Many parents or adults wonder why adolescents act the way they do and want answers as to why. Numerous of these actions adolescents make are because of the prefrontal cortex(PFC). The PFC isn’t developed until the mid 20s which causes teenagers to lack on seeing the consequences before they make a risky or impulsive decision. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, he illustrates that adolescents show impulsivity, decision making, and risk taking. Firstly, in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, he illustrates that adolescents show impulsivity. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet , Juliet cries “ Give me, give me ! O, tell me not of fear”(4.1.124). This illustrates that Juliet isn’t taking into …show more content…
For example in the article titled “ Why are Teen Brains Designed for Risk-taking?” author named Nina Mounts explains that “ people often believe that teens engage in risky behavior because they are not very good at evaluating risk”(Mounts,1). In other words, teenagers make many risky decisions because they don’t know what’s going to happen once they make a certain choice. Romeo let his emotions get to him and didn’t think the consequences through, which is why he decided to marry Juliet. It’s very common for teenagers to let their emotions blind them from seeing the consequences that will occur after they made a risky decision. Moreover, in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, he illustrates that adolescents show decision making. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet , Juliet states “or true to my heart with treacherous revolt turn to another, this shall stay them both”(3.1.59-60). This rationalizes Juliet’s decision by saying she can’t betray her heart, which she has already given to Romeo by giving it to Pairs and believes killing herself will resolve the issue. Juliet’s decision making in this scene was based on how she couldn’t betray Romeo. Many teenagers are impulsive because they are not fully developed for example in the article titled “ Why Are Teens So Moody And Impulsive” author Carolyn Gregoire reveals “ the brain is developing until the mid-20s”(Gregoire,1). In other words,
If you know William Shakespeare you know the play “ The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”, a tragic story that proves that love makes teens do crazy things. I have found evidence that teens make lots of risky discussions. Parents also affect the way teens act based on how they treat the kids. This story has many people wondering if they treat their kids bad how will the outcome turn out.
The court said that because of their youth, their brains are less developed, they are more impulsive, more subject to peer pressure and less able to see the consequences of their actions. Researchers have started to look into the development of the brain from the ages of 3 to 20 years old. Brain research by Thompson and others suggests that teenagers are unformed, less mature and less resistant to peer pressure than adults are. According to Thompson’s research, “gray matter, which brain researchers believe supports all our thinking and emotions, is purged at a rate of 1 percent to 2 percent a year” (89). He also states that, “these frontal lobes, which inhibit our violent passions, rash actions, and regulate our emotions, are vastly immature throughout the teenage years” (89). Teens do know what they have done and they are capable of understanding right from wrong but their brains aren’t developed enough to make fully mature decisions.
Juliet expressed her love for Romeo by stating “My only love sprung from my only hate.” In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, there are many examples in which the main characters show lack of common sense. Romeo and Juliet were from two houses that had a fued, yet they managed to find love in the desperate of times. The play was based around the tragic, yet romantic, story of the forbidden star-crossed lover. However, some of the impulsive choices made throughout the play question whether what Romeo and Juliet had was love or lust. Many studies although have proved that the lack of common knowledge is because of the undeveloped brain. With this, scientists have dug deeper and found out that the reward system for adolescents is highly superior to the risk factor. Knowing this valuable information, some may conclude that the decisions made in the play might have
Many teenagers make bad decisions, and act in a way most adult would say is unintelligent. Romeo and Juliet was a story about two feuding families with the same wealth living in Verona. After a big fight Prince Escalus tells them that if there is another fight they will be killed. Later that night Romeo meets Juliet at her father’s party and they both fall in love, after the party Romeo talks with Juliet about getting married and she agrees to have the wedding the very next day. After the wedding the two families get into another fight. Due to the fight Mercutio and Tybalt gets killed. Romeo who was also fighting was sentenced to banishment even
I gather this because evidence has been shown that teenager’s brains are impetuous and impulsive. In the article “Teenage Brains are Malleable and Vulnerable, Researchers Say”, by Jon Hamilton, readers can see that in paragraph 4 it states, “studies suggest that adolescent brains are ‘wired’ to engage in risky behavior”. These activities include drugs, unsafe sex, and drinking. Obviously, teenagers are drawn towards these acts while knowing that they are morally and ethically wrong. In “Romeo and Juliet”, the readers see actions of “love” between the two star-crossed soulmates. The audience
The article “Emerging Brain Science Unlocks the Secrets to the Puzzling Teenager” by Lindsey Layton states that the prefrontal cortex “...is not yet connected to the region of the brain that seeks pleasure and reward.” This shows that the poor sense of judgement is a result of a teenager’s need to seek out big rewards. They let this need become the driving force behind their decisions. Francis Jensen, a neuroscientist and psychiatrist quoted in the article, states that the teenage brain is “...like a Ferrari without brakes.” A Ferrari is a very fast car, so a lack of brakes would lead to an absolute disaster. Jensen is trying to say that the brain that the adolescent brain is constantly thinking of new things, but it hardly ever stops to properly analyze a thought. For example, in “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” after Romeo is banished, Juliet threatens to kill herself because she believes that she won’t be able to see her husband ever again “But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed. Come, cords, come nurse; I’ll to my wedding-bed; and death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead!” (3:2: 135-137). Juliet doesn’t think of the effect that this will have on the rest of her family, but she’s willing to go through with it because she’s only thinking about Romeo and herself. She believes that killing herself will get rid of the pain that Romeo’s banishment is causing her. Juliet is unaware that
The article “Inside the Teen Brain’ by Marty Wolner, states that the human brain provides parents with shocking new evidence to possibly explain the sometimes irrational, illogical, and impulsive behavior of teenagers. Teenage years are radically more active and dynamic than they previously thought. So teenagers are left with most of the information reaching their brains being processed in the emotional part (limbic system). Information processed in the limbic system without benefit increases the processing in the prefrontal cortex. It may result in impulsive, egocentric, and maybe even risky behavior choices. The prefrontal cortex of the teenage brain does not excuse inappropriate or irresponsible behavior from the teen. The brain is not yet
When it comes to the teenage brain it’s obvious that they aren’t fully developed. According to Frances Jensen “a mother, author and neurologist” (83), a teenager is missing the frontal and prefrontal lobes of the brain in which adults possess. “The frontal lobes are the seat of what’s sometimes called the brains executive function and is responsible for planning, for self-awareness, and for judgement” (84). Being that a teenager lacks planning, self-awareness and judgement due to a missing brain function, they are subject to not thinking and being aware of circumstances in a difficult situation. For example, Kolbert states that her adolescent sons participate in a “fun pastime known as a ‘case race’” (83). A case race is when “participants form two
Lack of maturity can cause people to make bad decisions that affect them and everyone around them. In Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, a story about two star-crossed lovers, the main character, Romeo, is very impulsive and juvenile, which leads to both his and others death in the end. Personal traits define characters and can lead to their downfall.
They’re parodied, sometimes even demonized in the media for their type of typical teenage behavior. They take risks, they’re sometimes moody, they’re very self-conscious.” (Doc A). The intellect of teens is evidently the reason for Romeo and Juliet taking all the risks. As they both were still teens, they more willingly took risks to spend as much time with each other as possible, which resulted in their deaths. However, they were both self-conscious as Blakemore said as they knew when to separate and leave or when to kiss or not kiss. Furthermore, they both may have committed suicide as a result of going into depression because initially, Romeo thought Juliet was dead and ended up drinking the poison. Later on, Juliet had woken up and realized Romeo had killed himself which brought her into a state of depression and ended up stabbing herself. Furthermore, Blakemore mentions that students are more likely to take risks when compared to mature adults: “We know that adolescents have a tendency to take risks. They do.
It turns out that the development of the brain through a teenagers life, greatly impacts the way they react to situations and the choices they make, whether it be good or bad. For example, when Romeo and Juliet fell in love, they didn’t exactly stop to think if the consequences would be bad or not, most logically explained by the ongoing development of the brain. Romeo and Juliet must have been using the amygdala, the part of the brain that is responsible for guiding instinctive reactions, to substitute as the prefrontal cortex, which would fundamentally describe Romeo and Juliet's behavior and why they decided to get married way to early. The development of the brain gives the brain no choice but to process information through a different part of the brain called the amygdala. The amygdala definitely helps to substitute for the prefrontal cortex, however it can also be responsible for reacting to a situation without thinking of the outcomes, which is why teengers, like Romeo and Juliet, sometimes make negligent and careless alternatives, which end up in bad consequences. The author of an article noting the development of teen brains explains how “[e]ven though the brain [of a teenager] is almost physically mature, the grey matter in the thinking part of the brain (pre-frontal cortex) is still making
In William Shakespeare's play “Romeo and Juliet”, a tragedy, two young star-crossed lovers marry and set in stone, a course of bad decisions, which leads to their untimely death. Romeo a Montague and Juliet a Capulet are part of two feuding families, who against their parents wishes marry and with their death, end their parents feud. Throughout the play these two teenagers make irrational decisions leading to their death, which can be explained through scientific data collected by studies on teenage brains and sleep deprivation. Teenage brains are underdeveloped until the age of 25 causing teenagers to act without thinking and lack of sleep leads to teenagers reacting negatively to news. Romeos irrational actions of killing Tybalt and
Teenagers often get blamed for being impulsive but in actuality they’re not the only ones. Adults can be just as impulsive and sometimes more. In Romeo and Juliet, even though the adults make irrational and impulsive decisions, Romeo and Juliet are always the ones that are blamed for being impulsive. Hardly anyone stops to think about how impulsive the adults are, or where Romeo and Juliet get their impulsive instincts. Romeo and Juliet weren’t the only impulsive characters in the play; the impulsivity of characters like The Prince, Lord Capulet, and The Friar play a big role in the play.
“Sometimes it's a good idea to think about what you want from a situation, and try to get it, rather than just blurt out the first thing that comes into your head.” (Lockhart). This situation happens to people much too often, especially to teens. Although many teenagers are considered adults, Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet and contemporary societal examples demonstrate that, instead, teenagers too often make impulsive decisions without always thinking about the consequences that follow up. But why do teens make these impulsive decisions than any other age group?
Teenagers. People find them to be crazy just by looking at the way they dress and act. In modern days, they dress with pop culture and most of the time, it’s provocative, but it is what all of their peers are wearing. They act in the craziest way, from “hooking up with strangers, [to] jumping from high places into shallow pools, [to] … steering a car with … [their] knees” (83) it is a wonder that they grow up to become “civilized, intelligent adults” (83). In Elizabeth Kolbert’s “The Terrible Teens,” she asserts that teenagers take risks because of their brains. Teenagers are known for making impulsive decisions that may lead to tragic events. Kolbert believes that teenagers make rash decisions because their frontal lobes are immature, nucleus