Who Is William Shakespeare Relatable Today

William Shakespeare is not a new poet. Throughout his time (1564-1616) Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets. Many of his well known plays are: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth. Shakespeare is widely considered the world’s greatest dramatist. In his poem, Sonnet 29, he says how he pities himself, and how he wishes he was someone else. He says that he wouldn’t change anything because he gets to experience love for himself. The way he explains and emphasizes the difficulties in life and the memory of love in his work is still relatable today.

Shakespeare may be very much talented, but even talented people think that life is too difficult and brings themselves down. Shakespeare uses the metaphor of heaven being deaf in order to emphasize

the difficulties of life. Shakespeare says how he has “bootless cries” because heaven can’t hear him (Shakespeare 1). He explains how no one is listening to him cry in pity for himself. Shakespeare compares the way heaven is deaf with life because sometimes no one will be there to listen when are asking for help. Furthermore, Shakespeare uses the synecdoche of eyes, and specifically how he feels shamed in men’s eyes to show the difficulties of life. Shakespeare explains how he looks upon himself. How he would love to be someone other than himself. In the poem it states, “with what I most enjoy contented least; yet in these thoughts myself despising” ( Shakespeare). What he is trying to explain, is that what he used to enjoy, he doesn’t now. He despises himself now for having the thought of loving what he used to. In society, most just want to fit in. If someone doesn’t do the same as the rest, they are considered “different”.

More importantly, some people think that they can go through all of the pain but still think that love is worth it. Shakespeare uses the comparison of himself to a king to show how even the memory of love is worth all the pain of the world. In the poem he states, “for thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings” (Shakespeare 1). This is explaining how his love for another is worth much more than anything including all of his pain. In the poem he includes the reasoning behind his pain by expressing it through words. By comparing himself to a king, it explains how he wouldn't want to be the king because he wouldn't be able to experience love, the way he is now. In addition, Shakespeare uses the image of the lark to show the memory of love is worth all the pain in the world. He says in the poem, “Like to the lark at break of day arising” (Shakespeare 3). A lark is a bird and he’s putting an image of flying into the reader’s head. He also says, “From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate” (Shakespeare 3). He shows in these two lines that he is like the lark flying from the sad, broken down earth to sing at heaven’s gate. Earlier in the poem, though, he says that heaven is deaf. He is trying to escape the broken world like a lark at the break of day by thinking of his lover and singing out to her, but she can’t hear him. Going through the pain of the world, Shakespeare still relives the memory of their love together.
Given these points we can see that even when anyone, including Shakespeare, feels that life is difficult and painful, love would make it worth it. Shakespeare, with his many talents, can still feel self conscious about it all, but when there is that one person or thing in someone’s life it could bring them back up and see what they really have going. Even though Shakespeare was alive and creating fantastic works a while ago, his creations are still relatable and entertaining to this day.