The above statement is one that can easily be disagreed with, especially by people who have a genuine love for English and consequently for William Shakespeare’s work. As I am one of those people, I can firmly say that I disagree with the statement – and got my position fully backed up from totally reliable sources.
I needed to first understand why people would agree with the statement, or better yet, why they don’t take the time to try and understand it themselves. There are those that say Shakespeare is a ‘waste of time’ and ‘too hard to understand’. For example, “Why do we have to study some white guy who died 400 years ago and uses language we don’t even understand?” (Quote from a St. Benedict’s pupil, Grade 11 2008) What I first noticed was that he said, “have to” – this shows that he already feels like he is being forced to learn something he finds difficult, and therefore will probably never change his mind.
The character of John Keating in Dead Port’s Society said to his students; “Most of you look forward to learning Shakespeare as much as look forward to root canal work.” Now that is something the St. Benedict’s student will agree with. My answer to that is simply that people are too lazy to try and understand Shakespeare, and (boys in particular) would rather kill somebody in a computer game than read about why Macbeth killed Banquo. This is sad because the St. Benedict’s student is not the only one who thinks Shakespeare has no relevance in the lives of 21st Century students, but what this young man doesn’t realise, is that the “dead white guy’s” plays speak out to not only all students today, but to everyone.
According to Mrs. Margarita Nichas’ (a Matric English teacher) the difficulty issue is not an excuse; Shakespeare presents us with the richness of language that we have lost in the modern world. Our language has been “dumbed-down” to slang and mono-syllable words. What people don’t take the time to recognize is that to say, “My heart is ever at your service” instead of “I’ll love you forever baby” reasons well, because that was the common phrasing of the day. Shakespeare spoke like that, and the fact that we are still translating him today definitely means something.
Peopl simply need to open their minds and listen, they would realise that Shakespeare is extraordinary. According to Mrs. Nichas, the “dead white guy” probably presents life and all it’s issues to us better than any other playwright did. His themes are without a doubt, timeless. He displays in his plays all the controversial issues of the 21st Century. Appearance versus reality is evident in almost all his plays and is a main theme in not just the deceptive teenager’s life, but in all of ours. In Othello, issues like sexual jealousy, racial tension, spousal abuse, betrayal and murder are no different from what we as humans feel, what we hear on the news and what South Africa went through during Apartheid and sadly in some cases, is still going through today.
Mrs. Nichas firmly believes that Shakespeare’s characters are multi-faceted (just like us) and are therefore all based on real people. For example, Brutus can easily replace any person who is easily misled. Iago and Hamlet are perfect examples of all vengeful characters in the 21st Century. Any typical teenage girl can without doubt be compared to Othello; (after Iago’s manipulation has taken place) an insecure, naïve and gullible character. All businessmen, politicians or over-achievers at school can have a chat with Macbeth and will then understand why he thought he saw a dagger before him. All Shakespeare’s lovers and fighters, the innocent and villains and the good and the bad can all found in our lives today in anyone and everyone.
According to The Appreciating Shakespeare webpage, Shakespeare’s plays were the “first soap operas ever made”. This brings me to my next point. Many say that Shakespeare’s plays were meant to be seen and experienced, not read – and just as women would rather watch Days of our lives than read the script everyday – many people would want to watch one of his plays instead of putting in the required effort to read one.
What we see before us on stage when watching one of his plays is equivalent to what we see happening before us everyday in life. The plays are filled with family problems; “Two star-crossed lovers”, manipulations; “I like not that”, insanity; “Out damn spot!”, murder, revenge, love, war, politics, humour, heartache… the list is endless. There is therefore a great deal of enjoyment in watching people perform Shakespeare because they can relate to it – and taken from experience, a great deal of enjoyment in performing a character from a Shakespearean play. Steven Feinstein taught me that the only way to make my performance as Titania real, was to relate her to a character in the 21st Century, she then became the epitomy of all wives that can’t stand their husbands, and the representation of all spontaneous, stupid decisions that we make – even though she couldn’t really help it. After that, I couldn’t comprehend why anyone would think Shakespeare is pointless.
He is the hallmark of all English literature and the basis of everything we read today. He expresses all the themes of life in a way that nobody else can really match. Now, to answer the St. Benedict’s students question; we study Shakespeare’s plays because they provide windows in human nature, and he would probably find (if he tried) that he would be able to relate to most of Shakespeare’s fallible and complex characters himself.
To love Shakespeare, one must give him a chance. He is one of, if not the greatest writes of our history, and he got that title for a reason. Anyone can learn to appreciate him. It has therefore been shown, after looking at Shakespeare’s themes, characters and language – that he is not a waste of time; he should be studied in schools as he has great relevance in the lives of all students today, and is only too difficult for the people that are too lazy to try.
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