The Teenage Brain in Connection to Romeo and Juliet
If girls are from Venus and boy are from Mars, teenagers must be from a galaxy far far away. The way teenagers behave can be attributed to them being from a different planet because of their impulsive and many times emotional decisions coming forth as rash and uncalculated. The Shakespearean characters Romeo and Juliet exhibit these characteristics in the way they behave. Throughout the play, Romeo and Juliet make the same choices as any ordinary modern teen. The characters are rebellious, infatuated, and moody all because their brains lack key fundamental development in areas such as the frontal cortex and the amygdala. With these areas under severe development, the flood of chemicals in
…show more content…
Teenagers are as unpredictable as they are uncalculated. Teens act on instinct rather than think critically. The amygdala which is responsible for instucual reactions, fear, and aggressive behavior is the most active in teenagers, especially those in situations that demand a quick-response (America). Both Romeo and Juliet act very instinctual, Romeo when he decides to kill himself when he finds out his love has supposedly died, and Juliet killing herself after finding her lover dead. The frontal cortex of the brain which controls reasoning and helps humans think before they act, continues to develop through adolescence well into the mid-20s (American). This part of the brain has not been fully developed in the brain’s of Romeo and Juliet and perhaps lead them to not think critically about the situation they found themselves in with a lover dead by their side. They acted on instinct and decided to kill themselves rather than use their brain to understand what was going on around them. The teenage years are a time for connections being made between the brain cells and pruning of brain pathways which are essential for the development of thought, action, and behavior (American). This is …show more content…
Teenager’s brains light up like wildfire when they receive a pleasurable stimulus. The ventral striatum provides the brain with receptors that trigger the release of dopamine, essentially a drug for good feeling in the brain . The ventral striatum upon view lights up more in teenagers than adults. This suggests that teens are more sensitive and less experienced to certain stimulus and are therefore more susceptible to the consequences that follow (Lewis). During adolescence, there is an increase in the neurotransmitter dopamine which is responsible for pleasure in the reward system. This chemical can be abused by teens by engaging in risky behavior and making quick and easy decisions instead of taking the time to critically think (Seigel). The combination of risky behavior and reward is perilous and can lead down a dangerous path. Love and or spending time with other loved ones can also triggers the release of dopamine. Romeo and Juliet both make the decision to risk their futures by continuing to meet with each other in secrecy. Both in a way get addicted to the other’s company and this eventually leads them to committing the ultimate sacrifice. The lovers were hooked on the feeling they received from their brains telling them this is good and that their relationship needs to continue even when known that it
In the Ted Talk, “The Mysterious Workings of the Adolescent Brain” Sarah-Jayne Blakemore even said, “The limbic system, have been found to be hypersensitive to the feeling of risk taking in adolescents compared with adults,” (Doc A). This quote really explained how Romeo and Juliet's adolescent brains are the ones to blame. Their brains caused them to do all the unsafe things due to their hypersensitivity to risk. Another example of how their brains caused their deaths was when Helen Fisher stated that, “The brain system-the reward system for wanting, for motivation, for craving for focus-becomes more active when you can’t get what you want,” (Doc C). This quote does a good job explaining how Romeo and Juliet not being able to be together prompted their brains to crave it even more.
To illustrate, a TED Talk called “The Mysterious Workings of the Adolescent Brain” explains how “the regions within the limbic system have been found to be hypersensitive to the rewarding feeling of risk-taking in adolescents compared with adults” (Doc A). This describes how when adolescents take risks, they feel happier about the reward at the end rather than thinking more about the consequences. Romeo and Juliet’s love escalated because of the risks they took, and this would be because their brains were hypersensitive to the positive outcome of them being together. This caused them to avoid considering the possible negatives. Moreover, in the TED Talk titled “The Brain in Love,” Helen Fisher describes how “the brain region that becomes active when you’re willing to take enormous risks for huge gains and huge losses” is also active when one thinks about love (Doc C).If love possesses one and causes them to think positively, then this part of the brain would most likely focus on the big gain.
One article reads that “because the prefrontal cortex is still developing, teenagers might rely on a part of the brain called the amygdala to make decisions and solve problems more than adults do. The amygdala is associated with emotions, impulses, aggression and instinctive behaviour.” (http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/brain_development_teenagers.html) Those who are mentally disabled may have even
“Romeo and Juliet The mysterious working of the adolescent brain’ Now and days love makes people do crazy things in life like in william shakespeare Romeo and Juliet,”The mysterious working on the adolescent brain” by Sarah Blakemore.some background information for romeo and juliet is that their young love and mood swings caused 6 deaths in the story .The background information from the Neuroscientist is that Sarah Blakemore is talking about the prefrontal cortex is still developing around your 20’s or below that affected Romeo and Juliet that could be why some of the deaths happened. In Romeo and Julliet due to the fact to the adolescent brain development caused mood swings and self consioucones,unncessary risk Romeo mood swings are what ultimately led to suicide.
Four hundred thousand deaths, six hundred thousand attempts, and two hundred thousand considerations in a single year. The seeming epidemic that is teen suicide plagues the minds of teachers, students, friends, neighbors, and parents. Despite this wide range of victims, teenage suicide most directly affects the parents of these children, who commonly feel an overwhelming sense of guilt due to their inability to help their children. However, to many it appears obvious that there are not many things parents can do to prevent suicide, for many reasons. Furthermore, William Shakespeare proves this with his tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” in which two teenagers take their lives.
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.
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.
Juliet is pledging her love and wishing she could take it back just to give it to Romeo again. According to Mental Health Daily, “The human brain's frontal lobe does not fully develop until age 20-25”, and
Age plays a significant role on decision-making not only in Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet but also in modern times. In the play, Romeo and Juliet are only young teenagers which influences on making childish and no-thought decisions. This is shown In Act 2 where Romeo is depressed because Rosaline, who he had confessed his love to has rejected him, and refuses to crash the Capulet’s party. It’s not until his friends Mercutio and Benvolio force him to go when he lays his eyes upon Juliet and proceeds to forget about his love and fall in love with Juliet instead.
An excellent portrayal of this recklessness is in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. In this book we see how the ability to control emotions is impaired as a result of teenage brain development and hormones. Romeo and Juliet move too fast as a result of their inability to make mature decisions. For example, Romeo and Juliet plan to get married after meeting each other only hours before at the party; “What o’clock
The Immaturity of Romeo and Juliet Immaturity can spread throughout things and people creating problems for the present and future. Similarly, Romeo and Juliet not only shows the development of love, but the loss of maturity that leads to tragedy. People develop maturity, but the amount of immaturity makes the process go backwards. From Romeo and Juliet’s fast evolving relationship to the hate between the two families, and the lack of thought in different characters is recurrent throughout the story. Therefore,the theme of Romeo and Juliet evolves around the idea of immaturity.
Destiny or Decisions Everywhere, teenagers make impulsive decisions that either positively or negatively affect them. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by playwright William Shakespeare, the main characters, Romeo and Juliet, are family foe’s that mistakenly fall in love. The unexpierienced, young couple tries to develop their secret relationship too fast, and the play ends after the lover’s traumatic suicides. In the play, the couple mentions how their relationship is “star-crossed” in that they are not fated to be together. However, these teenagers have been in many serious circumstances giving rise to their deaths and have overlooked the fact that their choices are what mainly determined their futures.
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.
“Maturity is not by age, but the acceptance of your responsibilities” (Unknown). In William Shakespeare 's, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo, who is a Montague and Juliet, who is a Capulet, met at a Capulet party. Romeo went to the party and met Juliet. They fell in love and got married the next day. Later that day, Romeo kills Juliet 's cousin, Tybalt.
When Juliet and Romeo were faced with a conflict, they would act based upon their emotions rather than coming up with rational solutions that would benefit both parties. They were only thinking in the moment, and not of the future consequences. Unfortunately, their rash decisions led to tragic incidents and the deaths of friends, family, and themselves. The problematic impulsiveness from the main characters could be taken as a moral, that love can control one’s mind to behave recklessly, leading to troubling