable characters were harder to notice the

differences because they did not have such large parts. However, there

are still major differences and similarities. Riff, being compared to

Mercutio, was sort of the leader. He was also the first to be killed within

the gang. Bernardo, being compared to Tybalt, had a hot temper, and

became violent easily. Bernardo was Maria s cousin, and Tybalt was

Juliet s cousin. Bernardo was killed in the rumble, and so was Tybalt.

Finally, there are many comparisons and contrasts between the

two plays. Between characters, as well as plot. Although some of them

are very small, they make the two very much different.