Romeo And Juliet Brain Quotes

Over the course of William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, readers become familiar with the bold and rash decisions the main characters, Romeo and Juliet, are prone to making. The two star crossed lovers are placed in what appears to be an epic love story. They become caught in an unfortunate frenzy between two feuding families and the two climatic choices of life or death. To most people it would appear that Romeo and Juliet are truly in love and it is this poetic love that leads to their unfortunate deaths. However, emotions throughout the play run high and adolescents repeatedly make emotionally charged and thoughtless decisions. Modern research and studies show that during one’s adolescence, the parts of the brain responsible for processing

A quote from the National Institute of Mental Health reveals that, “The brain circuitry involved in emotional responses is changing and the responses of teens to emotionally loaded images and situations is heightened”. Readers can compare this statement to Romeo and his behavior after his love Rosaline takes a vow of chastity. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo professes how sad and upset he is before a party by saying, “Give me a torch. I am not for this ambling. Being but heavy I will bear the light” (1.4). He then goes on to say, “You have dancing shoes with nimble soles. I have a soul of lead, so stakes me to the ground I cannot move” (1.4). While his choice of words seems dramatic, they depict how strong Romeo’s emotions currently are. Finally Romeo tells his friends, “Under love’s heavy burden do I sink” (1.4). In these quotes from the play, one can see Romeo’s deep-seated sadness and the extent of how Rosaline’s vow of chastity effects him. Though he is young and will have more opportunities to meet other women, Romeo feels the loss of his future with his love so intensely that he lies by himself in the dark and cries alone often. The way in which Romeo and other teens within Romeo and Juliet respond to emotional situations is due to their brains being in a stage where their emotions are fully developed while their ability to respond to the situation and their emotions are still