Theme of 'New Moon' is 'Romeo and Juliet,' according to Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer, author of the widely popular book series, The Twight saga, has stated in interviews that certain classic works of literature echo throughout her bestselling books. The work of literature she cites as tied to New Moon, the second novel in the Twilight quartet, is the Shakespearean tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. In discussing the close or loose connections of the four books to their classical inspirations in her mind, Meyer says, “New Moon was much more closely tied to Romeo and Juliet. It’s really the theme of the novel.”
This theme is first made evident in the novel with its epigraph, quoted from the play: "These violent delights have violent ends / And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, / Which, as they kiss, consume." (Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene VI).
Readers may also recall that in the opening chapter of New Moon, Bella protests against going to the eighteenth birthday party Alice Cullen has planned for her by saying first she needs to watch the 1960s film version of Romeo and Juliet for English class. The 1960s version, which Bella says their teacher, Mr. Berty, recommends as the best, is likely the famous Franco Zeffirelli film, starring Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting. Bella convinces Edward Cullen to watch it with her.
While they are on the couch viewing the film, Edward tells Bella he doesn’t have much patience for Romeo. He mentions Romeo’s fickleness for being in love with Rosaline, then Juliet, then his brashness in killing Juliet’s cousin soon after they are married. “Could he have destroyed his own happiness any more thoroughly?” Edward asks (17).
Bella is a bit put off at Edward’s remark because Romeo was one of her favorite fictional characters. Later, Edward admits that he does envy Romeo for one thing—the ease with which he can commit suicide as a human being compared to being a vampire. Edward then mentions the Volturi and implies their role in ending a vampire’s life. He scares Bella when he tells her that the thought of suicide crossed his mind the previous spring when she came so close to dying in Phoenix. When Bella protests these thoughts, Edward says calmly, “Well, I wasn’t going to live without you” (19). Readers of Shakespeare’s play know that Romeo commits suicide for just the same reason when he mistakenly thinks Juliet has died.
SPOILER ALERT…
At the end of New Moon, Edward attempts to commit ‘vampire suicide’--by revealing his vampire qualities in public and bringing on the wrath of the Volturi--when he thinks Bella has done the same by jumping off a cliff. The dramatic scene of Bella running through the crowded piazza on St. Marcus Day in Volterra, Italy--splashing through the fountain just as the clock begins to strike the hour, in order to save Edward from exposing himself to the sunlight in public--is one of the most highly anticipated scenes in the entire planned quartet of Twilight saga films. Instead of the tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet, "Juliet" is about to save her "Romeo."
In the first moments after Bella saves him and he is disoriented, thinking he sees Bella in death or some other state of being, Edward quotes Romeo from the scene when he sees drugged Juliet lying in the tomb, presuming her to be dead, “Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, hath had no power yet upon thy beauty” (452). Both Edward and Romeo, neither one content to live if their lovers have died, think their lovers are so beautiful that even death cannot take that beauty away.
After all he puts Bella and himself through in his efforts to protect her in New Moon, readers may think back to Edward's remark at the beginning of the novel and see him more like Romeo than the character might see himself. He may crystallize the theme of the novel in speaking more about himself than he realizes when he says, "Could he have destroyed his own happiness any more thoroughly?" The events of the novel also let readers know that this couple is serious, indeed. Edward also speaks the theme when he says, "Well, I wasn't going to live without you."

Source: examiner.com
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