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Compare west side story and romeo and juliet
Compare west side story and romeo and juliet
Compare west side story and romeo and juliet
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William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Director Robert Wise's West Side Story share common characteristics in their plot and the characters themselves. Both characters Riff from West Side Story and Mercutio from Romeo and Juliet share many of the same traits. While comparing the two, we agree that Riff and Mercutio are both loyal to their friends. On the other hand, it seems that they both have different approaches when defending each other's friend.
One could say that both Riff and Mercutio in their own way, are loyal to each other's friends. One good example is in the fight scene between the Sharks and the Jets. Tony was trying to stop the fight between the Sharks and the Sets which caused Bernardo to attack him. Tony then screamed "Don't push me! (Act 1 Scene 9)," which immediately triggered Riff to punch Bernardo in the face. This leads to the accidental killing of Riff. Similarly, in Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio is
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Riff watches Tony being mercilessly beaten on the ground by Bernardo and immediately steps in on impulse. Mercutio, having the foresight to see what was about to happen to his friend Romeo, decides to fight in his place in the hopes that his best friend would not be killed. These before and after thoughts clearly show that although the consequences are the same, the primary intent was to prevent an unnecessary death.
The plot for Romeo and Juliet stems from a love story based on Romeo meeting Juliet at a ball where Tybalt from the Capulet family attends. Friction begins when Tybalt voices his dislike for Romeo of the Montague family. This sets the stage for a confrontation between Tybalt and Romeo. Mercutio's character takes on importance as the confrontation takes form. If there were no Mercutio than Juliet would still be alive. Unfortunately, Romeo would not be alive because Tybalt would have surely killed
Thought the play, these lovers go through many obstacles that range from arranging a wedding and finding a time to meet to Juliet trying to get out of marrying Paris. The entire time fate is tossing them around. Romeo realizes this after he kills Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, in a brawl. At first, Romeo does not want to fight because Romeo and Juliet are already married at this time and he knows that they are cousins. Tybalt asks for a brawl from Romeo but Mercutio fights instead. Mercutio gets killed by Tybalt and that is what makes Romeo mad and fight Tybalt.
Mercutio: Menî–¸ eyes were made to look, and let them gaze. I will not budge for no manî–¸ pleasure, I. This is just a small sampling of crime and violence versus peace and law. Later in this scene, Mercutio challenges Tybalt in a duel, then when Mercutio is slain, Romeo goes on to challenge Tybalt, killing him. If Mercutio, Tybalt and Romeo would have listened to Benvolio, the fights would have not occurred, and the outcome of the play would be changed. An example of love versus hate occurs through the relationship Romeo and Juliet and the hate between their families.
Romeo was very loyal to his friends and family, and it is possible that Mercutio thought that Romeo would help him fight off Tybalt (since he was unaware of Romeo and Juliet’s secret marriage that somewhat united Romeo and Tybalt). However, this argument is easily deemed invalid. Romeo was not in the town square when the fight had first begun, so Mercutio expected his help in the fight would be a far-fetched idea. A person who is not present cannot help or hinder the situation at hand. In addition, Romeo tried to break up the fight when he said, “Gentlemen, for shame forbear this outrage!
In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Mercutio, a friend of Romeo plays a deep role within the play. Many characters in Romeo and Juliet can represent the masculine or feminine spaces. The masculine space is chaotic and more towards the sexual and material side of the play, which have more of a tragic potential. While the feminine space is peaceful, more romantic and spiritual in giving a better chance for the comic potential. Mercutio represents the masculine space while Romeo prefers the peacefulness of the feminine space. Mercutio tells Romeo to be rough with love, he tries to keep him within the masculine space after the ball, and he fools with the Juliet’s nurse because of his actions he pushes Romeo towards tragedy.
Romeo and Juliet has many themes which are fate, death and love, these are all intertwined. At the very beginning of the play, before we even know the characters, we know that ‘death-marked’ ‘Star crossed lovers’ will ‘take their lives’ which already brings in the major themes. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony throughout the play and builds up the tension until Act 3 scene 1 where death starts to play a role. The Prologue also informs us about the Montagues and Capulets dislike for each other. The theme of love is also there thought the play. There are different types of love, the unrequited love the Romeo feels for Rosaline and that Paris feels for Juliet. There is also the love between friends such as with Romeo and Mercutio as Mercutio dies to protect Romeo’s honour and then Romeo avenges his death, and then the romantic love Romeo and Juliet share. I believe the Mercutio is one of the main characters in this play. His speeches tell us a lot about him and his actions have a large affect on the ending of the play. Mercutio’s name means mercurial meaning “an unpredictable and fast changing mood” which is an accurate description of Mercutio's personality because in Queen Mabs speech at the beginning he is joking and seeking attention, but at the end he becomes serious and angry.
In act three scene one it says this about the fight, "Tybalt insults Romeo, but Romeo, who has just returned from his wedding, remains calm. Mercutio, on the other hand, is furious with Tybalt, and they begin to fight. As Romeo tries to separate them, Tybalt stabs Mercutio, who later dies." Romeo feels this sudden rage. Romeo then, "Romeo
Mercutio can be blamed for Romeo and Juliet’s peril because he initiated the fight with Tybalt and forced Romeo to go to the Capulet’s party. At the beginning of the play, Romeo gets invited to the Capulet’s party by a servant, unless he was a Montague. At first, Romeo did not want to go, but Mercutio eventually convinced him under the pretext that Rosaline, Romeo’s love, was going to be there. The next day, Tybalt, a Capulet, went looking for Romeo because he knew that Romeo was at the Capulet party. Instead, he stumbled upon Mercutio and Benvolio and asked them where he could find Romeo. However, Mercutio did not want to tell him and insisted on having a duel. Tybalt killed Mercutio during the fight, and Romeo kills Tybalt because he has the need to avenge his friend. Unfortunately, Prince Escalus punished Romeo by banishing him from Verona. This made Romeo and Juliet’s love
Mercutio, though a minor character, had and enormous impact on the outcome of the play. Before the Capulet Ball, Romeo had been debating whether to go or not. Mercutio persuaded him to go by giving a big speech to him about a dream he had. This makes him partially responsible because the Ball is where Romeo first met Juliet. Mercutio also caused Romeo to be banished from Verona. Mercutio got in a fight with Tybalt and ended up dead. His death enraged Romeo enough to make him kill Tybalt in revenge. When the Prince saw what happened, he sent Romeo into exile. Romeo's banishment to Mantua made it near impossible for Romeo and Juliet to see each other. Mercutio was to blame, though only partially for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
In Act One of William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, we meet Romeo, Mercutio, and Tybalt. Right away, we get an idea of who these characters are and what kind of role they will play throughout the story. Romeo, Mercutio, and Tybalt share many distinctive characteristics and personalities in the story. We learn that Romeo is the romantic and handsome son of the Montagues. In the beginning of the story, he was depressed, but his mood quickly changed as the story went on. We also learn that Mercutio is Romeo’s closest and good friend who tries to make Romeo forget about his first love, Rosaline. He is a great entertainer and he’s very sarcastic too. Instantly, we learn that Tybalt is a Capulet and Juliet’s cousin. He is very hot-headed, aggressive, and violent. He loathes the Montagues very much. Finally, in Act One of William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, we meet three characters, Romeo, Mercutio, and Tybalt and we directly get an idea of what the characters are like.
(CLOSING STATEMENTS) With his audacious nature, Romeo kills Tybalt in a challenge and later kills himself, which causes significant problems in the plot. Unfortunately, as a result of Romeo’s actions, Juliet stabs herself with his dagger because she no longer wants to live in a world without him. Along with Romeo, Mercutio is another character who makes poor decisions based on his overdramatic personality and tendency to disagree with Benvolio's way of thinking. These two choices cause characters around Mercutio to not take him seriously, and for this reason, he later dies in the play. Although Mercutio’s actions impact the storyline, Friar Laurence’s choices primarily cause the play to become such a tragedy. For instance, his poor decisions to marry Romeo and Juliet and flee Juliet’s tomb eventually cause the couple’s love for one another to become inseparable, and they take their lives at the end of the plot. (CLINCHER) As the readers delve deeper into Romeo and Juliet and unravel what went wrong, they will begin to realize that the decisions made by the characters created catastrophic
Love is selfless toward all the ones you love. However, Romeo and Juliet’s actions are the contrary of this statement. Romeo and Juliet showed no care of the generational feud between their families. They selfishly married without acknowledging their parents and hoped to solve the conflict by hiding the truth. Other than proving their selfishness, this shows that the two are also fairly naive to believe that their love can overcome all the consequences and break the hostility between their families. Their impulsive decisions have not only largely impacted their lives, but also placed the lives of their family and friends in bet. Out of the six deaths in the play, Mercutio was the first to lose his life. Mercutio was one of Romeo’s best friends. Although he was not a member of neither the two families, his death was indirectly caused by the feud of the two families. Also directly, caused of Romeo. Since Romeo had just married Juliet, he wanted to be friendly with Juliet’s cousin-Tybalt.
In “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare, two very young people fall in love but cannot be with each other because of the feud in between their families. The feud ends when Romeo and Juliet both kill themselves because of heartbreak over the other. The minor characters Mercutio, Tybalt, and Friar Lawrence serve as foils to Romeo, to help support the theme of patience.
After catching Romeo at a party he was not supposed to be at, Tybalt had it out for Romeo. Just after Romeo and Juliet’s wedding, Tybalt comes looking for him wanting to fight. Romeo does not want to fight because he now loves Tybalt since he is family to him, but neither Tybalt or anyone else knows this reason. Quickly, Mercutio steps in and tells Tybalt that he will fight him in honour of Romeo. Sadly, this led to the death of Mercutio.
The love that Maria and Tony have shows their willingness to sacrifice for each other no matter the circumstances. Despite being from two different gangs, Tony and Maria go through great lengths to see their relationship blossom. In the musical, there are several instances when Tony and Maria meet secretly without their friends or families knowing. Understanding the consequences of being caught, they still felt a profound love for each other that could not keep them apart. Maria sacrificed her entire life with her family and friends to run away with Tony. Her love was the priority and nothing else mattered except Tony. Tony was also willing to sacrifice for Maria as he puts her before his family, friendships, and values. Love brought these two together made their relationship strong against the will of others in their lives. In the musical West Side Story, and play Romeo and Juliet, Tony and Romeo display many similar
In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the views of love held by the character Romeo contrast sharply with the views of Mercutio. Romeo's character seems to suffer from a type of manic depression. He is in love with his sadness, quickly enraptured and easily crushed again on a passionate roller coaster of emotion. Mercutio, by contrast is much more practical and level headed. His perceptions are clear and quick, characterized by precise thought and careful evaluation. Romeo, true to his character begins his appearance in the play by wallowing in his depression over Rosaline who does not return his love: