Okay, so if you’re reading this, you’re probably studying William Shakespeare in school and maybe falling asleep and then waking up and wondering “But why do we still have to study this guy ? Is he even relevant anymore ?”. The answer to those questions will be revealed throughout this blog post, but the short answer is, yes, he is still very highly relevant to education and society today.
One reason why Shakespeare is hugely important to modern students that you may not have realised is his language. So many of the words you and I use today were invented by Mr William Shakespeare.
The most relevant examples being bedroom (A Midsummer Night’s Dream),majestically (Henry IV part 1), skim milk (Henry IV part 1), uncomfortable (Romeo and Juliet), upstairs (Henry IV part 1), and glow (Antony and Cleopatra). He’s also coined heaps of phrases, such as ‘good riddance’ (Troilus and Cressida), ‘melted into thin air’ (The Tempest), ‘a sorry sight’ (Macbeth), and ‘break the ice’ (The Taming of the Shrew). I absolutely guarantee you’ve seen those phrases around, or even said them yourself. If you want to, or you’re curious or bored or whatever, there’s a full list of phrases and words here. Can you imagine a life where these words and phrases didn’t exist ? I can’t, and I doubt you can either. Yeah, William Shakespeare is definitely important today, and yes, you still need to learn about him.
Quite possibly the biggest reason William Shakespeare is important in this day and age is the he themes he created that we see in movies today, such as love, revenge, and appearance and reality. Love is one of the most common themes in movies today, almost every movie has something to do with love, whether a relationship or family or even a pet, love is everywhere. One of the best known Shakespearean plays that involves love is Romeo and Juliet. Revenge is a large theme in Hamlet, where there are many cases of revenge being wanted. The summaries of both plays and an example of modern day versions are below. Overall, the themes present in Shakespeare are still very much alive in the films and books you have read. Think about it, if Shakespeare had never written a single play or sonnet, a majority of any books you’ve read or movies you’ve seen could have never been made. Here, here, and here are a few lists of a few of the movies based on Shakespeare. You’re welcome. Still think he’s unimportant ? Sure, these themes have changed and adapted as we as humans have changed and adapted, but they are definitely still relevant. Do people ever stop falling in love ? No. Do people who feel wronged not seek revenge ? No. The themes Shakespeare used are eternal and universal, just as they always will be.
Set in Verona, two families, the Capulets family and the Montague family, are fighting because of an ancient feud between them. A member from each family, Romeo Capulet and Juliet Montague, fall in love, but being from feuding families, they cannot marry. They celebrate their love in secret instead, and decide to marry. The night before their marriage, Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin after he is challenged to a duel. Romeo is banished and Juliet is told she is being forced to marry Paris, who was chosen by her parents. She plans to fake her death to escape She takes a sleeping potion. Her parents lay her in a tomb, believing her to be dead. In the meantime, Romeo returns to visit Juliet. Romeo didn’t know about the plan, so when he visits her grave and finds her dead, he kills himself. When Juliet wakes up, she sees Romeo dead on the floor, and then kills herself. And so the feud of the two families was ended. Kinda tragic, kinda beautiful. Good ol’ star-crossed lovers storyline with a sad ending.
There are many films you would’ve seen that are either remakes of Romeo and Juliet, or loosely based. A pretty recent one is Warm Bodies, a movie about zombie R (Romeo), and human Julie (Juliet). There is even Julie’s dead boyfriend Perry, (Paris). Warm Bodies, like Romeo and Juliet, tells the tale of star-crossed lovers.
When Hamlet’s father dies, Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, becomes king. Hamlet’s father appears to him as a ghost and tells Hamlet that it was Claudius who murdered him. Hamlet doesn’t know if the ghost is really his father or if he can trust him, so he hires some traveling performers to put on a play which shows the murder of a king in the same way Hamlet’s father said he was killed. When Claudius reacts badly to the play, Hamlet realises he is guilty. While he tells his mother what he knows, he discovers someone eavesdropping and kills them thinking it was Claudius. He actually kills his advisor, Polonius. Ophelia, Polonius’ daughter, goes mad after she discovers her father was killed by Hamlet, and she drowns in a river after falling in. Hamlet returns just as her funeral is happening, and her brother, Laertes, decides he wants to kill Hamlet in revenge. He challenges Hamlet to a duel, and puts poison on his blade. Claudius, in league with Laertes, makes poisoned wine for Hamlet in case the poisoned sword doesn’t work. Hamlet wins, but his mother drinks the poisoned wine without knowing, and dies. Laertes pierces Hamlet with a poisoned blade, then Hamlet stabs Laertes with the same sword. Laertes tells Hamlet about the poisoned wine and then dies. Hamlet kills Claudius with the poisoned sword. He tells everyone that the Norwegian prince, Fortinbras, should be king, and then dies from the poison. When Fortinbras gets to Denmark, where Hamlet is from, Horatio, Hamlet’s friend, recounts the tale and Fortinbras orders Hamlet’s body to be carried off in honour. Did that sound kind of familiar ? You might recognise this storyline, because The Lion King is based off it. Simba is Hamlet, Mufassa is Hamlet’s father, and Scar is Claudius. Pretty cool, right ? You can get a full synopsis of Romeo and Juliet here and one of Hamlet here.
Ok, so, to summarise all of that, Shakespeare is important to you and all the other modern students today because he was the originator of a lot of themes that current movies and books are based on, and he created many of the phrases and words we use all the time. His themes are universal and eternal, and are still very relevant to modern students. Now, get back to studying Shakespeare, reassured that he is most definitely still relevant and no, you are not learning about him for no reason.
year9shakespeare2014towers 
A very good blog entry, Alyssa. It appeals to people studying as it is written in informal language. Before reading this, I did not know that Shakespeare invented the phrases, “Break the ice,” and, “Good riddance.” There was also the phrase, “Fight fire with fire,” which wasn’t mention but was not a real issue. When referring to the themes, it may be good to mention where in the play love is used or where in the play revenge is used. There is also a small error where a word has been put in where it shouldn’t. “In this day and age is the he themes he created that we see in movies today.” There is an extra word “he” as it says the themes. Overall, a very good blog, both in written language and in information.
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Good job Alyssa! What an amazing blog entry!
After learning so much about shakespeare in class, I feel reassured that it is all for a good reason, and your post has definitely taught me even more about the famous playwright. Your conversational tone made your blog very welcoming and easy to understand, and broke your entry down into a less complicated format. From the first paragraph I was gripped and your entry was very persuasive. I think the fact that each of your points were explained very clearly and you gave many examples lead to your success. Each image and gif you used were relevant to the point you were making and I think you rose to the challenge of making a blog entry by using the media to your advantage. I especially love how you linked websites in your paragraphs, as it allowed me to further extend my knowledge and follow up on an already great point. I had no idea that the movie ‘Warm Bodies’ was derived from Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and that really fascinated me. Great Summary’s of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Hamlet’, as I got to loosely understand each storyline without having to scroll through loads of information, and that’s exactly what you want in a blog! All information was organised and tied back to your argument that Shakespeare is still relevant.
A fantastic effort and thoroughly enjoyed! Thanks for a great read!
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