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Romeo And Juliet Impulsive Decisions Essay

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During your youth you are more susceptible to making impulsive decisions for numerous reasons. Throughout one's childhood, there are many things that can shape the way you perceive things and how you might respond to them. Impulsivity has the ability to alter your decision making without taking the time to reflect on the rationality of the choice you made. As seen in Romeo and Juliet, there are quite a few instances where Romeo and Juliet seem to be impulsive. A possible explanation for this is the impulsivity within teens and adolescents. Ultimately, people who are younger tend to make more impulsive decisions because of the fact that their brain isn’t fully developed, the effect of peer pressure, or the mental health issues that some kids …show more content…

A baby's brain starts out with at least 100 billion neurons. By age three, your brain has approximately one quadrillion connections called "synapses"--many more than you need.” (Dowling). This shows how your brain needs time to fully develop which can contribute to your overall decision making. In Romeo and Juliet, we are shown how sixteen year old Romeo makes most of his decisions solely based upon his heart and how he is quick to act without thinking about the consequences they may bring.(Shakespeare) It is said that by the age of 12 your brain has reached it's full “physical” maturity, yet as you experience new things out there in the world your brain connections continue to change and rewire themselves up into your twenties. (Dowling). Even though your brain is technically full grown, it is not fully matured and hasn’t seen everything the world has to offer. A study was done to see how …show more content…

Peer pressure is dangerous in a sense that it can lead you to misfortune and conflict just by making one quick choice. Throughout the course of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is put into certain situations where he does things that aren’t within his nature because of peer pressure. For instance, whenever Romeo’s friends encourage him to get into some trouble or join them on doing something that is dangerous or might cause conflict, Romeo is hesitant because the things they do don’t represent who Romeo really is. “Teenagers are vulnerable to peer pressure that is either overt or subtle. Their vulnerability stems from trying to determine their place in life and their immediate surroundings.” (Kowalski). With that comes teens trying to fit in and do things to make themselves feel accepted when in reality it would only guide them to making poor choices in the heat of the moment. Kids are trying to fit in all the time and they believe by doing things that their friends do, makes them cool or a part of the gang. Miachael Farrell explains, “The best predictor of a kid using drugs and alcohol is what his or her friends do. The people selling drugs for the billion-dollar drug industry aren't TV stereotypes. They're your classmates, and the people using and modeling drug use are your classmates. This “in-your-face" factor produces a constant pressure that teens

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Teenagers act in irrational, impulsive and hazardous ways. This is due to their brains being underdeveloped and can’t form important connections, in fact a person's brain doesn't mature until their early 20’s. Teens also tend to put themselves at risk more than adults and misinterpret situations. Romeo and Juliet are an excellent example of the teen brain. Teens impulsive actions typically can be reckless for themselves and others.

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She says, “When we are young we have way more connections between our neurons than we need. These extra connections are there, ready to be used to build networks for the things we experience.” She tells us that we go through major pruning processes as we learn new skills that we need to re-inforce and as we don’t use connections that aren’t vital to our lives. Both Connor-Smith and Zimmerman tell us how the brain affects different age groups, but because they each explain a different

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As professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore states “... brain research has shown that the adolescent brain undergoes really quite profound, developmental, and this has implications for education, for rehabilitation, and intervention” This quote explains that adolescents are easily influenced and that everything that they are exposed to has an impact on their behavior. This is significant in Romeo and Juliet as Juliet’s dad is strict causing Juliet to run after Romeo’s love. Similarly, teenagers tend to take risks due to the development of their brains. “.. the limbic system … involved in things like emotion processing and reward processing. It gives you the rewarding feeling of doing fun things, including taking risks”(Doc A).

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Without guidance, naive teenagers make foolish decisions without a second thought. However in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the audience watches as two young kids, Romeo and Juliet, get carried away by their seemingly deep love for each other with the destructive guidance by their two parental figures, The Nurse and The Friar. Though both of those figures play a role in leading the two young lovers to their untimely death, one of them is the main culprit in those tragic events.

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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.

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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

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The author points out that “Brain imaging studies reveal that the regions of the adolescent brain responsible for controlling thoughts, actions and emotions are not fully developed.” Brain imaging studies have repeatedly shown that the brains in younger people are still developing well over the age of 18. Garinger states that

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What Romeo does not know is that Juliet is actually very much alive, and makes up not 5 minutes after Romeo kills himself. Consistent with his character, Romeo acts impulsively, and kills himself as he was blinded by love. If he had not acted impulsively here, He and Juliet would be together, both alive and well. This is yet another consequence experienced by Romeo for acting impulsively. In conclusion, Acting impulsively for one’s desires leads to many bad events because it does not allow a situation to play out to its fullest extent.

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Impulsivity is a plus and a minus. It can either bring thrilling experiences or lead to trouble if not limited. It reflects a person's true character and their capability to tackle challenges in life. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the characters demonstrate impulsive behavior repeatedly throughout the play. Romeo and Juliet's love at first sight is an impulsive decision, with Romeo neglecting his former love interest, Rosaline, instantly.

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Author Stieg Larsson once wrote, “Impulsive actions led to trouble, and trouble could have unpleasant consequences.” In the play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, each characters have a flaw that are used against their circumstances. Very rarely does a character in this story thought about the consequences of their actions before they did something, resulting in devastating outcomes. Granted, the main characters of the story have a noticeable weakness that contributes to their tragic ends. Romeo and Juliet both have a fatal flaw of being too impulsive when it comes to love and decisions.

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Teenage Impulsivity In Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, an intelligent Friar Lawrence says to Romeo , "Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast," (Shakespeare 2.3.94). A quote that directly relates to and depicts the problems that regular youths experience, it also elaborates on how teenagers can be quick to make unthought decisions which can have serious consequences. In this case, Romeo is advised by Friar Lawrence to talk things over with Juliet because he is a teenager and could be acting impulsively. Romeo and Juliet's story takes place in Verona, a city noted for its long-running family war between the Capulets and the Montagues.

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In Shakespeare's tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”, the impulsive actions of Romeo and Mercutio start major chain reactions that change the course of the play, leading it to its final tragedy. Romeo's impulsive actions, driven by love, are seen when he falls instantly for Juliet and later seeks revenge for the death of his friend. Mercutio’s loyalty and love for his friends also cause him to make reckless decisions to defend his friend that he wouldn't have made if it weren't for his passionate and spontaneous personality. These impulsive actions cause the fight between the Capulets and Montegues to increase while eventually causing the death of Romeo and Juliet. Love is a big factor that causes Romeo to act impulsively.

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The human brain does not fully develop until the mid to late twenty’s. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that controls

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In the play Romeo and Juliet one of the main characters, Romeo, is a rather impulsive fellow who acts on what he sees and feels. He falls in love in the blink of an eye and just as fast he can get over it. He is always impulsive but when he finds himself in love his impulsiveness doubles. Romeo’s impulsive decisions causes his love, Juliet, to ultimately get killed.

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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.

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