Preventing Tragedy:
Suicide in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
“O my love, my wife,
Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy
breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.”
[Romeo 5.3.92-93]
Created by Ms. Kirtley
English Department
Spring 2005
Introduction:
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet presents a tragic tale
of young love that ends in dual suicides.
Romeo first takes his life when he wrongly believes Juliet has killed
herself during his banishment. When Juliet awakes she finds both Romeo and
Paris dead, and so she too claims her life.
Suicide is still a major cause of death
affecting teenagers like Romeo and Juliet.
What could have been done to prevent Romeo and Juliet’s suicides? In your groups, you will research ways to
prevent suicide for troubled teens.
Task:
Your group will study the
problem of suicide as it affects today’s teenagers. Using the TIPS Public
Policy Analyst you will develop specific suggestions for policies that might
better deal with this problem. Your report should bring about solutions that
could have saved Romeo and Juliet from their tragic deaths.
Process:
(1)
In your groups, complete all 6 TIPS PPA
worksheets.
(2)
You will also complete at least a six-panel
PowerPoint presentation that determines the causes and proposes solutions to
solve the problem of teenage suicide.
Use quotes and statistics from the websites listed in the resources
section. Specifically propose ways you
could have saved Romeo and Juliet from their tragic deaths.
(Write the answers to the
worksheets on your own separate paper, to be turned in for a grade with the
research paper!)
1.
Begin by defining the problem the social problem
presented to you in the introduction.
2.
Gather the evidence from the websites below about
teenage suicide.
3.
Identify the causes of teenage suicide.
4.
Evaluate the policy. What are the current methods used to prevent
teen suicide?
5.
Develop solutions.
What new solutions can your team propose to confront the problem of
teenage suicide?
6.
Select the best policy. What is the best specific
policy to combat teenage suicide? This
is a new policy that your group creates themselves!
Resources:
(Use
quotes and statistics from at least three websites to write your five-paragraph
essay. Be sure to include those sources in your bibliography page!)
AVOID PLAGIARISM! Put research into own words or use
quotations.
Consult
the TIPS website for further information about the Public Policy Analyst steps:
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/intro.html
Websites to
Research:
“Suicide and Suicide Prevention”
http://www.psycom.net/depression.central.suicide.html
“AAP—Preventing Teen Suicide”
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/childhealthmonth/prevteensuicide.htm
“Understanding and Preventing Teen Suicide”
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/suicide.html
“Suicide: Read this First”
http://www.metanoia.org/suicide/
“American Foundation for Suicide Prevention”
Evaluation Rubric:
PowerPoint Presentation
Quality |
A (5) |
B (4) |
C (3) |
D (2) |
F (1) |
Meaning
& Development |
-Excellent
use of facts, quotes, and statistics from websites. -Fully
developed PowerPoint slides that follow task. |
-Very
good demonstration of quotes and statistics from the web. -Well-developed
PowerPoint slides that follow task. |
-Average
use of quotes and statistics from websites. -Average
development PowerPoint slides that follow task. |
-Poor or
incorrect use of quotes and statistics from websites. -Poor
development PowerPoint slides that follow task. |
-No use
of quotes and statistics or plagiarized from websites. -No
development -Less than
6 slides |
Organization |
-Excellent
focus. -PowerPoint
organization perfectly follows task. |
-Very
strong focus. -PowerPoint
organization appropriately follows task. |
-Average
focus. -Average
organization of PowerPoint -Some
awareness of task. |
-Lacks
focus. -PowerPoint
lacks organization and awareness of task. |
-No
focus. -No
organization. -No
awareness of task. |
Language
& Conventions |
-Excellent
vocabulary. -Varies
sentence structure and length. |
-Strong
vocabulary. -Good
variety of sentences. . |
-Average
vocabulary. -Average
variety of sentences. |
-Poor
vocabulary. -Poor
variety of sentences. |
-No
attention to vocabulary usage. -No
variety in sentence structure. |
Format |
6-step
Public Policy Analyst (PPA) format followed perfectly. |
PPA
format mostly followed. |
PPA
format followed Inconsistently. |
Little
or confused understanding of PPA format. |
No use
of PPA format. |
GRADE KEY:
A= 18-20 B
=15-17 C=12-14 D=8-11 F=4-7
English Language Arts Standards:
a |
Read twenty-five books of the
quality and complexity illustrated in the sample reading list. |
c |
Read and comprehend
informational materials. |
Writing
a |
Produce a report of information. |
e |
Produce a persuasive essay. |
Speaking, Listening, and Viewing
a |
Participate in one-to-one
conferences with the teacher. |
b |
Participate in group meetings. |
c |
Prepare and deliver an
individual presentation. |
Conventions, Grammar, and Usage of the
English Language
a |
Independently and habitually
demonstrate an understanding of the rules of the English |
b |
Analyze and subsequently revise
work to improve its clarity and effectiveness. |
Public Documents
a |
Critique public documents with
an eye to strategies common in public discourse. |
b |
Produce public documents. |
Functional Documents
a |
Critique functional documents
with an eye to strategies common to effective functional documents. |
b |
Produce functional documents
appropriate to audience and purpose. |
Conclusion:
Congratulations! Upon your successful completion of this web
quest, you have researched and analyzed the social problem of teenage suicide
using the TIPS Public
Policy Analyst guidelines. Through
this web quest, you analyzed the causes and effects of suicide on
teenagers. Your group reviewed current
public policy solutions to prevent teenage suicide. You have learned to develop
a PowerPoint presentation using websites for evidence and information to
complete your task.
Hopefully,
you all developed some creative solutions to prevent teen suicide. Perhaps your solutions would also help save
Romeo and Juliet so that they could have lived together happily ever after
rather than ending their lives in tragedy.