New Moon is supposed to be “inspired by” Romeo and Juliet, and I can definitely see the inspiration there, but I think it’s closer to Hamlet, with Bella in the position of Ophelia.
In Hamlet, Ophelia is led to believe Hamlet loves her, only for Hamlet to completely shatter this by saying he doesn’t love her and telling her to “get thee to a nunnery.” Hamlet later says after Ophelia’s death that he actually did love her, and him saying he doesn’t love her was a lie. Ophelia is then left completely alone. Her father is killed, her brother is off in France, and Hamlet is headed for England (and unknowingly to his death). She goes mad and ends up dying in such a way that it’s debatable whether or not she committed suicide.
In New Moon, Bella was led to believe that Edward loves her, only for Edward to shatter this by saying he doesn’t love her, doesn’t want her, and that she isn’t good for him. Later, after they get back from Volterra, Edward explains that all of that was a lie and that he really does love her. Bella is then left completely alone. The Cullens and Edward leave, and Alice has stopped looking into Bella’s future. Bella also can’t really tell anything to anyone because she can’t reveal that the Cullens are vampires. Bella becomes incredibly depressed and hallucinates Edward’s voice, and she ends up going cliff diving because of these hallucinations, which leads Alice to think that Bella committed suicide.
I do see the parallels between New Moon and Romeo and Juliet. There’s the forbidden love, and the end of the book where Edward wants to end his life because he thinks Bella is dead, which is the tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet. However, I think it somewhat fails as a parallel of Romeo and Juliet because the star-crossed lovers aren’t together for most of the book, and the main connection is the miscommunication about Bella dying. I think there are more parallels between Hamlet and New Moon if you look at Bella as a parallel of Ophelia. Also, Edward matches Prince Hamlet’s level of angst.
