Behind The Brain In Romeo And Juliet

Romeo and Juliet: Behind their Brains “It’s sort of unfair to expect [teens] to have adult levels of organizational skills or decision-making before their brains are finished being built”(Giedd). Time and time again we expect teens to be able to handle anything that comes their way while acting reasonably and responsibly. We expect them to act like adults, making decisions without error and without much emotion. We assume they are ready for any situation when in reality their brains haven’t fully developed. In the play Romeo and Juliet two teenage characters meet each other the night one of their parents have a party. Romeo, who is not supposed to be at the party because their two families hate each other, searches for Juliet after he

The Juvenile brain not being fully developed can cause many problems for the teen because they don't have good decision making skills and are still learning how to make the best decision for the situation. In a article written by Lizzy Griffin in 2017 about The Developing Teenage Brain found that, “...the frontal lobe that sharpens critical thinking isn't well connected. The part of the brain that makes them pause and say to themselves, “‘Bad idea...”(Griffin). This proves that Romeo and Juliet act like realistic teens because throughout the play they make bad decisions in the moment because they didnt stop and think about it similar to how many other teens would have reacted if they were placed in the same situation as them. Furthermore, the adolescent brain is incapable of make the appropriate decision in a timely manner. This causes problems for teens because if faced with a time sensitive decision they probably won’t be able to make the correct decision causing them to get into to trouble. In the same article by Lizzy Griffin about The Developing Teenage Brain, neurologists and neuroscientist Frances Jensen reported that, “they are fast learners but poor decision makers. They have trouble abstracting issues and making decisions in real time as rapidly as adults”(Griffin). This provides evidence that Romeo and Juliet weren’t taking the

Wouldn’t they? Modern teenagers run away all of the time, they think they’re in love and since their parents don’t approve of the marriage they run away. There are nearly 750,000 American Teenage girls that get pregnant each year due to one little mistake. All of this because they thought they loved that person and didn’t have control of their emotions and many of them can’t handle the repercussions of their actions. Romeo and Juliet were no different than any other teenager because just like any other teen their brains were not fully developed. Teens don’t know how to control themselves and that gets them in trouble. Their self-discipline is still inefficient at that age. Adolescents pay not attention to the rules, they chose to ignore them so that way they can have fun in the moment. Michael Bratsis once wrote in a 2015 article about Why Teens Take Risks,”...neurological mechanisms me predispose adolescent males too risky behavior and disregard for negative consequences”(Bratsis). Romeo and Juliet also would disregard the trouble they were getting themselves into when getting married behind everyone’s back. They didn’t think it would all go so wrong and that everybody would find out. They didn’t think about what would happen to them when their parents found out. Teenagers have a habit of getting themselves into trouble with no way of getting them out. It’s easier to