Shakespeare wrote many play throughout his life which are very well known, in today’s society. Human emotions are not something that change over time and they are also known as universal truths; love, hate, revenge, and envy are all examples of universal truths. This play was so successful movies have copied the plot but changed the scenery. Over the past 400 years since this play was written the world has changed drastically, but the emotions and feelings in this play have withstood the test of time.

This is why the movie West Side Story (1961) was so successful. Shakespeare’s play and movie modeled after it have many similarities and many differences, but one thing remains constant in all of them, the main plot, the idea of love, hate, and revenge all placed toghether. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a timeless play that concentrates on many different human emotions and reactions. Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story are alike in many ways, they were both very successful in their day.

Like Romeo and Juliet, Tony and Maria are of opposite “families”, they fall in love and their love is forbidden. Maria is Puerto Rican and Tony is Irish. In West Side Story they don’t get married but they do have a torrid love affair. The hate between the two groups was modernized to racism and not as many of the main characters die in West Side Story. One of the major differences is that Maria doesn’t die; she is left without Tony.

In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet commits suicide after she finds that Romeo has done the same. Another major difference is that in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo kills Paris who is supposed to marry Juliet then himself when he thinks that Juliet is dead. In West Side Story, Tony is killed by Chino (the equivalent of Paris). Romeo and Juliet had a stronger sense of love and irony. Love is a universal truth that is portrayed similarly in both Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story. Two members of warring groups fall in love.

Love is something that we can all relate to in one way or another and it will never change over time. In Romeo and Juliet both Romeo and Juliet have such a strong love for each other that they both commit suicide when the other dies. In West Side Story, Tony and Maria talk of running away and they have such a strong love that they believe that they can end the hatred with their love. Hate is another universal truth that has a strong influence in both of these plots. Everyone has felt hate at one time or another in their life.

As it is in Romeo and Juliet with Mercutio and Tybalt, in West Side Story Maria’s brother, Bernardo and Tony’s best friend, Riff are the focus of hate. These characters could not see past their blind hatred and many others were killed. The original play Romeo and Juliet and the new movie are almost exactly alike in their script, but the interpretation of the dialogue is unique to the actors. One major difference is that at the end of the original play the two families end their feud but in the new movie that is not shown.

Irony is when something ends up being the opposite of it’s obvious and literal beginning and this change takes out the whole sense of irony that Friar Laurence achieved when he joined the two families. So, in my opinion the simple outcome, of the two groups not shown ending the feud makes the movie loose one of the main ideas of the original Romeo and Juliet; but in its entire, the reproduction into the streets of New York the movie does a good job of adjusting the original Romeo into a possible situation in those times.

William Shakespeare, the English poet and playwright of the 16th -17th centuries, is known as the best dramatist in the world. He is also known as the best author who has written in the English language. He has written a lot of great plays and sonnets, which are read and admired by people all over the world. The reason for his popularity is his understanding of people and his ability to create the characters almost mirroring the real life situations, human feelings and behaviors.

Shakespeare could understand the human character very deeply, therefore he could create characters beyond the time and place of his plays (The World Book Encyclopedia 17 345). One of his most popular plays is the tragedy Romeo and Juliet, talking about the tragic ending of the young love of two teenagers. It is considered the best play about love in the world. The story takes place in Verona, a city in Italy. Romeo and Juliet are two young teenagers who love each other indeed but can not realize their dreams because their families Montagues and Capulets are in a deadly feud.

Romeo and Juliet get secretly married. After the wedding Romeo comes across the Juliets cousin Tybalt, who challenges him to a fight. But Romeo doesnt want to fight his new relative. Instead Romeos friend Mercutio fights Tybalt and gets killed. In revenge Romeo fights and kills Tybalt, for what he is expelled from the city. Meanwhile Juliets father forces her to marry his friend Paris. To escape this terrible situation, she asks Friar Lawrence for help, who gives her a drug that puts her in a deathlike sleep for two days.

Romeo hears the bad news about Juliets death before he gets the message sent by Friar Lawrence and rushes to the tomb where Juliet was put. Life has no meaning for him anymore, so he takes a poison and dies near Juliets body. When Juliet awakens from the sleep, she sees her love dead and doesnt want to live anymore, so she stabs herself. Death of the two young lovers make the families understand that they must end their feud (The World Book Encyclopedia 17 358). At that time it was strongly believed that the true love always struck at first sight and in this play Romeo and Juliet fall in love from the first sight (Brian C).

Some critics say that the idealized love of Romeo and Juliet is rooted on passionate sexuality. But to Elizabethans sexual desire was not antithetical to romance; it was the essence of romance (Brian C). Romeo and Juliet is based on a poem by an English author Arthur Brooke The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (The World Book Encyclopedia 17 358). Some critics refer to this as one of the weak points of the play, saying that Shakespeare didnt write many original plots, he found what he was looking for ready in Arthur Brookes poem (Rowse 70).

But thinking about the plays interesting plot, the beautiful language full of word-plays, different characters and at last the love theme which is the basic element that makes it so interesting, all these things completely make this and the other weak points and faults found by critics fade out. Many critics have also addressed the language of the play. Artificial language, used a lot in the play, was characteristic for the Elizabethan age (The World Book Encyclopedia 17 358). Elizabethans liked those long phrases and fast word-plays, which become simple conversations if retold in modern word interpretation (Brian C).

But Shakespeare has used some simple language, characteristic for his later plays, too (The World Book Encyclopedia 17 358). Another thing we should keep in mind is that although the script pas been written for the performance, its read and understood easily (Brian C). There are a lot of elements and characteristics in the play that make it popular and successful. One of the points that gets critics attention is that despite the plays Italian setting, the language, customs and attitudes are generally English (Brian C).

Another characteristic thing for the Elizabethan age is that there are no sudden and original plot turns. Elizabethans werent so interested in that, how the story was told was more important for them (Brian C). The good rhyming lines are much frequent in the play, which is another positive element (Rowse 68). Music and references to music are also used a lot in the play. In fact, musical elements in this play are greater than in any other one (Rowse 73). Romeo and Juliet is rich of different and contrasting personages, who eventually become persons and this personality continues throughout the play (Ward 267).

One of these characters is Romeo, who is an excellent example of a person with the lovesickness and stereotypical attitude towards love (Brian C). Some of the finest poetry in the play is given by Romeo, when he sees Juliet for the first time (Brian C). The play also contains a mix of high tragedy and comedy, displayed in another character – the Juliets nurse (Brian C). Romeo and Juliet has been a very good target for critics of the past three centuries. Some critics have praised this play for its beautiful and easy-reading language, interesting plot and touching theme and characters.

Others have found some faults with certain aspects of the play (Scott 410). But despite these faults, most of the critics have been saying that Romeo and Juliet is one of the best works of Shakespeare and it has had a big influence on the development of the English drama (Scott 410). In general, Romeo and Juliet has been a really good topic to discuss and criticize. But however it has always been and will remain a work proving Shakespeares perfect talent and a great love story to read, watch and admire.