Decision Making In Romeo And Juliet

In the tragic play “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare, Why do the teenagers make poor choices,is it because of their adolescent brain that is still developing? Sarah Jayne Blakemore’s thesis on adolescent development sheds light on some of the decision making in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” ,as characters certainly face unpredictable mood swings, self consciousness, and impulse control issues Blakemore’s research describes. These adolescent decisions resulted in the death of six people. The characters in Romeo and Juliet had violent mood swings that caused them to make irrational decisions. Romeo killed Paris for getting in the way,even though he didn’t deserve it. For example,Romeo should have calmed down, took a deep breath and thought of any consequences or punishments from the king before he killed Paris, not to mention Tybalt tries to kill Romeo for suspicion of talking bad about him and the Capulet household. For example Tybalt said “Come hither, covered with an antic face, Now, To fleer and
scorn at our solemnity?”(p.1048).Tybalt could have settled the situation by talking to him about the problem but he decided to kill Mercutio for getting in the way with an unexpected blow, which resulted in him getting killed by Romeo. The characters’ self consciousness caused them to not even be open minded to anybody else’s help or advice. Romeo would avoid people by hiding in his room with the lights off or hid in the woods.For example Benvolio said “Towards him I made, but he was ware of me And stole into the covert of the woods” (p.997).If Romeo would have received help from from somebody and had someone to talk to, he probably would have been influenced to make some better decisions than the ones he made. Additionally, Juliet kills herself right after Romeo drinks the poison. Juliet could’ve prevented her suicide by interpreting that there are other people out there that could “love” her as much as Romeo, or possibly even more.Instead of drinking the poison she could’ve ran away or asked for advice or help from an adult. Romeo and Juliet’s impulse control issues resulted in their deaths at the end of the play.
Romeo killed Tybalt for killing Mercutio. Romeo should have stopped himself from killing Tybalt, thought of the consequences of killing Tybalt, and told the Prince about the incident.If Romeo didn’t kill Tybalt he would’ve never been banished, then his mother wouldn’t have died over her depression, and Juliet would’ve never drank the poison.Therefore, the court or law would’ve handled the situation with Tybalt sooner or later if Romeo didn’t kill him. For example Romeo said “...That late thou gavest me, for Mercutio’s soul...Either thou or I,or both,must go with him.”(p.1048), Romeo should’ve never thought about anyone’s death in the first place and went for help instead .In addition, Romeo and Juliet kept their marriage a secret.If they had tried to show their parents who they were in love with, maybe their parents would have accepted that they were seeing each
other. In conclusion,Sarah Jayne Blakemore’s thesis on adolescent growth draws attention to some of the decisions made by characters that certainly faced unpredictable mood swings, self consciousness and impulse control issues. Due to these adolescent situations, the characters in the play made irrational,close minded decisions and many deaths resulted. Therefore,Blakemore’s research and Romeo and Juliet’s tragedy play can help modern day families and communities because these sources can relate to teens or any adult that associates with teens on a daily basis.