Intertextuality

Literature always seems to have books that contain intertextuality. But the one that sticks out in my mind the most is West Side Story. West Side Story is a story with a plot almost similar to Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. Two different time periods but both are tragic love stories.

West Side Story takes place in New York during the mid 1950's. The story has two gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, who are rivals. Maria and Tony are the love tragedy in New York. Tony is from the Jets, while Maria is part of the Sharks and because of this they are separated. In a rivalry battle between the Jets and the Sharks, the leaders of both gangs are killed and Tony is at fault for killing the Sharks leader. Here the story takes a turn for worse, Tony is killed by a Sharks member for killing their leader and Maria is left all alone.

                Romeo and Juliet takes place in Verona, Italy. Here the rivaling families are the Capulets and the Montagues. Romeo is from the Montagues and Juliet is from the Capulets, the families do not approve of the match because they are rivals. The Capulets and the Montagues have a duel where both duelers die and Romeo is the reason the member of the Capulets is dead. Juliet fakes her death and Romeo poisons himself because of Juliet’s death. Lastly Juliet stabs herself because Romeo is dead.

           West Side Story uses almost the same plot as Romeo and Juliet. Both star-crossed lovers and both end in tragedy. The stories consist of rivals, star-crossed lovers, duels, and death as their intertextuality.  The lovers do not get their happy endings but because of their love the rivals end their feud. The stories are so similar in that they are both love tragedies with bittersweet endings.  



West Side Story

Romeo and Juliet