Romeo and Juliet and the Teenage Brain There are many stereotypes regarding teenagers. One of these stereotypes is that they are always getting into trouble because of the decisions they are making. A famous example is the play, Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet are from rivaling families, the Montagues and the Capulets. They fell in love and had to hide this from their parents. Romeo killed Juliet's cousin in a duel so he got banished. After Romeo left Juliet found out she was betrothed to another man. They devised a plan that she would pretend to be dead using a temporary sleep serum. Romeo did not know about this but when he heard that Juliet had died he rushed to see her. When he saw her dead he killed himself with poison. Shortly after Juliet woke up, saw Romeo dead, and killed herself using a dagger. As you can see Romeo and Juliet made some impulsive decisions that lead to dire consequences because of the effects, adaptation, and development of the teenage brain. There are many …show more content…
“Then plainly know my heart's dear love is set On the fair daughter of rich Capulet: As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine;...but this I pray, That thou consent to marry us today” (Line 1117). This quote shows impulsivity of Romeo. He made the decision to marry someone he met only a few hours earlier. This is a huge example of impulsive decision-making in teenagers. In Romeo and Juliet their brains are adapted to their times and part of their decision-making is based on their environment. Your brain is constantly adapting to the environment (Development of the Young Brain). Teenagers' brains today have adapted to technology and constant multitasking very well. It has become normal for people to have technology and use a phone or computer all day. Teenagers' brains have adapted to the world around them and this can affect the decisions that they
Romeo then took his own life because he genuinely thought his true love was dead, after he had Juliet then awoken. This was all because of Romeo and Juliet’s
In Romeo and Juliet, the teenage characters make poor decisions throughout the play. David Dobbs, the author of “Beautiful Brains”, elucidates to us that the teen brain sometimes tends to do things perfunctory. Due to teenager’s age, their brain is not fully developed, so they would not know the full consequences of their actions. This continuously happens in the story, and many choices that they make are kept secret, which is even worse for them to do. The articles, “Beautiful Brains” and “Insight into the Teenage Brain”, helps us further understand why they are making these decision and why they don’t know when to stop.
There are many characters in Romeo and Juliet whose character traits and bad decisions lead to their downfall, some being Romeo, Lord Capulet, and Friar Lawrence. In The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is very
Juliet makes a few decisions that she could have done better such as when to do when Romeo got banished for killing Tybalt. Instead of running away with Romeo to Mantua, she decides to threaten to kill herself when her father says she has to marry Paris. This action was not a mature thing to do. Romeo also makes a few bad decisions throughout the play. When Balthazar comes to Romeo in Mantua saying his fair Juliet is dead he also threatens to kill himself with illegal poison
Many people consider teenage boys to be illogical young adults who make irrational decisions. This is seen in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet about the long feud between the Montague and Capulet families that tears apart the city of Verona and causes tragic results for the star-crossed lovers. Revenge, love, a secret marriage, and terrible decisions force the young lovers to grow up quickly due to their immaturity. This is a direct correlation to the immaturity caused by the age of Romeo and trauma throughout his life.
Whether it be disobeying parents or doing something illegal, quick decision making and reckless actions are common in teenagers, yet the outcomes vary from beneficial to destructive. Teenagers are known for doing things they have been explicitly told to avoid, and their potential consequences are the catalysts of impulsive behavior–there is no telling what an adolescent mind will venture into next. Shakespeare’s tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, perfectly portrays a time when the effects of illicit love took the lives of many people. Nonetheless, Romeo and Juliet are not the only ones to experience forbidden love, teenagers all over the world make immature decisions due to powerful emotions. Essentially, Romeo and Juliet’s impulsivity and desire
Teenage behavior has not changed in over five hundred years. The behaviors portrayed in Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare are very similar to the behaviors of the average teenager today. The teenage brain takes years to become fully developed which is why teens make impulsive decisions, express new emotions, and have rebellious behaviors as shown in Romeo and Juliet. Teenagers are impulsive when making decisions because of the unawareness of consequences that their decisions could result in.
Romeo did not think of the consequences before his actions. His thoughtless behavior led to the end of his and his star-crossed lover’s life. At first, Romeo Montague was a very disheartened teenager because Rosaline, his old love, wouldn’t love him like he did. Then, he meets Juliet and suddenly is life is filled with life and passion. He loved fiercely, and went to great lengths for Juliet.
Some will argue that Romeo did not lead to his own downfall that instead Juliet is responsible for Romeo 's downfall. On the other hand, Juliet isn 't the guilty one because Romeo hadn 't taken the time to find out what truly had happened to Juliet and immediately decided to kill himself. According to Laurence Steinberg, “It doesn’t mean adolescents can’t make a rational decision or appreciate the difference between right and wrong,” he said. “It does mean, particularly when confronted with stressful or emotional decisions, they are more likely to act impulsively, on instinct, without fully understanding or analyzing the consequences of their actions” (Teens Brains Hold key to their Impulsiveness). Concluding, Romeo wasn’t sure about what the right decision was so he just did whatever the first thing that came to mind, thus proving how he was impulsive.
Similar to how the teenagers in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet make rash, ill advised decisions, modern day teenagers also make many impulsive and dangerous choices without really thinking. Throughout the entirety of Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, teenagers are portrayed as behaving hastily. There are many such examples of these being made, particularly by Romeo and Juliet themselves. One instance
Juliet only loves Romeo so this drives her to go to Friar Laurence whereupon attempted suicide he prescribes a potion that will make her appear dead. Romeo and Juliet’s decision to be married starts a string of events including Juliet’s “death”, Romeo killing Paris, Romeo killing himself, and Juliet killing
Firstly, Romeo and Juliet’s young love reflects their rashness and lack of maturity. This led to their abrupt decisions to ultimately kill
One of the most famous plays in history, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, helps portray the idea that the impulsiveness of youth can have dire consequences. Romeo is probably the most impulsive character in the story. He fell in love with a woman named Rosaline (Shakespeare 813) who was a nun. The issue there is clear, but Romeo was still young and was blinded from seeing the obvious: that their love will never be. Maybe if Romeo had been older than 17, he wouldn’t have continually sobbed about a girl that would never be his.
Two teenagers fall in love at first sight, it’s a common, yet moving story. An extremely renowned play, one famously known throughout the world, was written by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare shows that one of the worst conflicts there can be is a parent-child conflict. The title characters in Shakespeare’s aforementioned play, Romeo and Juliet, proves the conflict between parents and children can end in tragedy.
The youth in this play are shown as chaotic and hard to take control of. On the other hand, the adults in Romeo and Juliet hold grudges until drastic measures happen. They smother their children and do not let them have their own path. Even so, in Romeo and Juliet, both age groups were not afraid to show their full capability throughout the