William Shakespeare is an extraordinarily famous poet that almost everyone on Earth has heard about him; however, his fame is not only because of his writing style and his stories’ plots but also because of the deep messages conveyed by those stories. Shakespeare’s most outstanding tragedy play is Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is about two star-crossed lovers from two different rich families that have a feud. They were determined to get married and leave their family. However, their plan failed because of some uncontrollable factors, and eventually, both of them died of their love for each other. Even though love is a really powerful emotion that can overrule everything for everyone, people of different ages still react differently when they deal with love.

When issues involve the rich family’s feud, it gets really complicated. Additionally, teenagers tend to be more impulsive when it comes to big decisions in their life. When Juliet secretly meets Romeo on her balcony in the most romantic scene of the play, she confides in Romeo about her true feeling about how much she loves him. She says: "Deny thy father and refuse thy name; / Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, / And I'll no longer be a Capulet" (Romeo and Juliet Act 2.2.881-883). In other words, Juliet means that she can change her name in order to be with Romeo if he doesn’t want to do it. Family is a big part of everyone’s life, and it is not an easy decision to leave the family that you’re with for fourteen years. However, Juliet rashly speaks this to Romeo, wanting to prove to him that her heart is on him. This could cause other serious problems while only solving the single problem, which is that they couldn’t be together. Not only does Shakespeare know how teenagers would react to love hundreds of years earlier, but scientists today also do research that shows the reasons why teenagers react this way. Jon Horvitx, a neurobiologist at the City College of New York, reviews a study conducted by Kristina Caudle, a neuroscientist at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. In this study, people ages ranging from 6 to 29 are shown with faces making either neutral or threatening expressions. With the results, Horvitx says, "This work strongly suggests that the teenage brain is highly impulsive in the face of threat and points to unusual vmPFC activity as a possible biological underpinning" (qtd in Underwood). This reinforces the idea of the high impulsivity of teenage brains, especially in threatening situations. In Romeo and Juliet’s minds, the feud between the two families is the threat to their love; therefore, they have to find a solution that compromises both sides as soon as possible. As a result, they chose to avoid facing the conflict directly and decided to run away. As shown above, big turning points in life sometimes do make teenagers be impetuous so that they can find a quick fix. 

In the same situation, which is when countering life-changing decisions, adults are more likely to have or suggest others to have more thorough considerations. When Romeo first confesses to Friar Laurence that he’s in love with Juliet, daughter of the rich Capulet, and wants to marry her, Friar Laurence isn’t surprised or doesn’t even notice the family feud at first. Instead, he asks Romeo for confirmation since he thinks it is so soon after Romeo’s desperation for Rosaline not to marry him. “So soon forsaken? Young men's love then lies / Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes" (Romeo and Juliet Act 2.3.1127-1128). Friar Laurence first questions Romeo’s statement and then tells him a cruel truth that young men love someone because of their looks, not their personalities. This portrays the experience of Friar Laurence seeing so many lovers being happily together but ends differently. It also reflects his thorough thinking by convincing Romeo to be more careful with this since getting married is not something to joke with. Friar Laurence gives lots of real, reasonable, but cruel advice, such as the advice of waiting for their marriage, to Romeo, who normally fantasizes the adversities. When Romeo tells Friar Laurence that he can overcome any obstacles and face any challenges with Juliet’s companionship, Friar Laurence does it again and tells him how the world actually works: “These violent delights have violent ends” (Romeo and Juliet Act 2.6.1468). “Therefore love moderately: long love doth so;" (Romeo and Juliet Act 2.6.1472). In other words, things that come quickly will also go quickly, so Friar Laurence improvises that Romeo can’t suddenly be too passionate about his love for Juliet and ignores everything else. This again illustrates Friar Laurence’s wiseness and shows how much knowledge his experiences brought him. Friar Laurence, as an adult, has a completely different standpoint from Romeo and Juliet in this situation. Thus, he has a completely different response to the issue, showing the responsibility an adult should have.

The contrast between Friar Laurence’s reactions and Romeo and Juliet’s reactions shows the difference between adults and teenagers and how teenagers are easier to be impulsive in the same situations.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Open Source Shakespeare, 

opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/playmenu.php?WorkID=romeojuliet

Underwood, Emily. “Why Teengers Are So Impulsive.” Developmental Neuroscience. 11 November, 2013.