“Romeo and Juliet”

By William Shakespeare

By Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim

Comparison Paragraph Assignment Sheet

The paragraph: You will be writing an expository comparison paragraph comparing one character from West
Side Story to the corresponding character from Romeo and Juliet. Review the required paragraph organization
and sample paragraph, then complete your paragraph at the bottom of this page under the section titled Your
paragraph. Once your paragraph is complete, please print this page and turn in for credit on Thursday, April
1st.

Organization: Your topic sentence should be the following, with the characters' names in the blanks:

__________ from West Side Story is similar to __________ from Romeo and Juliet.

 In each example, you will name one similarity between the two characters.
o Remember to include transition words in your example sentences.
 Provide at least two sentences of explanation for each example.
o Do this by explaining how each character demonstrates the similarity in the roles they play.

Sample Paragraph:

Doc from West Side Story is similar to Friar Lawrence from Romeo and Juliet. First, they both learn the
secrets of the main characters. Tony tells Doc that he is in love with Maria. Romeo tells Friar Lawrence that he
is in love with Juliet. Both Doc and Friar Lawrence also give advice to other characters. Doc tells the gang
members that they should not be so violent. He says they will end up in their graves if they do not change their
ways. Friar Lawrence tells Romeo that he should love moderately in order to make love last longer. Finally,
both characters try to help others be together. Doc gathers money so Tony and Maria can run away together.
Friar Lawrence marries Romeo and Juliet and makes two different plans for them to be together despite their
feuding families. Doc and Friar Lawrence have similar roles in these two plays.

Your paragraph: Tony from West Side Story is similar to Romeo from Romeo and Juliet. An example of
this is that both characters are males. Another example is that they both fall in love with a woman. They
are also similar because they both end up dying in the end. Romeo drinks a potion and dies. Tony gets
shot. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo kills himself because he thinks Juliet is dead; but in West Side Story,
Tony gets killed but Maria is still alive. In conclusion, these two characters are very similar.