Kieren Williams

Is Shakespeare Still Relevant?

William Shakespeare is arguably the most well know playwright of all time. Some of his most famous works are Hamlet, King Lear, Richard III and of course the classic Romeo and Juliet. Many of his plays have been put into movies over and over again. Many high school students will say that Shakespeare is boring and ask “Is Shakespeare even relevant anymore?” This is the question I am here to answer.

Shakespeare was born in Stratford on about the 23rd-24th of April 1564. In 1582 at the age of 18 he married an older woman named Anne Hathaway. He soon had his first daughter named Susanna with Anne. He had another two children named Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet died at the age of 11. After his marriage it is believed that Shakespeare spent most of his time writing and performing in his plays, only returning to his home during Lent when theatres were closed.

A portrait of Shakespeare

Williams Shakespeare is credited with writing 37 plays and 154 sonnets. Some people will argue that he did not write all his works but there is not enough solid proof to show this.

The themes behind most of Shakespeare’s works, are love, tragedy, justice and karma. These are written into human nature so these themes will remain timeless as long as there is a human to say, read or hear them. There is a play to match many situations in our modern day lives. For example, have you ever liked anyone you cant have? Look no further than Romeo and Juliet. Ever been jealous of something someone else has? Richard III is right up your alley. Ever been gripped by guilt and regret? King Lear is the one for you. The main types of work Shakespeare did was comedy and tragedy and then later, comedic tragedies. These types of theatre all people can relate to and understand. 

One of his most famous plays is ‘King Lear’. ‘King Lear’ is the story of a King and his three daughters. This is a brief plot summary:

King Lear is about the ageing King of England. He decides to divide his kingdom up between his three daughters. First he asks the daughters how much they love him, the first two daughters give elaborate answers but Cordelia simply says

“No words could describe the love she has for her father”

King Lear mistakes her honesty for insolence and banishes her from the kingdom. The two sisters then start undermining the authority of Lear and later treat him cruelly.  At he end of the play many characters die including Cordelia and King Lear.

A scene from ‘King Lear’

These are the main themes:

Justice

Reconciliation

Madness/insanity

Betrayal

Karma

Loyalty

Compassion and Forgiveness

All these themes are very relatable and understandable because they are part of human nature. Every person that is old enough to attend school would have seen or experienced everyone of these main themes. This means they are very relatable. 

As with all good texts there is an antagonist (the two older sister’s) and a protagonist (Cordelia) but it’s not that simple because Lear starts off bad when he banishes Cordelia, but the turns good when he realises what he has done and Cordelia tries to save him.

Another of Shakespeare’s famous plays is ‘Richard III’ this is a short plot summary:

After a civil war between two royal families, England was at peace under the rule of King Edward IV. Edwards younger brother Richard is jealous of his older brother and is frustrated by his physical deformity so he decides that he will kill anyone in order to become King. He uses his intelligence, political, deception and persuasive skills to start his journey to the throne. He kills many people in order to get to the heirs to the throne two young princes. Richard is then killed in a battle for the throne between himself and the Earl of Richmond.

A scene from ‘Richard III’

These are the main themes:

The Power of language

The Supernatural

Justice

Karma

Madness/Insanity

Betrayal

Many of these themes are the same as ‘King Lear’, but there are some different ones. Lots of Shakespeare’s plays have these common themes like Karma, Justice and Betrayal, these themes are always a success because they are written into human nature.

Many of Shakespeare works have been made into modern films. “Romeo and Juliet” has been made into many different modern films like ‘Romeo+Juliet’ (1996), ‘West Side story’ (1961) the musical and the film and ‘Warm bodies’ (2013). “The Taming of the Shrew” has been adapted into movies such as ’10 Things I Hate About You’ (1999). ‘She’s The Man’ (2006) is based on the Shakespeare play “The Twelfth Night”. Finally the big one, ‘The Lion King’ (1994) is based on Hamlet. Bet you didn’t know that!

Shakespeare made many words and phrases we use today  everyday like ‘Break the ice’ (The Taming of the Shrew), ‘Heart of gold’ (Henry V) and ‘Laughing stock’ (The Merry Wives of Windsor). These are only a few examples. Shakespeare has created hundreds of words and phrases during his time that we still use to today.

Authentic Shakespeare plays are performed in the old Elizabethan language so many younger audiences may not get the most out of the performance as they may not appreciate the style of language used. 

So to answer the question ‘Is Shakespeare still relevant?’ Yes, yes he definitely is and he will be for a long time. Until the day comes when human nature and emotions change, Shakespeare will be relevant.