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Compare And Contrast Teenagers In Romeo And Juliet

Decent Essays

In the story of Romeo and Juliet, are there possible similarities from today's world to the time period in the book? When you read Shakespeare’s story, you discover how much teenagers then remind you of today’s teens. Teenagers from both these time periods seem to have a lot in common. It is surprising how strongly the behavior of Romeo and Juliet and their friends parallels the way today’s teens handle relationships and deal with situations. One way they are similar is how teens in the story and teens today can be so dramatic. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is extremely distraught over his breakup with Rosaline. He was depressed and crying, went for long walks in the woods, and would come home to a darkened room where he would sit alone and be miserable all day! Similarly, I have known teenagers who have cried for several days and couldn’t shake their sadness simply because the person they were interested in dating did not have the same interest in them. These examples prove that the way teenagers handle things that should be so simple to get over, in both time periods, is actually very dramatic.
As well as this, another characteristic of teenagers is how impulsive they can be. In the story, Romeo is completely lovesick, devastated, and depressed. It amazes me how he can barely function until he suddenly takes one look at Juliet, and he then immediately gets over his love of Rosaline! As well as this, Tybalt is impulsive when he decides he is going to go kill Romeo at the party simply because Romeo is a Montague, not because of anything he has done. In like manner to this, today’s teenagers can also be reckless like this. We may decide to go to a movie without getting permission or money. We may hop in the car and go to get fast food only to discover we have no money in our wallet when we get to the restaurant. We may make a comment on an Instagram post without thinking about how our words might affect someone. All of these examples prove that teens in either time period did not think most times and just acted on first thought.
Yet another similar characteristic of Shakespeare’s teenagers and today’s minors is their tendency to be rebellious. Romeo and Juliet were not even supposed to talk to each other

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