Romeo And Juliet Double Suicide Analysis

Rationale
I chose to write a news article about the double suicide in William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” in order to touch on the main themes expressed in the play and illustrate their perpetual relevance. Shakespeare’s work is fascinating to me as it is timeless and distinctive in the way it addresses universal themes. In my assignment, I aim to portray the lessons one can take away from the play and discuss the correlation between love and hate. I chose to do this by reflecting on the double suicide, starting with a description of the situation—emphasising the roles love and hate played in the tragic affair—and then becoming more general, discussing their effect on Veronan society. I link the past with the present through a statement made by Prince Escalus in commemoration of the suicides. Writing a news article lent itself perfectly to my purpose of reflection and allowed me to focus on main events first and then become more general in my writing. I focused on Romeo and Juliet’s death, emphasising the tragic circumstances, and the statues the families erected in one another’s honour. My register is formal and I used a mixture of an expository and persuasive style, as the news article is not a report of recent events but an editorial piece reflecting on the double suicide. Thus, I decided to

Their names were Romeo, a member of the Montague household, and Juliet, a member of the Capulet household. Upon meeting they were unaware of their familial ties, and it was love at first sight. However, the deeply rooted hatred between their families stood in the way of their happy union. It was a feud that was so ancient that its original cause had long been forgotten, yet it was so deeply ingrained in the society that a marriage between the two houses was