Adolescents In Romeo And Juliet Essay Example
| 📌Category: | Child development, Plays, Psychology, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare, Writers |
| 📌Words: | 430 |
| 📌Pages: | 2 |
| 📌Published: | 18 June 2021 |
The young male characters' thoughtless and quick decisions throughout the plot of Act 1 are explained with reasoning from Richard Knox's article “The Teen Brain: It’s Just Not Grown Up Yet.” One Irrational decision made by the young men of the play are when they decide to go to their great enemy’s house to crash his party. They not only risk their own lives but a war that is on the verge of happening between the two families, the house of Montague and the house of Capulets. This decision is explained from the article by describing that the part of the brain that decides if decisions are good ones “are not fully connected.” This would explain why Romeo and Benvolio decide to go to the party without really thinking it through: “At this same ancient feast of Capulet’s/ Sups the fair Rosalina whom thou so lovest,/ With all the admired beauties of Verona.” ( Shakespeare 1.4.89-92) The young men only wanted to go to the party to help Romeo get over a girl he was in love with. They did not think through the decision of going to the party. If their frontal lobe were fully connected they might have thought through this decision a little more before making such an irrational decision.
What scientists know about the teenage crush today can help readers better understand and explain the plot of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. According to Dr. Carl Pickhart, the way teen crushes are triggered is by someone who you find “powerfully attractive” (Pickhardt). This directly relates to when Romeo first sees Juliet in the ballroom. On multiple instances, Romeo obsesses over how beautiful and attractive Juliet is to him. As well as the fact that he had never met her before but wanted to kiss her straight away, “O, then dear saint, let lips do what hands do! (Shakespeare 1.4.1016).” This need happens because the teenager crush does not require “knowing another person well at all” (Pickhardt). Teenage crushes are easily formed and easily changed, which helps us understand how Romeo changes love twice in the play. Which is why modern understanding of the teenage crush can help us understand the forming of all the new romantic interests throughout the play.
Modern understanding of adolescence helps the plot when Juliet rebels against her parents by marrying Romeo. In the article “How Shakespeare Invented Teenagers” from The New York Times the author explains that “the most important feature of adolescent rebellion is that it’s doomed” which is why when Romeo “slew Tybalt” (Shakespeare 3.1. 178). This act was out of rebellion towards the prince and to avenge his best friend who was killed by Tybalt which Romeo then killed. In Juliet's case, she was rebelling against her parents and her family by falling in love with a Montague.
