One of the comparative points between Like Water for Chocolate and Romeo and Juliet is that the unfulfilled passion of pure love causes immediate death, in the former, it is the immediate deaths of others, while in the latter it is the immediate deaths of the lovers themselves. Another point of comparison is that both Tita and Juliet are dominated by the traditions of the society and household: Tita must care for the aging mother until she dies, while Juliet must marry a man that will advance the family's position and wealth.

A comparative contrast (compare: examine to note similarities and differences) is that in Like Water for Chocolate, the lovers only die after Pedro has married someone else (in a Biblical allusion to the narrative of Jacob and Rachel). Another contrast is that while Romeo and Juliet is written in a realistic style, the other is written in the Latin American magical realism style.