Romeo And Juliet

Jeremy Gilbride 2/7/08

Romeo And Juliet, Teenage Drama At Its Peak

Shakesphere's The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is a perfect example of teenage personality traits. The dramatic behavior was all typical of teenagers except for the fact that most of the people in this story died, but more often then not the people involved in real life teenage drama don't die. The teenage personality traits that fueled this drama and therefore the plot were most clearly portrayed through the characters Tybalt, Romeo and Juliet.

Tybalt was one character which had many teenage personality traits. One personality trait was that he was judgmental. An example of one time Tybalt was judgmental was when Romeo was trying to pay him a complement and avoid a fight when they met in the street, but despite Romeo's kindness, Tybalt takes his complements as insults due to the long standing vendetta between his and Romeo's families. This is typical teenage behavior because modern teenagers will also hold a grudge and ignore whatever another person says no matter how kind it is like Tybalt did. Another teenage personality trait of Tybalt's is the urge for violence. One example of him acting this was when he killed Mercutio and then came back to try to kill Romeo. This is typical teenage behavior to the extreme, because more often then not, teenagers wont kill each other, but wish to punish their enemies by violent means. A final teenage trait is that he is aggressive. Once he was aggressive when he saw Romeo at the party. He thought “What, dares he slave Come hither, covered with an antic face / To fleer and scorn at our solemnity? / Now by the stock and honour of my kin, / To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.” (i,iv,5357) Teenagers are aggressive because they want to act cool, show that they are the best and can have things their way.

Romeo also expressed many personality traits of a teenager. One of these was that he was a rather rash individual. One rather rash decision he made was when he married Juliet after knowing her for all of 2 days. This was rash because he met her at a party, claimed they were in love, and married her despite that fact that she was the daughter of his mortal enemies. Another teenage personality trait Romeo exhibits is that he is vengeful. He is vengeful when he kills Tybalt because Tybalt had killed his friend Mercutio. Revenge is such a part of his personality that his anger is enough to kill Tybalt despite the fact that Tybalt is Juliet's cousin and a murderer is often killed for taking the life of another person even if that person is also a murderer. A final teenage trait of Romeo's is that he is a bit of a cry baby. He is a crybaby when he runs to hide with the friar and is sulking and complaining because the Prince exiled him. According to the friar, it is understandable to be sad, but where the penalty is normally death, it is more of a blessing to be exiled.

Juliet also displayed common teenage personality traits. One of her teenage personality traits is that she, like Romeo, is rash. She was rash when she foolishly rushed into her marriage with Romeo after only having met him for 2 or so days. This is rash because she knew Romeo was the son of her mortal enemies, and that her parents had already chosen a husband for her and that she had gone against what they said. She is also a risk taker. She took a risk when she fakes her death with the friar's potion. It was risky because the potion could have killed her, she could have woken up too late and died locked into the tomb, or she could have woken up too early and be forced to marry Paris. Despite being rash and a risktaker, she was however one of the few teenagers that are truly loyal. She was loyal to Romeo by trying every way she could to get out of marrying Paris, and she was also loyal when she killed herself over the loss of Romeo. Her suicide over Romeo's loss was loyal because it showed for her there was no life without Romeo, and getting out of marrying Paris shows that she cares more about Romeo than her parents intentions and her pre-planned future.

All personality traits mentioned prior were, and are still common amongst teens all over the world. There is just something about the the teenage stage of development that makes us act similarly. Teenagers all over the world are violent, rash, aggressive, judgmental and loyal amongst many other personality traits. These traits allow people who live in the modern era, and will allow even the people in the future to draw connections to the characters in the story, and therefore has kept and will continue to keep The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet popular throughout the ages.