I once tried to read a Shakespeare play.. and it was among the hardest things I’ve done. Whilst trying to decipher the Shakespearean language, I wondered, is Shakespeare still relevant? It wasn’t a topic I’d visited before, but it got me thinking. Sure he inspired many themes of writing, play styles and many modern stories and movies, but should it be mandatory that all english students learn about him. William Shakespeare is considered one of the greatest writers of all time, but I struggle to see the greatness in making up words when you can’t find ones you want, or changing words to fit a syllable count. His work may well have been extremely good for his era, but is now merely out-dated gibberish. The modern student needs new forward ways of writing and thinking.
Romeo and Juliet (aka. The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet)
‘Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
Whose misadventur’d piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.’
Fantasized to be one of the best, if not the best, love stories of all time, but what’s really so great about these melodramatic lovers.. Let’s take a quick look at a synopsis I wrote up..
Tells the story of two feuding families, the house of Capulets and the house of Montagues Romeo, the male protagonist from the Montagues, is not a keen fighter and disagrees of the families feud, instead he would rather express love. He is experiencing a heart break, and speaks of it to his cousin, who persuades him to join him at a party hosted by the Capulets. There he meets a girl of the name Juliet, whom he immediately falls in love with, only to find out she is a Capulet and therefore their love is forbidden. Juliet feels the same way, but is being pressured into marrying another man, so she speaks to her father, a priest, about her true love for Romeo. He suggests they stage a fake death, by giving Juliet a poison that will make her sleep for a long time to trick everyone into thinking she’s dead. They have a fake funeral for her, one of Romeo’s friends informs Romeo that Juliet is ‘dead’. Hurt by heart break, he then kills himself wishing to be with her. As he does this, Juliet wakes up, sees Romeo killing himself, and then kills herself.
Background Information
Author: William Shakespeare
Type of Work: Play
Genre: Tragedy, Romance
Written: 1950’s
Published: 1597 (Unauthorized)
1599 (Authorized)
Setting (Time): Renaissance
Setting (Place): Italy, Verona and Mantua
Themes
Love
Tragedy
The forcefulness of love
Fate
Feminism and Gender meaning
We see these themes a lot in modern day plays, movies and books. It is clear Shakespeare inspired many writing styles and themes. Importantly feminism, as Shakespeare wrote women strong and important roles, and made them extremely smart and independent in a time that didn’t think they were. For example, Juliet has an arranged marriage at just 13, and in this time a woman could do nothing except accept the fact she was getting married, Juliet stands up and tells her father how she really feels, resulting in a near positive outcome, until they both commit suicide of course. Romeo and Juliet also created a very common theme we see in a lot of movies and books, a tragic love tale. Is it possible for these movies to exist without Romeo and Juliet? Probably. Because if they weren’t written by Shakespeare they would’ve been written by someone else. Which brings us back to, how relevant is Shakespeare? He has proved to create amazing themes, but themes that could’ve been created by anyone.
Romeo + Juliet
A modern re-take of Shakespeare’s most famous Romeo and Juliet. It takes place in the suburb of Verona, a modern style of the original settings, yet still keeping the original dialogue. It uses guns, car, modern clothing and modern housing, buildings etc. however theres a high usage of the words thee and thou, and the once rude gesture of thumb biting, opposed to ‘flipping the bird’. It helps explain the story to younger people in a more understandable way.
Romeo + Juliet Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S6IJWilpx4
The Taming of the Shrew
This play is about a troubled family, of a father and two daughters. Bianca, a beautiful, well-mannered girl is a hit with the boys and has a long list of admirers, but has one problem, her Father demands she not marry until her ill-tempered and strong minded sister, Katharina marries. Bianca then plans to find a suitor who can find a man to marry Katharina. The suitor finds a bloke named Petruchio, a fortune-keeper, whom he persuades to go on a date with Katharine. He discovers how strong-minded she is for a women, and doesn’t experience love at first sight, but the pair soon realize their love for one another.
Background Information
Author: William Shakespeare
Type of Work: Play
Genre: Comedy
Written: 1590’s
Setting (Time): Renaissance
Setting (Place): Padua
Themes
– Love
– Inevitableness of Fate
– Gender roles and meaning
– Feminism
The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays for presenting women has strong and independent in the time that didn’t think they were. We are presented with Katharina, a ‘shrew’ (a bad-tempered or aggressively assertive woman), who doesn’t agree with the gender double standards and would much rather have a strong mind of her own, against society’s expectations. Which brings to a factor of why Shakespeare was relevant, he was a feminist. Inspiring future writers to give women more important roles.
10 Things I Hate About You
A romantic teen comedy inspired by the Shakespeare classic, The Taming of the Shrew. The story takes place in a modern, american high school environment. Bianca, a popular, heavily admired school girl is sister to Kat, who is quite the opposite, strong minded and stubborn. Bianca is invited to prom, but isn’t allowed to go with a date unless Kat does, so Bianca and friends arrange to find a boy who will take Kat, originally just for money. But Pat, the chosen boy soon discovers he loves her. An indirect copy of Taming of the Shrew, this movie was well reviewed and still a hit with teenagers. It’s modernized and doesn’t use the original script like Romeo + Juliet, but portrays the story in an understandable way for students.
10 Things I hate About You Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqS0-zajXdU
Shakespearean Language
Shakespeare is responsible for over 1700 words we still use a lot today! You may not realise it but some of our most common words were created by Shakespeare, his vocabulary went further than thou, thee and thy. Here’s a list of recognizable Shakespeare words..
accommodation
aerial
amazement
apostrophe
assassination
auspicious
baseless
bloody
bump
castigate
changeful
clangor
control (noun)
countless
courtship
critic
critical
dexterously
dishearten
dislocate
dwindle
eventful
exposure
fitful
frugal
generous
gloomy
gnarled
hurry
impartial
inauspicious
indistinguishable
invulnerable
lapse
laughable
lonely
majestic
misplaced
monumental
multitudinous
obscene
palmy
perusal
pious
premeditated
radiance
reliance
road
sanctimonious
seamy
sportive
submerge
suspicious
(http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakespeare-words/)
So.. Is Shakespeare still relevant to the modern student, in my opinion, no. Is he an iconic writer of the past who inspired many, yes.
year9shakespeare2014towers 
I believe that you put down some great points and I totally agree with them. I agree that although nobody uses dumb words such as thou, thy or thee nowadays the conflicts and themes that he used as well as the fact he inspired future writers do do things such as giving women more important roles is totally relevant to students. However, I don’t agree with you when you stated that “He has proved to create amazing themes, but themes that could’ve been created by anyone.” I believe this to be false because I bet that if I asked you to come up with an original theme or conflict you would only state one that has already been thought of (probably by Shakespeare). The language used in the blog was excellent, easy to read and conversational just how the reader would’ve wanted it. To conclude I believe that it was an interesting and informative blog that, in my opinion, ticks all the boxes.
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You have really stated some great points in this blog. You started of with a very clear statement a followed it trough the whole argument. I know feel that Shakespeare is not so relevant in todays society and that yes the words that he uses and makes up are just not used in todays society. The use of big words really intrigued me into this blog and got your point across with more punch. But maybe with these words Mr Towers and many other teachers may feel you have copied from the internet and may lead your marks down. Although these words really did help you get your point across very clear and more enjoyable to read. But you have put out a very clear statement of no nothing about Shakespeare is relevant but if you looked into it you would see that many of his plots of plays and themes are used today so I believe that some of Shakespeare is relevant. But all in all a very great blog and I believe you have put your point across very well and clearly.
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I like how you kind of argued both arguments of whether shakespeare is relevant or not at first and progressively revealed your opinion. I like how you expressed about how Shakespeare in some ways isn’t so important and in other ways is,how is isn’t really used in todays society but contributes to our language and writing conventions. Its very open-minded of you to mention how Shakespeare isn’t relevant in the 12st Century but doesn’t make a difference on him being an amazing writer. I was a little confused sometimes on where you were going,whether it was for or against but that could also be taken as a good thing. Well done Emma 🙂
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