 |
| (Violent Delights) |
The plot of New Moon and William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet share several key elements. I believe that as Stephenie Meyer was writing this book, she knew that the similarities between the two tails would be too much to overlook. She incorporate Shakespeare’s work into her own starting on the first page where she quotes “These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, Which, as they kiss, consume” which is a line from Act II, Scene VI of the play.
 |
| (Dicksee) |
Bella and Edward also discuss the play and what they would each do if they somehow lost each other. Despite how much they care for each other, the lovers are separated by a tragic event similar to the one that forces Romeo to be exiled from Verona, only in Edwards’s cases it is a form of self-exile. Neither of the lovers copes well with the separation in the stories and eventually the misinformed second hand news of their true loves demise reach the young lovers where they have gone to wait out there sentences. Both men decide that life without their true love is not worth living and they both try to kill themselves. now this is where the similarities end because while Juliet has no way of knowing that the letter written by the priest to explain that she is not truly dead just in a deep sleep that resembles
 |
| (What Scene) |
death, Bella has the advantage of Edwards vampire sister Alice who can see what Edward plans to do. This gives Alice and Bella the ability to race off and stop him before he can do something that will kill both Edward and Bella. This precognition leads to the happy end in New Moon where as Romeo and Juliet ends tragically with the death of both of the lovers. So when you look closely into this story it is easy to understand why the story of the love between Edward Cullen and Bella Swan is sometimes called a modern day tail of Romeo and Juliet.
.JPG)
