Dear fellow bloggers, and night owls,
You may just say that “Shakespeare is just another dead white guy” or that he is not relevant to modern students but “In my minds eye”, I strongly disagree. Shakespeare is not only a famous poet but he has made many famous plays as well as creating over 1700 words to our common english language! How would we know how to know how to ‘break the ice’ with ‘Knock!Knock! 
Who’s there?’ without the
creation of those phrases by Shakespeare!
The subjects that he discusses in his plays, are current issues today such as politics, love, death, friendship and betrayal… Since when was this not part of life?
We are able to recognize and appreciate the importance of the history of the divine and quirky ‘English‘ language. He is recognized as being a classic and cultural icon. Shakespeare’s play can take us on an emotional roller coaster from laughter to tears,
His Plays
Shakespearean plays are extremely unique and individual. A majority of his plays involve complicated plots with unexpected twists and plot changes. Common themes including Love, marriage, Order and disorder, Appearance, Death, Separations, Revenge, Good and evil, Temptation are the seed to 20th century movies today and are part of life as we live in the modern world! Did you know that there is even a cartoon version of Romeo and Juliet recently released? If there are more than 10 modern day interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays, how is he not relevant?! Through analysing Shakespearean plays we are able to understand the importance of play structure, character and suspense building.
Characters
Characters in Shakespeare portray common and genuine human actions and emotions that are still seen in every day life today! You may be surprised to hear that every person in their life has experienced madness, love, temptation or even death!
The Lion King IS really based on Hamlet!
DID YOU know that Lion King was in fact based on one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays called Hamlet! Both stories are extremely similar in the sense that the characters are very much alike. In Hamlet the main story line is in fact a bundle of plot twists and unexpected events! The main storyline is about Hamlets uncle who has the desire to become King and plans to kill hamlets father to take the throne. The exact same event occurs in the Lion King just with the difference that it is Simba’s uncle Scar that wants to take the throne, planning to kill Simba’s father Mufasa!
Thanks to Shakespeare, the award winning movie Lion King was created, through the inspiration from Hamlet. “To be or not to be!” OR “Hakuna Matata!”
You wouldn’t BELIEVE She’s the man is inspired by the Twelfth Night
In the modern day version a famous actor named Amanda Bynes plays a character named “Viola” who disguises herself as her brother so she can play in her brothers soccer team. Viola begins to fall for her “hot” room mate Sebastian, when in fact another girl is falling for Viola the cross dressed actor as her brother! This movie is a chaotic series of c
omplications in relationships and identities, which is in fact very similar to Shakespeare’s Twelfth night!
Surprisingly this is based on the original play of Twelfth night!
The tale of the twelfth night in summary, is based on twins named Viola and Sebastian who are separated after a ship wreck. Viola then cross dresses as her brother in order to get a job In Illyria but with a twist that she begins to fall in love with her male boss! Both stories are based on a complicated love triangle and have to hide the truth of their identity! We all have to thank Shakespeare for this two hour traffic on TV!
“O time, thou must untangle this, not I.
It is too hard a knot for me t’untie.” ― William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
The themes of Shakespeare’s plays are experienced daily by many all over the world! If you have never experienced love, madness, jealousy or even temptation, THOU must NOT be human!
Have you ever loved someone so much you would fall head over heals for them?
Romeo did for Juliet, as their families were in fact rivals!
Have you ever longed for a little more power?
Claudius did anything in his will to have more power, although he went too far however, he is not the only person that has wanted more power, we see this in government daily!
- We all experience these situations once in our life, and thanks to Shakespeare we don’t feel like absolute aliens for feeling this way!
FUN FACTS ABOUT SHAKESPEARE
Fact #1: The moons of Uranus are named after Shakespearean characters!
Fact#2: Shakespeare is the second most quoted writer in the English language
Fact#3: Shakespeare has been credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with introducing almost 3,000 words to the English language. You never know, You could be speaking Shakespeare every day!
Fact#4: Shakespeare wrote about one-tenth of the most quotable quotes written or spoken in english!
I can guarantee that you have used one of these sayings once
in your life, and guess what..?! They are created by Shakespeare!
- In a pickle
- The world is your oyster
- Catch a cold
- It’s all Greek to me
- Break the ice
- A heart of gold
- Love is blind
- All of a sudden
Shakespeare has given us the pleasure to be able to study this amusing way of showing emotion. Shakespeare has made words which make conversation interesting, he has used ‘timeless’ themes in his plays that are still used today and most of all Shakespeare has given us a more appreciated respect for the importance of play structure, character and suspense building as well as knowledge of the early modern period in England. May the works of Shakespeare be forever in our hearts… Of gold!
Shakespeare… In the modern world! 
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