Teenage Brain In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

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Felipe Schapinsky Da Rocha Ms. Frisch/Mrs.Smith 9th grade lit 26 April 2024. The Teenage Brain According to Romeo and Juliet, the modern idea of the teenage brain is a complex and chaotic concept that scientists even today still try to understand. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, in addition to being a tragic love story, remains a poignant study of the impulsivity and chaos of teenage years. Utilizing modern neurological and psychological knowledge, explores the play as a depiction of how we understand teenagers today. The main teenage characters, Romeo and Juliet, share the most common teenage behavior characteristics, such as fast changes of love, impulsive decision-making, and extreme emotions. As modern science explains that the …show more content…

When Romeo comes to the realization of the grim reality of what had happened to his best friend, his emotion changes to “Mercutio’s soul is but a little way above our heads, staying for thine to keep him company. Either thou, or I, or both must go with him”(Shakespeare 3.1.122-125). This portrays the impulsive and emotionally uncontrolled nature of adolescent conflicts, which resulted in the deaths of Mercutio and later Tybalt. The insights of Elizabeth Schafer on violence in youth further enlighten this scene, arguing that "violence committed by children and teenagers, is sparked by an event that upsets or enrages the victimizer"(Schafer,6).The anger of Tybalt at the series of insults that Mercutio hurled at him is sparked by already heightened emotions, and Tybalt being quick to anger, Schafer's observation that violence in youth is frequently triggered by upsetting events. The fight between Romeo and Tybalt symbolizes the big tensions and conflict between the Capulets and Montagues, which portrays the capture of how Romeo, driven by grief and anger by the killing of his best friend Mercutio, took an act of revenge by killing Tybalt as well. It also brings out the impulsiveness and emotionally charged conduct that is often found in the interactions of adolescents today. Romeo and Tybalt's ending also throws light on the pathological results of adolescent impulsivity and aggression, reminding one of the delicate balance between the youthful spirit and the harsh realities of adulthood. Rereading through the lens of modern knowledge, Romeo and Juliet become timeless representations of the complexities of youth experiences, love, and conflict coined in the tumultuous journey of

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