William Shakespeare's Relevance Today For as long as formal education has existed in Britain it has been a largely standard assumption that teaching the works of William Shakespeare is relevant and necessary. Perhaps the relevance of his writing is taken for granted, perhaps it is necessary to re-examine the role of Shakespeare for the modern audience. There are indeed many people who question the relevance of this 440 year old playwright to a 21st century audience, taking it even as far as perhaps the greatest heresy of all, questioning the necessity of GCSE pupils learning Shakespeare at all. This “proposed vandalism from the policymakers” (Guardian 09/02/01) is opposed wholesale by supporters of “the Bard” ranging from critics to academics to thespians. However can it be said there is truly grounds for the importance attributed to the works of Shakespeare, or is he, rather like Beefeaters and Ravens at the tower, an anachronistic national obsession really only appreciated in the modern era by history hungry tourists? The most obvious first point to consider in answering this question is the undeniable fact that the intended audience for Shakespeare’s work was late 16th century Elizabethan England and not early 21st century Blairite Britain. Anyone with even the most rudimentary understanding of history would be more than aware that much has changed in society since this time. Taking what is widely acclaimed as Shakespeare’s crowning artistic achievement, King Lear, as an example (as is the intention of the majority of this work), a strong case can perhaps be made to say that much of the intended theme and content is, by and ... ... middle of paper ... ...yman, Norfolk Marsh, Nicholas, “Shakespeare: The Tragedies” 1998 Macmillan Press, London Rehder, R.M, “York Notes: William Shakespeare: King Lear” 1980 Longman Group, Essex Websites and Online Resources BBC Education – King Lear (various authors, none cited.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/bookcase/lear/info.shtml#from Revolinski, Elaine 2002 http://drama.pepperdine.edu/shakespeare/lear/elaine/cordelia.htm RSC – Online Play Guides, King Lear (various authors, none cited.) http://www.rsc.org.uk/home/344.asp Schneider, Ben Ross, Jr. "King Lear in Its Own Time: The Difference that Death Makes." 1995, Lawerence University http://www.shu.ac.uk/emls/01-1/schnlear.html Sutherland, John 2001, Guardian 09/02/01 http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/classics/story/0,6000,435595,00.html
Mcneir, Waldo F. "The Role of Edmund in King Lear." Studies in English Literature 1500-1900.Vol. 8, No. 2, Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama (1968): 187-216. JSTOR. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
Shakespeare, William. "King Lear: A Conflated Text." The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York:
Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Eric A., McCann, ed. Harcourt Brace Jovanovick, Canada Inc., Canada. 1998
8 Kiernan Ryan, 'King Lear: The Subversive Imagination' in New Casebooks: King Lear, ed. Kiernan Ryan, Macmillan 1993, p.80
Greg, W. W. "The Staging Of King Lear." The Review of English Studies 16.63 (1940): 300-03. Print.
Shakespeare is Important William Shakespeare’s plays are being made into box office film hits at an incredible rate. Films such as Much Ado About Nothing with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, Hamlet with Mel Gibson and Glenn Close, Othello with Laurence Fishbourne and Henry V with Kenneth Branagh have been seen by a surprising number of teenagers. Often they have not understood it all, or even half of it, but they have been affected by the powerful characters and by the Shakespearean magic which has affected audiences around the world for centuries. They want to know more, they want to understand, and what better motivation can any teacher ask for than that students WANT? That alone is sufficient reason for any English teacher to start a course in Shakespeare.
Shakespeare, William. King Lear. The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington. New York: HarperCollins, 1999
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of King Lear. Ed. Louis B. Wright and Virginia L. Freund. New York: Washington Square, 1957. Print.
Across the Universe of Time: Shakespeare’s influence on 21st century society. It is harder to imagine a more universal writer than William Shakespeare. Rarely, if ever, is one of his many plays not being performed anywhere in the world and similarly rare is the tertiary English student who has not examined his work at length. His plays, sonnets and poems are common fodder for high school English departments across the globe.
Bullough, Geoffrey. "King Lear". Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973.
Bradley, A.C. "King Lear." 20Lh Century Interpretations of King Lear. Ed. Jane Adelman. New Jersev; Prentice-Hall, 1978.
William Shakespeare has become landmark in English literature. One must be familiar with the early days of English literature in order to comprehend the foundation of much of more modern literature’s basis. Shakespeare’s modern influence is still seen clearly in many ways. The success of Shakespeare’s works helped to set the example for the development of modern dramas and plays. He is also acknowledged for being one of the first writers to use any modern prose in his writings.
Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Tragedy of King Lear. New York: Washington Square, 1993. Print.
Shakespeare's tragic play, Othello, is an amalgam of diverse antecedents, including the generic influences of the ancient Greek and Roman tragedies, Italian fiction, as well as Renaissance history such as the progression of Christian humanism. Additionally, although Shakespeare incorporates some elements of the medieval morality play into Othello, the fact that his play is a tragedy shows how he modifies it from the typical ending found in a morality play. Furthermore, not only does Shakespeare include the stereotypical Englishman's view of the black race during the Elizabethan era, he also modifies it to convey the importance of looking beyond the skin color, showing the progression of a racially prejudice society to one in which people are treated judicially based upon their character.
Everyone knows that William Shakespeare was one of the greatest poets and playwrights of all time but he lived over 400 years ago. So is he still relevant to people of today’s world? The answer is YES, he definitely is, his writing is brilliant and everyone can learn from it. Especially teenagers who are always like “Why do we have to learn about Shakespeare? It isn’t relevant anymore!”