Comparative Essay Sample: "Romeo and Juliet" and "Children of Blood and Bone"

Why do human beings, who are given the unique gift of logic, repeatedly abandon it so quickly when it contradicts love? This tendency is universal and its tragic effects are perfectly captured in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy recounting the tale of two lovers from opposing families who give up their families, their friends, and their lives to be with each other. This story was uniquely retold in Tomi Adeyenemi in Children of Blood and Bone. Adeyemi includes many critical plot points from Romeo and Juliet, including offspring of opposing families falling in love, their willingness to sacrifice for each other, and their respective families’ deep disapproval of that love.

The first similarity between Children of Blood and Bone and Romeo and Juliet is the opposing nature of the two lovers’ family. It is well established in Romeo and Juliet that their respective families, the Montagues and the Capulets, have a deep feud spanning many generations. Shakespeare alludes to their feud in the prologue when he says “ From ancient grudge break to new mutiny. Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” This quote reinforces not only the length of the fued, but also its intensity. Shakespeare refers to the feud as “ancient” and mentions bloodshed between the two families. The feud between these families is extremely long standing to the point where no one in Romeo’s time even remembers the nature or purpose of the feud. Adeyemi builds on the premise created by Shakespeare but builds on it further. In Children of Blood and Bone, the two lovers come from opposing families, but that fued is rooted in a deeper class struggle with undertones of racism, persecution, and genocide. Zelie’s hatred is not only familial, but personal, as the royal family killed her mother and left her father as a shell of his former self in a brutal, calculated genocide intended to wipe out her whole race (a group of wizards called the maji). Additionally, Prince Inan, under orders from his father, burned down Zelie’s village after discovering that she might revive the maji race. Yet, the maji are not innocent in this conflict. They carried out a similar genocide against the royal family, scarring a young King Saran and fueling him with a burning desire to kill the maji. The raid against the maji was the culmination of his decades long hatred for them and his drive for revenge for what they did to his family.  King Saran commands Prince Inan to kill Zelie and prevent her from reviving the maji, as she is the only one with the knowledge to do so. As Inan and Zelie attempt to kill each other, their motivations are revealed. Zelie contemplates on her motivations,  referring to Inan as “ The monster who burned my village, the man responsible for Lekan’s death. The root of all our problems. And I can wipe him away,” (pg 276). Inan hates the maji so much that any trace of them fuels him with hatred. “I’M SO CLOSE. This one thought consumes me as I stalk toward the girl. Trapped in the net, she’s defenseless. No staff. No magic. With this one kill, I’ll fulfill my duty. Protect all of Orïsha from her madness,” (p. 284).  The feud between  Zelie’s and Inan’s family closely resembles  the hatred that the Montagues and Capulets have for each other. 

The romance in the Children of Blood and Bone resembles the romance in Romeo and Juliet not only in its premise, but also in its execution. In both stories we see a passionate, emotional male try to attract a more reserved, logical female. And in both stories, the male is successful in attracting the female, who lets their guard down and abandons much of their previous hesitancy. In the aforementioned fight scene, Inan has an opportunity to strike a helpless Zelie, yet he can’t bring himself to do it. He says  “My hand shakes. The moment to kill still hangs between us. Yet I can’t bring myself to move.” Inan has previously shown himself as an adept warrior who has no qualms about killing who must be killed, as he previously burned down a village to get to Zelie.  It is later confirmed that Inan loves Zelie when he says, “ Now I see her. Unable to stop myself, I drink Zelie in every cuve, every line,”(p. 291). He abstains from killing Zelie, who eventually reciprocates his love against her better judgment. Zelie contemplates  “Goosebumps prickle down my neck when his fingers brush my skin. I clear my throat and look away, ignoring the thumping inside my head. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know I can’t allow myself to feel like this,”(p.360)  Romeo is similarly infatuated with Juliet. Romeo infiltrates the Capulet’s party and upon beholding Juliet, disavows any lover he has ever had previously, even though mere hours earlier he was distraught about his breakup with Rosaline. He says, “ Did my heart till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night,”(p.62). This line and many others establish Romeo’s nature as an irrational romantic. He favors loud proclamations of love over

Juliet’s hesitancy to love  Romeo and her belief that Romeo is taking things extremely fast. However, Juliet’s hesitancy is overcome much easier than Zelie’s, as mere seconds later she and Romeo kiss and subsequently fall in love. However, that does not negate the fact that for a window of time, Juliet was reluctant and needed convincing. Her hesitancy was overcome easier as she didn’t know at the time that Romeo was a Montague. She didn’t end it when she found out, since the feud was inherited and familial not personal like it was for Zelie and Inan. They lived through the horrible actions that both their families did, for Romeo and Juliet the actions that instigated their feud were long forgotten.

These romances both entail sacrifices for both parties involved. While this is true for any relationship, the sacrifice in these romances is heightened due to the animosity between both families and the complications that brings into the relationship. The willingness to sacrifice shows that these romances are founded on true, lasting love rather than on transient, physical- based attractions. Inan’s love for Zelie costs him his relationship with his father and consequently costs him all power associated with being prince. His father goes as far to attempt to murder him, and comes dangerously close to succeeding. On Zelie’s side, her relationship with Inan very nearly cost her Tzain, her brother and companion throughout all the adversity she’s faced in her life. Tzain came very close to abandoning Zelie as she believed that she was misguided and not truly committed to avenging the loss of their mother.  As costly as Zelie and Inan’s relationship was, Romeo and Juliet’s romance had a much steeper cost: their lives. Both Romeo and Juliet committed suicide, as they valued their romance over their life and couldn’t beat the thought of not being together. Even during their life, the necessary secrecy to maintain their relationship hindered their ability to have a relationship with their parents and friends. 

The integral plot points of Romeo and Juliet are masterfully retold in Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone. Both of these books structure their romances in a similar way and these romances have a similar function in the overall story. These stories consider the ramifications of  ill-advised romances and their effects on family relationships. The premise, execution, and costs of these romances share many similarities in both stories. The tendency of human beings to abandon logic in the face of love is similarly captured in both stories and they both explore the tragic ramifications of disregarding humanity’s greatest asset.