Love and Destruction in City of Boones by Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare, author of the best-selling novel City of Bones, once wrote, “To love is to destroy, and to be loved is to be the one destroyed”. As an author of a series of young adult books, Clare wishes to send a message to adolescent readers regarding the destruction that young, passionate love can lead to. A similar theme is explored in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, where two adolescents from feuding families fall in love with one another. When they first see each other on the night of the Capulet party, they quickly fall in love and are soon married by Romeo’s friend and mentor, Friar Lawrence. Their love, being full of passion in its quick course, faces many trials such as Romeo’s banishment from their hometown of Verona, as well as Juliet being forced to marry Paris, kinsman of the Prince. The affection they feel for one another, being all consuming, often leads them to want to sacrifice everything for each other, including their own lives. Their self-destructive, rushed love ends with their deaths, occurring just a multiple days after they first met. In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, many characters such as Friar Lawrence, Romeo, and Juliet illustrate that young, passionate love is a powerful force that leads to destruction.

As a wise man and a mentor to the young Romeo, Friar Lawrence often voices his opinions regarding the perils of young, passionate love in the form of advice to the two lovers. This can be seen when Romeo first approaches the Friar with the news of his engagement to Juliet, just hours after claiming to love Rosaline, causing the confused Friar to declare that “Young men’s love then lies/ Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes”(2.3.71-72). With the use of the word ‘youn...

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...l concept, many consequences can arise as a result of it. Their display of self-destructive and reckless behavior endorses the idea that young lovers are not yet mature enough to handle the ramifications that appear as a result of a complicated relationship. Their willingness to rush into major events, such as marriage and even death, further shows how passion can cloud one’s judgement and control one’s thoughts and actions. Though written a long time ago, the message that Shakespeare conveys in Romeo and Juliet about young, passionate love applies to modern society as well, where great consequences arise from people acting on emotional impulse as opposed to calm reasoning.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 1992. Print.

Clare, Cassandra. City of Bones. New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 2007. Print.