Romeo and Juliet Persuasive Essay Sample

In Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, there is a feud between two-family houses. Romeo from the Montague household and Juliet from the Capulet household fall in love at first sight. Their love for one another causes them to make choices that could end their own lives. Romeo and Juliet think the same because they are both suicidal and willing to kill themselves.

Romeo is willing to buy a deadly elixir in order to kill himself. In Mantua, Romeo hears that Juliet is dead and is in the Capulet’s burial vault. Wishing to join her, he then talks to a poor apothecary, who sells drugs and medicine, and tells him what he wants to buy. “Let me have A dream of poison, such soon-speeding gear As will disperse itself through all the veins That the life-weary taker may fall dead.” (V, i, 60-62). Romeo wants to buy poison that whoever drinks it will immediately die. This shows that Romeo is suicidal because he’s willing to buy the poison and drink it to be with Juliet.

Juliet is desperate to go to the afterlife. When Juliet wakes up in the Capulet’s churchyard, she is told by Friar Laurence, a priest, that Romeo is dead and should run away. She doesn't move from where she is and observes the cup Romeo is holding on to. “O churl! Drunk all, and no friendly drop To help me after? I will kiss thy lips. Haply some poison yet doth hang on them To make me die with a restorative.” (V, iii, 165-167). Juliet sees that Romeo left no poison for her, so she decides to kiss his lips hoping that there is some poison left on them. This shows that Juliet wants to kill herself so badly that she kisses the lips of a corpse in hopes to poison herself. This proves that Romeo and Juliet are desperate to kill themselves to be with one another in the afterlife.