Teenage Brains In Romeo And Juliet

The underdevelopment of teenage brains gives teenagers an extreme level of impulsivity and immaturity. Romeo and Juliet is a perfect example of a story in which the idiosyncrasies of the teenage brain create plot conflicts in Romeo and Juliet, a tragedy by William Shakespeare, the main characters, Romeo and Juliet, tend to make very impulsive decisions. Throughout the play, Romeo and Juliet make decisions that are clearly damaging and not well considered. Romeo and Juliet make these decisions because of their teenage impulsivity as teenagers’ decisions-making skills are not fully developed yet. In addition, teenage brains have difficulties in processing emotions. Teenage brains also make teenagers prone to accessing the risks and consequences

It is very difficult for teenage boys to understand and explain their emotions. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo falls in love with Juliet as soon as he sees her. Romeo is feeling blind infatuation for Juliet. Because Romeo is a teenage boy, he likely has difficulty in interpreting his emotions. This difficulty interpreting emotions causes Romeo to confuse his infatuation with Juliet for love for her (Zarra 1). In addition, when a teenager’s amygdalae does not feel safe, the teenager feels anxiety and it becomes difficult for him or her to concentrate or think (Karen 2). This leads to Romeo make several decisions that are the outcomes of him being confused about his emotions. One of these examples is when Romeo decides to kill himself upon learning of Juliet’s supposed death. This decision is the result of Romeo’s difficulty in understanding and reacting to his emotions. At this point, Romeo feels a very large amount of grief. This grief causes him to feel very unsafe, which leads to him making an irrational and radical decision (killing himself). Finally, long-term memories commonly influence teenagers’ emotions (Zarra 2). This is an additional way in which teenagers’ decisions are guided by their emotions. This correlates to Romeo and Juliet because it explains how Romeo and Juliet thought of

Romeo and Juliet’s poor decision-making skills cause them to put themselves into dangerous situations. In addition, Romeo and Juliet’s difficulties in reacting to their emotions results in them desiring to be put into dangerous situations. Finally, Romeo and Juliet’s difficulties in accessing the risks and consequences of situations cause them to blindly put themselves in harm’s way. These problems are all the result of their immature teenage brains. An awareness of the faults of the human brain enhance Romeo and Juliet by giving readers an understanding of why both Romeo and Juliet behave so irrationally and immaturely. This understanding is beneficial because it distills the reader’s confusion as to why Romeo and Juliet make obviously negative decisions. The understanding of this topic enhances all literature because it helps the reader understand why teenage characters make impulsive and self-harming