Coming of Age - Changes and Challenges as Everyone Grows Up. It is a part of life. However, many people underestimate the impact coming of age can have and the importance of teenage years. Adolescence is the stage of coming of age. It is when one grows up, gains responsibility and independence, and becomes their own person. During this crucial stage of life, there are many changes, including changing perceptions of one’s parents and experiencing love. Christopher Boone, the main character in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, written by Mark Haddon, is an example of a character whose parental perceptions change as he grows up. Additionally, in Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, we see Juliet’s first and last love …show more content…
Changing parental perceptions is when one’s frame of mind regarding one’s parents changes in either a negative or positive way. In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon, a fifteen-year-old boy, Christopher Boone, uncovers secrets about his family that drastically alter his perception of his parents. Christopher always saw the world in black and white. Things are one way or another with no in-betweens. He believed that all people acted honestly, which crushed his world when he learned there was such a thing as lies. A year before the story, Christopher learned of the death of his mother, leaving him alone with his father. Christopher had no reason to question this information until he discovered hidden letters in his father’s bedroom written by his mother, dated after her supposed death. Not only was his mother alive, but she left not due to death, but due to an affair with another man. This caused him to question the reality and the truth of his father’s words, altering his perception of his parents. The moment Christopher uncovers the letters and …show more content…
In Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, we feel the power of one’s first love through Juliet, a young woman who falls in love with a stranger. The two of them meet at a party and when they see each other, it is love at first sight. Without even knowing who the other one is, they fall in love, however, their excitement is short-lived when they discover that the one to whom they are destined belongs to the family with which they have an ongoing feud. Previously, although not desired, Juliet had pondered what it would be like to be in love. Often the thought was that marriage came first and love came after, however, all of this is forgotten when she sets her eyes on Romeo. Seeing Romeo for the first time and falling in love with him is nothing like what Juliet had imagined, showing her inexperience with those feelings. As their affection and intimacy progress, the two of them find they could never live without the other, so when Romeo is banished, searches for a way to stay with him. She speaks to her Friar and says, “I long to die,” (Shakespear 212). The Friar helps her create a plan to fake her death to escape and be with Romeo, however, the plan quickly backfires and when Romeo comes to save her, he thinks her dead and kills himself. When Juliet wakes up, seeing her love dead, she kills herself to be with him. Learning of a love so powerful that one would rather die than live
This is explored through the characters of both lovers, Romeo and Juliet. Near the end of the play, Juliet drinks a potion to make her appear dead to her parents and get her out of an unwanted arranged marriage to a man named Paris. Once her parents would find her dead and place in a tomb with her ancestors, her other lover, Romeo, would get her and they would elope together. However because of miscommunication, Romeo was not aware of this plan and he heard that Juliet had died from someone else. Because of this he goes to see her and decides to kill himself, but after seeing her “dead” body for closure. When Romeo thinks Juliet is dead, he immediately resorts to suicide without once thinking about any other possibilities or considering a life without her. This quick conclusion leads to the unnecessary death of Paris, who also came to meet Juliet, and Romeo, himself, which then leads to Juliet killing herself. Before Romeo drinks poison and commits suicide, he says “Here’s to my love! (drinks the poison) O true apothecary,Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” This rash and hasty decision, had it been put off for a minute or so would have resulted in Juliet awakening and the couple living together, which was their goal. However, Romeo’s impetuosity results in an unhappy and tragic end to him, his wife and his wife’s other lover. This
One of the forms of love Shakespeare indicates is unrequited love. Romeo has fallen deep in love with Rosaline, but he is, “out of her favor where [he] is in love”(Shakespeare.I.i.173). Unrequited love is love that is not returned or reciprocated. Romeo is madly in love with Rosaline who does not love him back. This unrequited love has given dread to Romeo, he feels like he cannot love anyone else again. As a hopeless romantic, Romeo loves the idea of love, but the love he is experiencing is pain through his heart. He realizes that, “love, whose view is muffled still,/ Should without eyes see pathways to his will”(I.i.175-177). Since Romeo has only been surrounded by hate he always tries to look for love. And when he found love he never thought that it would be so painful. He mentions that love is supposed to be blind, but it can still make one do whatever it wants. His feelings towards love causes him to think that love is worthless. Although Rosaline does not love Romeo back, her reason is not that she is stubborn. Rosaline cannot, “be hit/ With Cupid’s arrow. She hath Dian’s wit,/ And, in strong proof of chastit...
At a young age individuals tend to react impulsively when they lose someone they love, choosing instead to take their own lives to relieve the suffering. Romeo and Juliet is a play about two teens that quickly fall in love. When threatened to be separated forever, the thought of losing each other becomes overwhelming and suicidal thoughts produced there in their minds, ending tragically in both Romeo and Juliet losing their lives. In Romeo and Juliet, playwright William Shakespeare has shown the theme of impulse of young love successfully by using dramatic irony, creative foreshadowing, and situational irony.
Love is a wonderful curse that forces us to do unexplainable things. Romeo and Juliet is a famous play written by William Shakespeare, who does an exceptional job in showing the readers what hate, mercy, death, courage, and most importantly what love looks like. This play is about two star-crossed lovers who are both willing to sacrifice their lives just to be with one another. Unfortunately tragedy falls upon the unconditional love Romeo and Juliet have for each other, but along the way they experience immeasurable forgiveness and extraordinary braveness just to be with one another. Sadly enough, love is a cause of violence in the end. Even though the pair spends less time together, it is enough for them to fall in love. It is clearly true
For example, after finding out that Romeo is a Montague, Juliet says, “My only love, sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me That I must love a loathed enemy” (I, v, 136-139). Juliet acted too fast and fell in love with someone that is an enemy of her family. When Juliet says, “Too early seen unknown, and known too late”, she means that she fell in love with Romeo without knowing who he was. The most logical conclusion we can draw from this is that their relationship was moving so quickly that Juliet had already kissed Romeo and fallen in love with him before even knowing his identity. Their choice of proceeding with their relationship so quickly is one of the reasons that led to Romeo and Juliet dying. Additionally, when Romeo and Juliet were talking to each other on the balcony by the orchard, Juliet asked, “What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?” (II, ii, 126), and Romeo responded, “The exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine” (II, ii, 127). The fact that after only kissing each other once, and talking for a brief amount of time, Romeo and Juliet want to get married, illustrates that their free will and decision making got them killed. Since their families are enemies, it was an obviously terrible choice for Romeo and Juliet to get married. The choice to get married this early in a relationship definitely played a big role in the tragic deaths of Romeo and
The foundation of Romeo and Juliet’s love is built upon quicksand, which is destined to fall and fail. Romeo, at the beginning when he has lost the love of Rosaline, shows how anguished he is and how deep he sinks into depression. He says to Mercutio, “I am too sore enpierced with his shaft, to soar with his light feathers, and so bound I cannot bound a pitch about dull woe. Under love’s heavy burden do I sink” (1. 4. 19). The extreme pain described by Romeo himself, however, is soothed in no time; no sooner does he sees Juliet than he forgets about the pain of losing Rosaline and madly falls in love again. Romeo altered from depression to elation in one day, from love at the first sight to making love in just one day, from love to marriage in one day. The question of how much Romeo knows about love can be legitimately raised by any reader. As for Juliet, she is not too far away. She constantly compares their love with “heaven,” to justify her desire, even she just met Romeo a few hours ago. She declares, “And he will make the face of heaven so fine/ That all the world will be in love with night/ And pay no worship to the garish sun” (3. 2. 25). But, how she could justify this kind of love in one day seems puzzling and incomprehensible. Furthermore, both of them are, despite their elegant and sophisticated speeches, so impulsive that they become problems devisors, not solvers. When they encounter reality, they choose committing suicide instead of legitimately solving them. All in all, they are just typical teenagers who mess up the concept of “love” and bu...
Romeo believes that he needs to kill himself to be with his true love: "I set up my everlasting rest, And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars From this world-wearied flesh...Here’s to my love! [Drinks] O, true apothecary!Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss, I die" (page ). Romeo needs to be with Juliet because of his deep love for her, his desire to be with her leads him to kill himself. Romeo’s decision to end his life has a disastrous impact on his family and Juliet's, this destruction directly leads to two more deaths. After Romeo has ended his life Juliet awakens and sees Romeo’s dead body. This causes the young teenager to take on a course of action similar to her love's believing that it is the only way to be with him, " O happy dagger![Snatching ROMEO’s dagger]This is thy sheath; [Stabs herself] there rust, and let me die. [Falls on ROMEO’s body, and dies]" Juliet is eager to end her life and considers it to be the best and only option to maintain her love. Although she considers death the best option it leads to a disastrous impact on her family (once again) and Friar Lawrence the one who helps her to stage her fake
Love is an overpowering force that takes over the importance of many things. In Romeo and Juliet, the lovers have to defy what surrounds them in order to be with each other. During the party at the Capulet’s house, where Romeo and Juliet encounter with a passionate love at first sight, Romeo abandons Mercutio and Benvolio after the feast to go see Juliet. He is wandering aimlessly around the Capulet backyard and he sees her in the balcony. While Romeo looks at her and describes how beautiful she is, Juliet does not know that Romeo is there listening to what she is saying. When they met at the party, it seemed that Juliet did not fall in love instantly, however when she speaks to herself in the balcony, she demonstrates the intense love that she felt for Romeo because she says that she will “no longer be a Capulet” (II, ii, 36). Although the family feud is the obstacle of Romeo and Juliet’s love, she is willing to give up their families in order to be together. The names Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet do not matter to her. She tells Romeo to forget that he is a Montague because the only thing that she cares about is their love. Since their love is so powerful, they will do whatever it takes to be with each other. Not only they will give up their families to be together, but they will also die together. When Romeo finds Ju...
In Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Haddon intertwines Christopher’s ambition to be independent with Ed’s secretive mannerism to exhibit the character’s psychological and emotional development. As Christopher Boone develops with his coming-of-age, Ed Boone’s character is unraveled. Throughout the novel, Christopher becomes increasingly self-sufficient through two main events: his investigation of Wellington’s murder and expedition to seek his mother. Christopher’s desire to find out who murdered Wellington leads to various new interactions and experiences which allow him to break the confinement of his autism. Christopher’s investigation also reveals that Ed may not
Juliet’s weakness to be controlled by love leads her to make unadvised and irresponsible decisions that contribute to her choice of ending her life. Characterized as a young and rash teenager, with no interest in love and marriage at first, Juliet wants to be independent. However, after she first lays eyes on Romeo, Juliet’s perception of love is quick to change. Their strong love easily manipulates and clouds her judgment. Even if she is cautious and realizes their love is too fast, the rush of feelings from having a first love overcomes her. Her soft-spoken words symbolically foreshadow the journey of Romeo and Juliet’s love. “Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee, / I have no joy of this contract tonight. / It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;…/ This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath, / May prove to be a beauteous flower when next we meet” (2.2. 117-123). The blooming flower is indicative of their growing love, especially Juliet. Being her first experience of true love, her actions become more rash the deeper she falls in, even ...
When in love with someone you have an intense emotional connection and you feel like you would do anything for them, then if that loved one dies you feel a terrible sadness. In Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet, the ‘death’ of Juliet hit Romeo like a train. He aggressively reacts to the news of her ‘passing’ and his sudden acts change both their lives, before she fakes her death he eagerly throws himself into the relationship without out thinking of the risk, also Romeo is so in love with Juliet he is stubborn and ignores the advice his friends and mentors give him, and finally Romeo again jumps to conclusions very quickly, he buys poison to kill himself immediately. Romeo is the Hero with a fatal flaw he falls in love in the blink of an eye,
Juliet’s excessive desperation advances death in Romeo and Juliet After Juliet wakes up from her death, she sees Romeo’s dead corpse, and tries to kiss her way to death by poison, however, it fails. Juliet is so desperate to be with Romeo that she stabs herself with Romeo’s dagger and falls. In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, is about two star-crossed lovers in the depths of forbidden love, despite a family feud between their two families; the Montagues and Capulets. The theme of Death develops as Juliet’s desperation grows to be with Romeo and her blinding love progresses her closer to death.
Romeo and Juliet’s young love reflects their abruptness, rashness, and lack of maturity which leads to them getting suicide impulses throughout the story and causing Romeo and Juliet to ultimately suicide at the end of the story. Their love causes them to act very rashly and make unwise decisions, such as getting married and killing themselves. They are also too young to love because they are not mature enough. Their lack of maturity influences their decisions, leading to them finding abrupt solutions, such as suicide. After Balthasar told Romeo that Juliet died, he proclaimed, “I do beseech you, sir, have patience/Your looks are pale and wild do import/ Some misadventure” (5.1.27-29). Once Balthasar delivers the tragic news of Juliet’s death to Romeo, Romeo makes a rash decision of going back to Verona, not thinking about the consequences of his act, which would lead to more complications, such as him being...
In Romeo and Juliet there is a recurring theme of haste, which leads to a plethora of problems. Juliet was undecided on whether she would marry Romeo but then Juliet reviewed her options and chose to marry Romeo.. “(Juliet)’If your intentions as a lover are truly honorable and/you want to marry me, send me word tomorrow.’” (Shakespeare 2.2.144-145) Love can change someone's perspective in a matter of minutes. That perspective all depends on the events prior to the sudden change. In Romeo's haste he kills himself over Juliet because he thinks he doesn’t have anymore options now that his true love is dead.“‘Here’s to my love!’ ROMEO drinks the poison.” Being in love can cause people to think irrationally and therefore ruin what they once had. Love isn’t always brought up to be a fairy tale because most of the time it will end up with someone getting hurt emotionally or
A young girl, like Juliet can be mesmerized by the idea of love and have the thought in her head that love is all that matters. The intensity of love in both of these texts becomes a dangerous and violent thing. Juliet goes through physical pain stabbing herself so she could be with Romeo after his death. Juliet looks at death as a positive thing because it allows her to be with Romeo again. Before she kills herself she says, “O, happy dagger, this is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die” (Shakespeare V.iii.174-175). In most romantic tales, violence is the last thing you would think of when it comes to love, but it would be different in this play. In both of these texts we see love destroy people mentally and physically; instead of bring happiness to their lives. When Juliet notices that Romeo drank poison and had killed himself, she was not only upset about his death but also seemed more upset that he “left no friendly drop to help me after! I will kiss thy lips. Haply some poison yet doth hang on them” (Shakespeare V.iii.168-170). This bond that seems to be unbreakable between them causes more harm than it would have if they were not together like society would want them to be. During this time period in the 16th century, the parents usually arranged marriages, so this goes completely against societal