Bad Decisions In Romeo And Juliet By William Shakespeare

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The human mind during the teenage years often acts very irrationally. This is very much the case for Romeo in the play written by Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Romeo made countless bad decisions that led to his death at the end of the play. These bad decisions were influenced by the adolescent mind. In Romeo and Juliet written by Shakespeare, the experiences of Romeo are influenced by the adolescent brain through irrational adolescent behavior, impulsive behavior, and the rush of dopamine. In the article, “Adolescence and the Teenage Crush”, Pickhardt underlines the fact that adolescent brain behavior is not as good at making decisions. After Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo's adolescent brain tells him to get revenge. As written in Act 3, …show more content…

As Romeo points out to Juliet before their wedding in Act two of Romeo and Juliet, “Ah, Juliet if you're as happy as I am, and you're better with words, tell me about the happiness you imagine we'll have in our marriage. “(Shakespeare 2.6.24-29) Romeo’s decision to marry Juliet was very impulsive. This impulsive behavior is one of the reasons the story ended the way it did. Their adolescence blocked out the rational thought that they either cannot get married due to their families feud, or they should wait and not do it in secret. In “Why Teenagers Are So Impulsive”, Emily Underwood highlights the teenage impulsiveness with an experiment that showed teenagers make more mistakes than adults. With this information, Underwood claims, “This work strongly suggests that the teenage brain is highly impulsive” (Underwood) This quote shows that teenage impulsiveness is likely one of the reasons that Romeo foolishly married Juliet. Romeo’s actions were clearly related to impulsive teenage behavior as the quote suggests. The adolescent brain is one of the leading reasons that Romeo made such rash