Dylan Gerber

Is Shakespeare relevant in todays society?

 

Shakespeare, a weird guy with a mustache who did plays and stuff. This is what the modern society thinks of Shakespeare. People rarely understand that Shakespeare is a very part of our history, and without him a lot of words, play themes, and phrases wouldn’t exist.

Language

 

A wild goose chase, Fight fire with fire, Vanish into thin air, Eyeball, Ladybird, Swagger. Yes, swagger. These phrases and words are just a few examples of Shakespeare’s genius. Shakespeare created over 135 different phrases, and most of these are still used today. The same with words, but instead he created over 1,700 of these for his plays, as he couldn’t find the right ones! The modern society doesn’t know it, but Shakespeare has shaped the way of modern English and the way we speak.

 

Themes

 

War and blood and gore is one of Shakespeare’s main theme. In Hamlet, the King has died, and his ghost appears to his son Hamlet, to take revenge on his uncle for killing him. The story then involves the war between Hamlet and Claudius. At the end of the play, everyone dies. The blood and gore helps the audience understand the play better and often helps the play become more interesting.

 

The Lion King is a classic movie that everyone has watched, but did you know that it is based of the play Hamlet? Mufasa is killed by his brother Scar, who then takes over the throne. Mufasa’s ghost then comes to his son Simba, and tells him what he must do to stop Scar. In the end Simba wins and Scar is killed. This has the exact same story line as Hamlet, and if it were not for Hamlet, then this movie would not have existed.

Misunderstanding is a big theme that Shakespeare liked to use to create a plot twist to please the audience. In Romeo and Juliet, misunderstanding plays a big role in the play. Romeo meets Juliet who both instantly fall in love, but they are from different family’s who are at war so they cannot be, but they meet in private. They get married, but they cannot be as Juliet Is getting married to another man. She decides to use poison to nearly kill herself and send Romeo a message. Romeo doesn’t get a message and kills himself because he can’t be with out her. Juliet then wakes up to see Romeo, and then kills herself because she can’t live without him.

The Lion King was based of the play Hamlet, but did you know that the Lion King 2 is based of Romeo and Juliet? Simba’s daughter, Kiara, falls in love with a young lion called Kovu, who is part of Scar’s tribe. These two tribes then go to war, but because the tribe don’t know the real story about Scar they stop fighting, but not without a death. Kovu’s mum dies, and in the end Kovu and his tribe live happily ever after at prides rock. This story isn’t really the same as Romeo and Juliet, but It is based of this story, and this movie wouldn’t exist with out Romeo and Juliet.

Characters

 

 

Romeo is one of the main characters in the play Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is a young boy who has just got out of a relationship, but then meets Juliet. He instantly falls in love and will do any thing for her. He kills to protect her and to be with her, and the audience love this. At the end of the play, Romeo kills himself because he can’t live with out Juliet, his only love.

 

In the movie Hunger Games, Peter is matched with Katniss in the games. At the show where they show off the competitors, Peter expresses his love for Katniss, too save her and to give them an advantage. When they are in the games, he does what ever he does to save and help Katniss, and at the end he offers him self to be killed to help Katniss. This is the same personality as Romeo, as he does what ever to has to do to save Romeo, and kills himself knowing that she’s dead, while Peter will do anything to save Katniss and would die to save her.

Hamlet is the main character in the play Hamlet (Duh). Hamlet is the young Prince, and when his father dies, his uncle takes over. Hamlet’s father appears to him as a ghost and tells him his uncle killed him. Hamlet try’s to prove this and to save his Kingdom from his dreaded uncle.

Simba, is Mufasa’s son, who is the king of the valley, and when his father dies, Simba runs away. When his father comes to him in as a spirit, he goes back to the valley to try to stop his Uncle from ruining his Kingdom. This personality is the same as Hamlet, a young prince who try’s to take back his Kingdom from there evil Uncles and save the Kingdom. With out Hamlet, Simba would never had existed

 

As you can see from these examples, Shakespeare is one of the most important people in modern English, as he has shaped the way we speak and write, the way are movies are made and how are books are written. But did you know that Shakespeare isn’t meant to be studied! He wrote his plays to be performed, not to be read or studied. So Shakespeare shouldn’t be studied but to be watched and enjoyed! Hope you have Enjoyed by blog and I bid you a dew!