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I'm another for the love category. As a writer, and having adapted a number of the plays, there is a depth of imagery that is mind blowing. Not to mention the fact that his characters and stories are almost all universal and timeless.
It's that whole language barrier that trips people up. It's hard to convince students that Shakespeare wasn't writing in an archaic language when the plays were performed. He was writing for the modern audience of his time.
It's also awful that the plays are studied in English instead of performed in drama. The plays were never meant to be read.
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Thank you for your question.
I think that his contribution as a playwright is first rate. He wrote at least ten works that are constantly shown 400 years after being written. The English language is full of words that he was the first to use. There are companies around the world dedicated to perform his works.
It always pays to brush up your Shakespeare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSmZfnax1yw
Regards
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December 23, 2008 04:10 AM
Love Shakespeare, or hate him? Why?
I'm a fan, myself (if you couldn't guess!) and looking to learn more from the haters.
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| December 23, 2008 01:18 PM |
It's that whole language barrier that trips people up. It's hard to convince students that Shakespeare wasn't writing in an archaic language when the plays were performed. He was writing for the modern audience of his time.
It's also awful that the plays are studied in English instead of performed in drama. The plays were never meant to be read.
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shakespear...
December 23, 2008 01:41 PM
While I think it's accurate to say that Shakespeare didn't write them expecting them to be read, I think it does him a disservice to suggest that people shouldn't read him now. To see a performance is to see some random director's interpretation. Stuff is cut, stuff is changed. It's not like you're seeing Shakespeare's company perform Shakespeare's words. The only way to get an appreciation for just how good he is, now, is to have an understanding of the text. And the only way for the non-drama folk to get that is, well, to read them.
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December 23, 2008 04:21 AM
As a former English major my vote isn't for hate him, but I certainly don't love him. I took a class called Shakespeare and his contemporaries and discovered that his style and plots aren't so unique, nor is his overall style. Many of the other playwrights just spoke to me more directly than Shakespearean works do to me.
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December 23, 2008 04:30 AM
True enough, Sharon - but then why did he "win"? That is, I can go start grabbing random people off the street and most of them have had some exposure to Shakespeare just through popular culture (I mean, come on, I linked a Simpsons video) - but it's really only the English majors that will be able to bust out a good Jonson or Marlowe reference.
If Shakespeare's not so unique, what is it that makes him "not for an age, but for all time"?
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If Shakespeare's not so unique, what is it that makes him "not for an age, but for all time"?
December 23, 2008 12:42 PM
I know the feeling, Trace -- my 6yr old daughter recently drew me a picture of the opening scene from The Tempest (the shipwreck). I only wish that her other little friends had any idea what she was talking about :).
I disagree that you really need to know the culture and the mindset of Shakespeare's time, though - that seems counter to the fact that we're still finding him relevant 400 years later, when the world's a much different place indeed!
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I disagree that you really need to know the culture and the mindset of Shakespeare's time, though - that seems counter to the fact that we're still finding him relevant 400 years later, when the world's a much different place indeed!
December 23, 2008 05:05 AM
G'day Shakespearegeek, Thank you for your question.
I think that his contribution as a playwright is first rate. He wrote at least ten works that are constantly shown 400 years after being written. The English language is full of words that he was the first to use. There are companies around the world dedicated to perform his works.
It always pays to brush up your Shakespeare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSmZfnax1yw
Regards
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December 23, 2008 06:08 AM
Shakespeare was a genius writer. Sometimes people don't understand how complex his prose was, even for the time and place he lived. I am all for him. Although I can't always understand him, I still appreciate and admire many, if not, all of his works.
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