Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story
by Laurel Leaf

Name: Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story
Brand: Laurel Leaf
SKU: 9780440974833
Rating: 4.61 (98 reviews)

Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story Cover

Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story Book Cover — Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story Cover

Highlights

What readers are saying

Readers appreciate the unique opportunity to compare and contrast the classic tales of Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story within one edition. Many find the discussions around love, language, and the similarities between the two stories enriching, while others enjoy revisiting Shakespeare's work through the lens of a more modern retelling. However, some feel that the tragic elements of both stories overshadow their enjoyment. Overall, the book serves as a valuable educational resource for Shakespeare fans and newcomers alike.

Rich comparative analysisBeautiful languageEngaging for both storiesFun and educationalTragic themes can be overwhelming

Synopsis

The tragedy of love thwarted by fate has always intrigued writers.

In the sixteenth century, William Shakespeare took this theme and fashioned one of the world's great plays: "Romeo And Juliet."

In our own time, Shakespeare's drama has been used as a basis for the overwhelmingly successful musical play "West Side Story."

Though one of these works is set among the nobility of Verona, and the other among immigrant families of New York's West Side, both tell the story of the plight of young star-crossed" lovers.

As Norris Houghton writes in his introduction: "What we see is that all four young people strive to consummate the happiness at the threshold on which they stand and which they have tasted so briefly.

All four are deprived of the opportunity to do so, the Renaissance couple by the caprice of fate, today's youngsters by the prejudice and hatred engendered around them....

"Poets and playwrights will continue to write of youthful lovers whom fate drives into and out of each other's lives.

The spectacle will always trouble and move us, even as the two dramas in this volume do today."