Angelica Waszewski

Shakespeare Blog

Hey peoples of the inter-webs. My name is Angie and I am a year 9 student at Sacred Heart College.  For an English assignment we were asked if Shakespeare is still relevant in this modern society, and to make a blog about it. This is my blog for this subject. I would say that Shakespeare is still very relevant in this modern day and age. Shakespeare influences many aspects of society from movies, to T.V shows, to everyday language and to the students studying hard at school. If you decide to continue reading, I’ll explain it to you.Shakespeare is known for his plays. I have researched two of his plays. One play is of course, Romeo and Juliet, which is the well known play of the star-crossed lovers, and the second play is Much Ado About Nothing, which is a less popular play compared to Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet there are many different and unique themes intertwined with the story line, some of which are also in Much Ado About Nothing. The most prominent themes in Romeo and Juliet are love, marriage, and youth. Love and marriage are also themes in Much Ado About Nothing. Some other themes in Much Ado About Nothing are gender, language and communication. All of these themes were important in the 16th Century and they still are today. They are found everywhere from the T.V screen to everyday life on the streets, as will be explained in the next paragraph.Let’s start from the most common of themes which are love and marriage. Love nowadays is a confusing term. It has so many different meanings and it can be easily confused for other emotions. People confuse themselves by thinking that they are truly in love though they could just be feeling lust, attraction or desire. These emotions may be similar to love though they aren’t completely love. Marriage hasn’t changed either  from the 16th Century. People are still getting married for other reasons apart from love such as money, arranged marriages or illegal immigrant marriages. Let’s continue with the themes from Romeo and Juliet. Youth is a big factor in this play and it still is today. In Romeo and Juliet there is a stereotype on teenagers that they are rebels with no morals and that they just go around having sex and fighting with each other. This stereotype from the 16th Century has not changed one bit. People these days still have this stereotype implanted into their brains. The themes in Much Ado About Nothing are also still used today. Gender is still a big issue in our society. Even with all this gender equality around, people are still sexist and there are many gender stereotypes in the world, just like in the 16th century.Shakespeare may be old and from the 16th century, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t popular. Many of his plays  have been remade and retold. One of the most popular would be Romeo and Juliet. It has been remade multiple times into movies, shows and plays and it has even been retold in a modern society and to show this they used guns instead of swords and a costume party instead of a ball. Macbeth and Hamlet have also been remade many times but they are also quoted a lot. Their quotes and themes are constantly being used in one way or another. Much Ado About Nothing (another play that I have researched and studied) has themes that are being used to this day in movies and T.V shows.Themes are not the only think that people in modern society use from Shakespeare. We also still use quotes and words that he used in his plays and poems. He invented a lot of his owns words and phrases. Some examples of phrases are: ‘All that glitters is not gold’ (The Merchant of Venice), ‘Dead asa doornail’ (Henry VI) and ‘Seen better days’ (As You Like It). Some examples of words are: ‘bedazzled’ (The Taming of the Shrew), ‘bloodstained’ (Henry VI), ‘employer’ (Much Ado About Nothing) and ‘puppy-dog’ (King John/Henry V). As shown these phrases and words are all either used in every talk or in movies to over dramatise emotions, people, places or things. Of course some are more common then others but that still happens with our newer 21st century english.Shakespeare also has an affect on the student body. In a way he affects every student who goes through high school. One way is the drama student. As a drama student myself, I know that next year I will be studying Shakespeare and his plays such as Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. Since his plays are so well known there is a very high chance of me performing them on a regular basis. His plays will also help refine and shape the way the actors and actresses act. Shakespeare will also influence english students. Since he was the inventor of many words and phrases, he shows how the basis of the english language was formed and how it has changed through the ages from the 16th century. Students would also be able to compare and contrasts the 16th century english to the 21st century. Some of you may be saying right about now that drama and english students don’t cover the whole student body, and you’re right. This is where general knowledge comes in. If you have studied Shakespeare and his plays in high school, you’ll probably ace every general knowledge quiz question on Shakespeare in the future. If you want to win, you have to work. As you can see by the previous paragraphs, that I truly support the movement that Shakespeare is still relevant and important in this modern society and that his history and plays should still be taught in schools. I hope you learnt a few things today and you found this topic interesting because I sure do. Have a great day and keep on loving Shakespeare.