Shakespeare and his relevance to us today

Hello! Welcome back to yet another blog. Hope all of you are doing good. Here is me looking at Shakespeare, with the same question in my mind. Last year i visited Verona, Italy where the famous play Romeo and Juliet is based and the Juliet's house had hundreds of visitors, so why would they still be willing to visit something that existed so many years ago. That brings us to the topic for this blog. Here, I will be talking about what makes Shakespeare such an iconic part of the history of literature, why is he still relevant even after 400 years. 

Shakespeare's work resonates with each generation. So, lets talk about why he continues to remain such an icon after 400 years. Do you ever find yourself using phrases like "tongue-tied" and words like "bedazzle"? Shakespeare crafted hundreds of words and phrases that we can and we are still using today! But his huge library of words is not the only reason schools are going through the pain of listening to students complain about studying Shakespeare and his extremely difficult language. 

1. All of his pieces of work are a classic 

When you think about Shakespeare, plays like Romeo and Juliet, a tragic love story of two star crossed lovers comes to mind. This is one particular story that we come across again and again without realizing. Maybe even the comedy of errors, a circle of confusing twists and turns that make us wonder what Shakespeare was up to while writing it. All of his pieces of work are timeless and have helped in creating a plot for a lot of movies that we see today.

2. The characters that he created are a classic

All the characters Shakespeare created in the various plays, sonnets and poems that he wrote contain various human emotions that we experience almost daily. The characters went through emotions like jealousy, anger, love, hatred, power, ambition, death and so many more. 

3. The themes he incorporated were a classic

Shakespeare explored various themes that are still visibly, maybe even more relevant today like freedom, being restricted to freedom, racism, sexism, love, fate and countless more.

Shakespeare coined over 1,700 of the words and phrases we use every day, so not only has the Bard had a profound impact on the history of theater, but also on the development of literature, writing, and the way we think. His plays and poems teach society how to not only love, dream and hate all at the same time, but they’re also used as a message.

As much as we like to think that humanity has changed in the last 400 years, we really haven’t. We still grapple with the issues that plague Shakespeare’s vivacious characters: love, loss, racism, betrayal, greed, envy, remorse. People of all ages and professions can relate to the feeling of Shakespeare’s work, if not the obscure references and the language that usually flies right past our head. And for us students, it offers a world of glittering language and story plots we haven't seen before so unlike modern English and modern day plays or movies,  it’s almost magical. 

Shakespeare therefore continues to remain a legacy, someone that will never be forgotten due to his wit and ability to relate to all the generations.