Lots of students seem to turn up their noses when they are asked to read the works of Shakespeare. They wonder “why should I read works by someone who died a long time ago?”. Well, what is your view? Why should we study Shakespeare? How do you think this Elizabethan playwright’s works are still relevant to our time? As a student of English, why should you bother? Wouldn’t it be nicer or more worthwhile to read “Hunger Games” or other books that reflect your interests and most of all that are written in contemporary English? How can we relate Shakespeare to Italy? How would you love to appraoch Shakespeare’s works?
Let’s just be honest, studying Shakespeare is probably one of the worst nightmares of every student so the first question that comes up the majority of the students’ minds when they hear that they’re going to study Shakespeare is “Why should I bother studying some dead-man’s works? It’s not like I’ll need it in the future.”, personally I think that they couldn’t be more wrong. Shakespeare isn’t just a playwright, a poet or even an artist, he actually is life, he captured the essence of human beings showing us what’s behind the façade, the human nature doesn’t change even though time passes, that’s why everyone can identify themselves with his characters. Love, violence, power, jealousy, good, evil and death are the main themes of his plays and sonnets and they are related with our virtues, qualities and defects but if we don’t study his works we wouldn’t be able to catch and understand their deep meanings, so yes, I think it’s important to study Shakespeare, but the ones I listed before aren’t the only reasons why every English students should give it a try and let Shakespeare take you to a world made of passion, betrayal and blood where he lets messages to his readers in-between the lines.
Shakespeare is everywhere, we can see his greatness everyday in language and culture where he left his mark, but obviously we can find him even, or should I say especially in modern literature, this means that yes, reading books like “Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins that are more recent and probably appealing to teenagers is important because everyone should be able to enjoy what he or she reads, besides they teach us lessons too, but if you read Shakespeare’s works after knowing a little bit about him and the époque he lived in you’ll finally grasp the references to the Elizabethan period, the beliefs, the costumes and the “secret jokes” ,as I like to call them, he makes about the aristocracy, and just then you’ll be able to judge his work and appreciate his productions. If this isn’t enough to push you towards Shakespeare and away from the lack of knowledge about literature that is affecting many students nowadays, then you should know that even though the structures of English and Italian sonnets are different he was influenced by Boccaccio, Dante and especially Petrarch who he even made fun of because of his ideal vision of Laura which he opposed the “real” women he talked about.
I think that it would be easier for students to study Shakespeare and for teachers to make them like or at least stand his plays and sonnets, by making students act them out or by watching some movies inspired by them, in fact it would help us memorize easily the details and the deep meanings.
What’s certain though is that he was a great man who changed literature and our view about the world we live in.
Why should we study Shakespeare?
I think the genius that was Shakespeare has to be studied at school because he teaches lessons and makes us see life in other perspectives. Learning a foreign language, I’m asked to study and learn words and grammatical rules but in my opinion a language is not only this. Actually, it is, above all, literature: it opens the mind, it makes see things differently and maybe change an idea about a specific theme. I think that the best way is learning through plays, poems, books and whatever concerns literature. These things make know how words and phrases we still use were invented, the structures, how writes the author, analyse and get the real and important message that then we can use in life, know how to behave in a situation even completely different from the one written by the Elizabethan poet and at the same time we capture a vision of the period, status and problems of where the work is set. Shakespeare died a long time ago, 400 years are not few, and he is still relevant to our time. Not only for the used expression he coined but also for the themes of his plays. Love, jealousy, envy, revenge, friendship are contemporary because, writing human beings’ personality features (on both comedies and tragedies with a hidden message), we can compare the 16th century with our days and notice that they haven’t change. Different ages, still current. Personally, as a student of English I don’t mind if Shakespeare is considered past and old. Even though teachers are not able to turn on a spark of interest in students’ soul, if they want to deepen the works of the poet, they have all the instrument to do it. Some young people bother Shakespeare’s sonnets and plays without never ever read a line of something. They have to find sense in what they study, don’t be superficial and don’t base their opportunity to approach to the dead author on stereotypes or rumours.
I think it is not correct comparing “The Hunger Games” or others contemporary novels, with Shakespeare’s works because they are completely different. Both can give you a message and both can be a pleasure to read. Many people don’t think they have something in common, instead, they share love stories, friendship and many others themes. Actually, Shakespeare’s works may be compared with modern plays and poems.
The Elizabethan poet can also be related to Italy because he was influenced by the Fathers of Italian: Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarca. He took a starting point from them and revolutionised ideas with his writing, in ironic and in more serious way, teasing between the lines the lady angel of the Italian poets in his sonnets and being amazing in his plays.
I would love to approach Shakespeare’s works reading them and maybe doing a sort of performance where everyone is got involved, re-writing pieces of the plays in a modern way and so be the playwright. I think it is a little bit difficult but it helps memorise concepts, history and characters. It would be really beautiful!
Think and try things before judging, study and read our friend, Shakespeare.
I definitely disagree with people who think reading or studying works which aren’t written in contemporary English is something worthless, because in my opinion every single information we learn about the past can result convenient to comprehend better our present and the way we live. So the time goes by, and also people in their evolution do the same. In particular, I believe Shakespeare as a playwright is one of the most important personality of the story, who influenced especially nowadays people’s life. All his great works in fact seem to be really suitable with our modern life, even if he had wrote them a long time ago. Friendship, sexuality, love, strife, pain, passion, power, are only some of the main Shakespeare’s items which he describes in their deep and complexity. He’s considered a genius also thanks to his refind poetics and philosophical knowledge that pass down on his works. To understand more the big impact Shakespeare has on us, we can simply think about his famous quotes, that today are often used from everybody to express feelings and personal opinions (but also to astonish others) on social networks, for example, or to update the personal “status” on mass media: “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so” and “Better a witty fool than a foolish wit” are maybe the most common. So, if we use his words, why shouldn’t we study also his personality designed in the plot of the works?
Furthermore, as students of English we should absorb the fact that studying this language doesn’t mean to know the grammar or the lexicon only, but also knowing how the English culture and the language itself have become the ones we learn; beacuse not for nothing he’s considered the greatest writer of English literature and the most eminent playwright ever. Anyway, Shakespeare didn’t influence only literature, but even drama, painting, music and movies.
Someone may say that it would be nicer to read books which reflect better our interests and that are written in contemporary English, but as I just say most of the nowadays major works took a leaf from Shakespeare’s ideas; so willy-nilly he comes back in front of our eyes in any case.
Another great aspect of Shakespeare is the fact that he isn’t a playwright who concerns only English’s world, but also Italian’s one. In fact, on his works he was inspired by the greatest Italian writers Petrarch, Boccaccio and Dante . So in this way studying Shakespeare means also learning the Italian school of thought of that time. In addition, 13 settings of his most famous plays are in Italy: Venice for “Othello”, Verona for “Romeo and Juliett”, Messina for “Much Ado about nothing”… By setting his plays in the Italian climes Shakespeare proves his fascination with this country, which is a constant undercurrent of his works. Furthermore, his settings are so crucial to his plots that they have become charachters in their own right, and his influence can be felt in Italy today. Verona, in particular, is the city in which Shakespeare’s legacy is felt strongest.
I don’t really know how I would like to approach Shakespeare’s works, but I’m quite interested in his most famous words. Another aspect which I’m fascinated to is reading some of his works of course, because even if I’ve already read some of them in Italian and I already know the plot, I think that reading them in the original language it’s something completely different and of sure, more involving.
Shakespeare is the fundamental of the story of British’s Literature, like Dante or Petrarch for the Italian one, I don’t find any problem in study him and his works.
Furthermore, study Shakespeare is really important to my point of view because of his issues, like racism, war, sexuality, religious and the exploration of thoughts that no one at my age have never faced. Every play, that Shakespeare has written, has those types of themes and that makes everything more involving. Why should we read novels like “50 shades of grey” when we still have Shakespeare and his plays?
Every Britain (as it has already said in one of those videos that we had to watch) in all his life have at least once quoted Shakespeare still because of the issues that I’ve already made a list.
Perhaps the one thing that bother me as a student of English is the difficulty in understanding the texts of the plays we have to read, but in that case there is our teacher that helps us.
I’ve already read “Hunger Games” and other books in English that reflect my interests but none of them inspires me like old school books as Romeo & Juliet or The Great Gatsby (my favourite book). I mean it would be nicer read those books at school but what can they really teach me at the end of them? Just a love story that we could only dream of.
I could read them anytime I’d like to, so I think at school we should read deeply and thoughtful books that characterize the British’s Literature.
We can compare Shakespeare’s playwright works with Dante Alighieri most famous work “Divina Commedia” or Petrarch. Because both Shakespeare and Dante have coined new words that are still used nowadays. They are the fundamental of both of two different languages.
I would like to approach Shakespeare’s works with acting them out, that would be really difficult because of his topics but I think it would be really nice and funny. Something to laughing at with my other classmates.
It would be nice if you could find some expressions coined by Dante that are still used by Italians. It would be great to draw a parallel between Dante and Shakespeare, in the way they shaped the Italian and English langauge, respectively.
I think that Shakespeare is an important example for young people. He covers important issues that attract today’s youth. Some Elizabethan playwright’s works are really relevant in our time. If we read for example Romeo and Juliet, we can see that Shakespeare’s works are totally different from other playwrights. They are more interesting in my opinion. I think than students of English should read more Shakespeare and less contemporary books, even if it is difficult. I know that probably contemporary books can be more involving, personally I prefer to read “Hunger Games” because is adventurous and fantastic, also the story is interesting. But for our culture is much more useful to read Shakespeare. There are some particulars of Shakespeare which are really fantastic and really involving. 13 Shakespeare’s plays are set in Italy like Romeo and Juliet (set in Verona), Julius Caesars (set in Rome) or “The Merchant of Venice”. The last one is based on an Italian story about a money lender. Verona was not thought as a city of romance before Romeo and Juliet. So Shakespeare’s works are very important in Italy. For my culture I would like to know other playwrights of Shakespeare and I would like to read they instead of reading the Italian books that are always the same stories, because the youth like only specifically themes.
What are the themes that young Italians want to read about? Let me know!
I think that studying Shakespeare is one of the biggest opportunities that we ,as modern students, have. Shakespeare is not just a playwright but, through him, we can find ourselves. Its themes are timeless: love, death, betrayal, relationships, family .. Every generation loves Shakespeare because among many stories, there is the story of each of us. That’s why we should study it, a bit like being in search of the work that understands us. Obviously, the reasons why he’s still relevant nowadays are many: he has introduced modern English and so this helps student learning of the language, his works have a deep meaning that we must find between the lines, and finally, his themes remain strong and exciting over time.
To me, as a student, bother not being able to feel the emotions that his plays contains and don’t grasp the full meaning, making reading boring and meaningless.
I believe that reading other types of books that we like is enjoyable and instructive, such as “Hunger Games”, but you’ll never be challenged as much as Shakespeare does. In his works you will be criticized, loved, understood, challenged .. as if he knows every part of you.
Shakespeare is related to Italy because, for his works, he was inspired by Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, etc. that are very famous Italian poets. Especially the “ Canzoniere” of Petrarch was a model for the English playwright.
I’d like to, after reading the plays, being able to watch the films based on Shakespeare’s works. In this way I could compare my idea of the characters with a more specific idea given by the film.
I like the suggestion your are making: first you build in your mind your own idea of a character, then you compare it with the way that specific character is rendered in the film adaptation. Thanks for this idea. We will certainly put it in practice.
I think that Shakespeare’s plays are important for our education and development. The works of this famous and excellent playwrighter might seem so far from our life style but, in really, the themes of his works, like jeaolusy, love, sex and death, are still present nowadays. A lot of peolpe think that these themes are not helpful for our development but to undestand his works is necessary to analize them deeply and then we find out how close are the qualities of the Shakespeare time with the qualities of our time. His works are relevant in our time, because they deal with the human nature, which doesn’t change with the passing of time.
Shakespeare is related to Italy because he was influenced by Petrarch, whose his play “IL CANZONIERE” inspired the model of the Shakespeare’s sonnets. But he was influenced by Dante and Boccaccio too. The works’s topics were similar.
In my opinion reading books like “Hunger Games” is not educational. I’m not saying that is useless beacuse they are entertaining but they are not something you can talk about and they don’t give you something to keep for yourself which can be useful in the future. I’d like to read and examine in depth his tragedies because I love tragedies and maybe I can find out something that is close to my way to think and to my qualities.
Why should we study Shakespeare? We as students have the possibility to meet Shakespeare as a playwright and as a poet, to study his works and also to see films or videos about him and what he did. Sometimes we are not interested in studying him, but sometimes it is also because of the way teachers teach Shakespeare. I mean, the way of teaching is extremely important for the impact that the story of one of the best playwrights in the world has to us. Sometimes teachers tend to use a boring way to teach it: maybe using just schoolbooks or making us learn by heart every single particular of Shakespeare’s life and works, things that after 10 days we will probably have already forgotten because, first of all, they are not interesting, and that because they are just normally acts that all people do, whereas Shakespeare did a huge quantity of fantastical things that we, as students, are more interesting in. Obviously, Shakespeare’s life is pretty important, but there are many different ways to approach it. It could be a great different just not to make always the same things. As an example, one day we can study Shakespeare’s life by the book, the day after we could read a passage of one of his works and that analyse it. The class after, we can found in the passage some aspects of his life that there are in it. In this way, we manage to learn Shakespeare’s life and works at the same time and it is more probably that students will not daydream during the lessons and they will easily remember things. Another approach could be reading some of his works, maybe one of the most famous. I definitely would love reading one of his works, because I think that just reading we can make our own opinion of Shakespeare. Furthermore, there are many films on his life, on the period of time when he lived or about his works. I would like to watch one of them because to me films are a good way to learn something, because you fix what you studied, you realize if the film director has add some particular that is not true and, obviously, you can learn something more. In fact, there is so much to learn, that is impossible to know everything. Shakespeare wrote great works into he raised many issues, and the greatest things is that most of these issues are still contemporary. Shakespeare spoke of love and of war, of religion and race, of politic, drugs, sexuality and other many issues that we live every day in our life. Shakespeare’s themes go beyond obstacles of every time and place. Probably, this is the most important reason to study him. Of course, he was a famous personality who did great things and it is important to study, but it is still more important studying him because he refund what he said in our life. He changed the world with his poets and his works. Nevertheless, he has a relation to Italy too. In fact, Shakespeare is for English literature, what Dante is for Italian’s. This simple paragon makes quite well understand also to Italian students, the importance of Shakespeare. Many contemporary writers studied him and they took the cue from him and from his works. In other words, Shakespeare is the key to literature and he is the foundation to modern literature. Probably it would be nicer or more worthwhile to study contemporary books, but why study a thing without knowing where its fundamentals come from? Reading contemporary books is good, but realizing, while you are reading it, that that phrase or thought have a particular origin, it is definitely more worthwhile!
We should study Shakespare because “it is the foundation to modern literature. I mean, it’s got sex, drugs, drama, all good stuffs”, like Tony Douglas says, and I totally agree with him because although Shakespare is an historican poet, in the 21th century he is still contemporary. We should study him because also for the importance of Shakespare to the English language and literature: in fact, he inspired so many british authors and created lots of expression used in contemporary English.
Shakespare is one of the best Elizabethan playwright in the world of literature and so he is still relevant because of his language in his plays: he discuss of every themes for all people as possible, from the most literate to the most illiterate. His purpose was involving people speaking of cummon issues, like friendship and revenge, and feelings, like love and hate.
I may bother, as a student of english, due to the difficulty to translate and understand Shakespare’s playwrights and so not understand immediately character’s feelings.
It can be nicer reading books like “Hunger Games” because of the easily comprehension due to an easier language, but I think it would be less worthwhile because in Shakespare you can learn even life lessons that in books like “Hunger Games” there aren’t. Of course, reading “Hunger Games” is more involving than reading “Hamlet”, but I think if a student want to learn, must read Shakespare.
We can relate Shakespare to Italy because of his inspiration for his plays found in italians authors like Petrarch and Castiglione and for the settings of his works: Venice and Verona were used as set for some of his plays.
I would love to approach Shakespare’s works acting some of them with my classmate after had analyzed in class with the teacher, I think it can be a good process to learn and have fun at the same time.
What do you mean by “Shakespeare is a historical poet”? I cannot grasp this.
We will certainly acto out some of the scenes of the plays we will be analysing together. Is there a character you would like to act out?
Why should we study Shakespeare?
William Shakespeare is one of the most powerful playwrights and holds a special place in the story of Literature . His plays full of passion and wit, made a portrait of the society of the Elizabethan’s time and thanks them we can discover costumes and traditions of that period …Our roots. But why should we study him? There are lots of reasons of why we should study Shakespeare, but in my opinion the most important is because he was an incredibly genius who trasformed emotions in words. He studied what there is inside of the Human Being, he was the first who wrote about real facts and left us stunning works which today are propose again all over the world. Studying Shakespeare offers to young people to dig deeper human’s soul and discover theirselves. His immortal issues rappresent that ages pass but people does not change. He describes perfectly our society even if he lived in the sixteen century. By the way ,we have to keep in mind that Shakespeare was not famous just because he was good at writing but also because he knew what were the contradditions of the Human Nature. The ways we love, we hate, we suffer are the same and thanks him we can learn interesting lessons of life. He teaches us that we are the results of our decisions, that we are able to kill the people we love or kill ourselves for somebody. Shakespeare was a creator of literature and every verse, every play or every sonnet make us thinking about how we experience some emotions and what kind of role we have in our life. Who are we? This is the main question which Shakespeare tried to answer. Humans can’t be right or wrong, they are both at the same time. Besides I think these Elizabethan playwright’s works are still relevant to our time whereas they give us historical informations about politics, the walks of society, economics but also of what people like at that time: the fashion, the eccentricity, have fun, sexuality and gory scenes. He also coined expressions that are used in spoken English today, which is an influential element for the learning of the lenguage (expecially for a foreigner). Shakespeare is even link to Italy, he found ispiration for his comedies, tragedies on some Italian works. If we think of “Romeo and Juliet” it is settle in Verona! From my point of view reading Shakespeare is more difficult than reading contemporary and commercial books (which can also teaching you something). But read this author is certanly a way to improve English and study more deepen another culture. I would love to watch films and act some shakespeare’s plays out, I think that with this kind of approch we learn better and it is more fun! Maybe making little videos in groups of some plays, or the classroom could be our personal Globe Theatre !
Nice the idea that the whole class could be turned into the Globe Theatre in Pordenone!
I think that it’s important to study Shakespeare because it increases our education and the persons who don’t have the possibility to study him have a lower education because Shakespeare’s plays are related to our time, why? A lot of common sayings are from Shakespeare and he has faced the same issues that we are facing in our time like love, drugs, wars etc…
It would be nice, obviously, to read Hunger Games but after reading it you only know what happened in the book and it’s nothing that can happen in real life; Shakespeare faced real problems that can happen to everybody.
Shakespeare is related to Italy because he was inspired by Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarca who’s most important write (il Canzoniere) became a role model for Shakespeare. I would like to face his plays watching films, theather shows and stuff like that.
Shakespeare dealt with the issue of drugs? How? In which play? I did not know of this!
In some way, each person, can see his own story and feelings reflected in Shakespeare’s peoms or in his plays. That’s because he is a pioneer of literature, and the modern one is mostly based on his works. He is one of the most important playwrights of the story of English literature, and we can say that he is still the most popular artist of the world. We are sorrounded by Shakespeare: from the use of his quotes and phrases, to all the paintings and movies made thanks his works. Through his words he completely represented the Elizabethan time (violence, entertainments, beliefs, the upper and lower classes, sexuality and jealousy), issues that are even now important and that represents our modern society too. Most of these themes are still relevant to our time, and this is because the inner emotions of the human being haven’t changed, even after 400 years. So a man that we remember even in 2016, does he deserve to be studied? My answer is absolutely yes.
To me, one the most amazing thing of reading Shakespeare’s works, is that it seems to know new lands: some plays got me so involved, that it is like if I was there, in the ancient England, with those evil and enamoured people. So thanks to this I became more openminded and I talk about some issues that otherwise I would have never talk to with other people, and particularly with adults. In the majority of modern books, we can’t find aspects that can be reflected in nowaday’s people’s lifes, and in my opinion that is because these novels are made to relax and entertain readers, not to reflect and to dig deeper into the human soul., like Shakespeare’s works were. He allowed us to analyze our behavior towards the others and to compare the past with the present. Moreover, studing ancient english novels, let us learn new words, their derivation and how did this amazing writer improve english language and vocabulary. So I think that reading antique books, at least at school, is better and also more worthwhile, than reading the modern ones. I love this Elizabethan playwright, also because thank to him there are a lot of amazing films that are based on his plays, from wich we can learn, laugh or cry.
Shakespeare was inspired by some of the most important models of italian literature: Dante and Petrarch, and he took from them the Italian sonnet, that was readapted for the English literature.
If I could choose, I would absolutely like to act out in groups some of his plays!
I think that we should study Shakespeare because he is the foundation of literature and he is one of the best playwrighters of all time.
The Elizabethan playwright’s works are still relevant to our time because even if they are very old, they can still convey us thousand of different emotions; as a student of English I think that it is very important to learn these things at school because otherwise we would forget all the history of the past and the origins of literature.
In my opinion read “Hunger Games” would be nicer but in that way you couldn’t learn new things about literature and the best writers of all time. Shakespeare would be related to Italy from the fact that he took inspiration from the style and the form of Petrarca, one of the most important poet of Italy.
I would love to approach Shakespeare’s works with someone who could read to the class some passages of his poems and than we could write some “poem” with the theme of the passage that we’ve read in class.
I think that the question “Why should we study this?” could be posed talking about every single discipline and school subject. What’s the usefulness of studying the structure of a cell? How could the knowledge of the charateristics of a sonnet or of the implicit function theorem actually be useful in our future life?
The answer is, that every new thing you learn makes you somehow richer and smarter.
Shakspeare has become so important in our culture, that he can be considered part of the general knowledge. Everyone knows or heard about Shakespeare and, as it’s said in the videos, even if one doesn’t know or hasn’t studied Shakespeare, he/she quotes him everyday without knowing. He is a cornerstone of the western literature and culture, and just this should be enough to be curious about him.
Besides, reading Shakespeare opens your mind in many different ways. By reading his poems and plays, you can learn new things about history: he gives you the details of how life was in England at his time, the political situation, the traditions, the way the cities were different from how they are now and the way relationships were lived differently from now, small details about the Elizabethan era that you can’t find in history books.
But what makes Shakespeare great and still loved this much, is the fact that in every work of his there are not only informations and descriptions of the bare facts. The protagonists of every Shakespeare’s work are the human feelings, thoughts and problems. And feelings never get old-fashioned. A young teenage girl experiencing her first love recognises herself in the monologues by Juliet when she first meets and kisses Romeo. A politician or a CEO identifies himself with the way Macbeth is thirsty for power and let it ruin him and possess him.
Shakespeare debates feelings that are, and will always be, still common to every human being of every walk of life and age.
As a student of English, I think Shakespeare is fundamental to understand the following English authors and all English literature. Reading his works is also an interesting way to analize how the language has changed in the centuries, what was the same and what is different now in the way we speak. He also invented new words and expression that are commonly used, and we can understand better their meaning by finding them in his works, with the original meaning he gave to them.
Nevertheless, it would be a lie if I said that when I’m curled up in my bed with my cup of tea the thing I enjoy the most reading is a Shakespeare’s tragedy. In my opinion, reading “Hunger Games”, “Harry Potter” or any other contemporary book will always be more enjoyable for a 16-year-old rather than reading poetry. But I also think they are both equally necessary to build a literary culture and to know how the world works at our time, as well as to learn new expressions that we can use in our contemporary language. But I think that if you’ve read Shakespeare, you can understand an enjoy better a modern book, and you are better at analizing it and telling a well-written book from a badly-written one, and you can also recognise when the author is quoting Shakespeare or is taking one of his works as an inspiration.
I think that the best way to approach Shakespeare is first of all by studying the social and historical context of his time before reading his poems, so you’re able to understand every situation he describes. The best way to get involved when reading a play, for me, is to combine the passages of the text with videos of people acting them out (or, for example with Romeo and Juliet, with fragments of the movies based on the plays), or to talk about them in class, contextualizing and seeing in what way they can relate to our life and society. One of the best thing about Shakespeare is that he’s so famous that you can find a huge amount of extra material when you’re studying something about his life and works, and if you’re curious you can draw all sort of informations from the words of the many people who analized Shakespeare before you.
So, i definitely think there is a reason if William Shakespeare is still being studied today and his plays are the most frequently played in all the theatres worldwide, and that’s it: he knew how to say and describe perfectly our feelings and insecurities, those things we all feel, but are too lazy or too shy or too confused to say, and if you have the patience and the will to read him, I’m sure you’ll think at least once “Hey,but… that’s me!”.
Yes, you are right when you say that a 16-year-old would rather read “Hunger Games” than Shakespeare. This is more so for a EFL student. However, as you point out, attending a language school like yours implies being prodded into dealing both with the classics and more contemporary writers. We do both and this is what gives you more freedom of choice and what empowers you the most both in the language and in your inner growth (I think).
Who is William Shakespeare? Nearly all people, once you have posed this question to them, would give you an answer. But it is also true that most of the interviewees’ response would be rather similar to: “Shakespeare was an English playwright”. Probably the answer would not be more accurate, more specific, less cold. And that is why I as a student should study the works of this eminent man: to get to know him beyond the shallowness of those who think he was merely a playwright, lazing in their “fool’s paradise”, as Shakespeare himself would have said. The truth is that those ones who choose to learn a foreign language cannot feel exempted from the study of its literature and Shakespeare is the emblem of the English one. That is why the spotlight even nowadays is focused on him more than on others authors of the past: because he laid the basis of literature in England and the current language revolves around what he wrote. If his works are still quoted and well-known four centuries after his death there must be a reason, mustn’t it? They seem to be immune to the ticking of time passing by and it is so simply because the issues developed and the way they are debated have no age: love, politics, jealousy, envy, fame are seen from another perspective, through fictional stories based on true historical events, which have nothing to do with pan and emotionless History schoolbooks. His works are “paper” teachers, who help you open up your mind and let your brain wander through new undiscovered places and times, which is a feature all good literary works should have, though. But, unlike others authors’ ones, Shakespeare’s tales would never be “Greek to you”, unless you are a “blinking idiot”(especially if you come from Italy, where he chose to set many of its plays, for example “Romeo and Juliet” or “The merchant of Venice” and draw on notions from poets like Petrarch, Dante and Boccaccio). The way Shakespeare’s stories are written is truly magnificent: you manage to feel deep down the characters’ feelings and complexities and to become familiar soon enough with the elegant and humorous language, with the common phrases still used in current English and with the frequent and breathtaking plot twists. Shakespeare knew how to create complicity with his variegated audience and how to speak through written words and all you are asked to do is just to be willing to listen to what he has had to say, which, however, is more challenging than the easy entertainment we are constantly exposed to, but it is also endlessly more worthwhile. Moreover, he is a reference point not just of novelists and playwrights, but to cinematographers too, who make a lot of films based on Shakespeare’s, although I think the best way to approach to this English artist is by reading his works yourself. But, to conclude, I would say that whatever way you meet him and his masterpieces is thrilling and exciting. It will forever be so.
Thanks for this heart-felt comment, Giulia. It was a pleasure reading it. You made my day. I am so proud of you.
I personally think that is very important to study Shakespeare, because even if he died in 1616 he is still considered a contemporary writer. Shakespeare is considered the father of English literature not only because of his works, but even because he created new words that we still use nowadays. I think that is very interesting to get to know the origin of the words that we study.
Sometimes I think that is difficult for me to study Shakespeare because I am not mother tongue, and so I cannot understand everything immediately, but on the other side I consider myself very fortunate because I have the opportunity to make a trip of imagination through literature, and I can study how people lived at Shakespeare’s time. I think that is very important reading contemporary books, but in my opinion literature has something more. Literature has the power of teach us. I suppose that the best way to approach to Shakespeare’s work is reading them, discuss and make activity on them.
Why should we study Shakespeare?
Nowadays lots of students prefer not to study Shakespeare, because they think it’s boring, out of date, and very far from our time. I don’t think so; William Shakespeare is one of the most important English playwrights and poets of ever, and I think we should study his life because then we would understand what he did, how was his lifestyle, why did he decide to become a playwright and which were the detailed features of the Elizabethan period . Personally, I would like to know as much as I can about the Elizabethan Age, it’s an historical period that fascinates me. We should also study his works, because Shakespeare laid the basis of English literature, put cultural and historical aspects in his works (to make us understand which period he was dealing with), and wrote several works, divided into multiple genres: comedies, tragedies, historical plays, dramas. As a poet, he also wrote sonnets. I think it would be nice to find which genre could be more suitable to me (I’m almost sure it would be the comedy). Shakespeare’s works are still relevant, because they’re the inspiration of several films, some famous expressions are present in the TV spots, in advertising and… As sentences in someone’s Whatsapp profile. It’s depressing the fact that some people continuously quote Shakespeare’s famous quotations like “ We are such stuff as dreams are made on” and don’t even know who wrote them… Before quoting, we should know at least the main features of the whole thing we’re talking about. It’s true that Shakespeare died in 1616, but his works are still very important because they deal with some common and contemporary issues: love and hate, the good and the evil, sexuality, misunderstandings, incoherence, mistaken identity and also jealousy. Each one of us can recognize in him/her at least one of these feelings and issues, and can reflect him/herself with a character of Shakespeare’s works (I think I would recognize myself in Othello, I’m very jealous in love). These themes and these works are an item of reflection. It’s like if Shakespeare puts a big mirror in front of ourselves, and we can think even about our jealousy, our misunderstandings, our incoherence, exc.. His works open our minds and help us to reason about ourselves. As a student of English, who is studying this playwright, I should bother because maybe I won’t be able to understand immediately the meaning of some words, or to grasp the gist of the work simply reading it one or two times. It would be very difficult. Obviously, it would be nice reading Hunger Games or other contemporary novels in class, because it would be easier to understand the words and we would use the dictionary a few times, but it’s more important reading the works of an Englishman who laid one of the most fundamental basis of the English language. If Shakespeare didn’t exist, the contemporary English wouldn’t have ever existed. Hunger Games is a beautiful novel, very involving and well written. But the plot is too surreal. Instead Shakespeare’s works are more realistic, the characters have common personalities and the stories are more credible. Shakespeare is in England as important as Dante is for Italy. They’re the “fathers” of English and Italian languages. Moreover, Shakespeare was inspired by the Italian poets Petrarch and Boccaccio. He took inspiration by the “Canzoniere” (of Petrarch) to write his sonets. The structure is different from Petrarch’s, but both these poets dealt about love and the passing of time. Personally, I think the best ways to approach Shakespeare’s works are acting them out, changing some things like the ending of the story, and reading them aloud, trying to grasp as much as you can.
Why should we study Shakespeare?
I think that study Shakespeare is really important nowadays and it could help us to understand human’s attitude. This author is certainly important in the global literature and he also coined some words and expressions used still today. His works, composed hundreds years ago, are even now contemporary, in fact Shakespeare was able to deal with human’s features. Love, death or the fight for the power are issues and situations that have always been, and will always be in our lives. Sometimes when we heard the word ‘Shakespeare’ we relate it with ‘Romeo and Juliet’ or something that we do not care about. Maybe for the youth is preferable read ‘The Hunger Games’ or some contemporary novels, because it could seem better and less difficult; but I think that we should never judge a book by its cover. We cannot just say ‘Shakespeare is boring, it’s too old’ we must first read his works, understand them and then we have to develop our opinion about it. Moreover this author is linked to our country, he set several works like ‘Romeo and Juliet’ or ‘Othello’ in Italy. In my opinion to understand better Shakespeare’s comedies or tragedies we could obviously read them in class and discuss about it, but maybe we could also act some plays.
In the world Shakespeare is one of the most famous playwrights and he is studied in schools today. many students find the works of this author, or even the author himself, boring and old. However in my opinion it is important to study Shakespeare and I think, although he died in 1616, is a modern author. Many of his works deal with love, jealousy, betrayal and other modern themes; for example Romeo and Juliet is a fantastic love story and I saw lots of modern plays and movies and I heard songs on this work.
But students think that it would be better to read books that reflect their interests and written in contemporary English. In my opinion the works of Shakespeare have an important thing that many contemporary books don’t have, the histprical references. Reading a tragedy about love you will learn the history… and it is a fantastic thing because is not boring and you enrich your knowledge about historical events. Also this famous author coined new words and phrases that we still use today; he introduced the contemporary English.
Shakespeare has set many of his works in Italy because, like Chaucer, was influenced by Dante, Petrarca and Boccaccio, even if the structure between English and Italian sonnets is different.
at the end I wolud like to study Shakespeare because his works fascinate me. When I was a child I visited the balcony of Romeo and Juliet, I loved it, and I really wanted to know the story of these two young in love.
William Shakespeare was born in 1564. He became a famous playwright, poet, actor and shareholder.
In 1584 he went to London and he started his brilliant career as an actor and then as a playwright.
I think we should absolutely study Shakespeare. Reading his sonnets, comedies, tragedies and historical plays is important to feed our brain. His poems are necessary to develop a sense of maturity and awareness towards the whole world. He showed off the real nature of human beings; at the time, this was really brave of him. He was the first to say these things and he did that in a revolutionary moment.
He was the creator of english literature, he picked up the fundamental points of society. Nobody after him had ever spoken about love, sexuality, jealousy, good and evil.
At the time society was represented flawless, like a magic world that won’t ever exist.
He wanted to denude society of all its hypocrisy. I think we should look inside his modern mind and admire him, because he built the pillar of society nowadays.
His works are still relevant because he deals with issues that are fundamental for our growth, like emotions.
This allows us to become part of his poems, to feel ourselves as the main characters of the story, to live inside the poem. It’s like a trip back in the time.
They’re relevant even because their historical plays gives us some portrait of England and it’s important to read them if you’re interested in Elizabethan age.
Then, one of the most important things to say about him is that he contributed to the development of the modern language. He coined new words and common saying that are still used today.
I think I should bother because at the beginning it might be difficult to understand the english of 400 years ago, but at the same time I think that it is worth it.
Personally I have never liked fantasy books, like Harry Potter or Hunger Games. I’m more attracted by philosophical themes or in books based on true stories. I like catching, or, at least, trying to catch something of the author from the reading.
So, I would rather reading Shakespeare than Hunger Games.
Then, literature is different from popular commercial books and I think they couldn’t be compared at all.
I think Shakespeare has lots of links with Italy .
He’s the “Dante Alighieri” of England, of english literature; then he has lot in common with Petrarch and his sonnets, even if the structure of the two of them is different.
Last, but not least there is the famous Romeo and Juliet’s balcony in Verona.
Personally I think that is useful to study Shakespeare because, although he is dead in 1616, he is still relevant.
But why the younger generations can still find themselves in his words?
The answer is simple, William Shakespeare was a genius, an expert in analyzing the human nature.
The characters of his works aren’t the ordinary spotless heroes who fight evil outside themselves, so “perfect”, so different and far from us, so false and empty; no, Shakespeare’s “creatures” are real, wonderfully defective, humans with lights and shadows, fighting against themselves and in perpetual doubt.
We can still find ourselves in Shakespeare’s works because they are mirrors those show us who we really are, our lighter and darker shades, what we know and what we don’t know: Shakespeare leads us to introspection.
As a student of English I can also say that we can find Shakespeare’s influence also in English language. He coined words and expressions those we can find in modern English, for example: “With bated breath.”, “I haven’t slept a wink.” and “Too much of a good thing.”.
For his great influence and his complex and advanced way of thinking, for his open mind, Shakespeare’s works are totally worthy to be read, analyzed and praised through time.
(Interesting is also Shakespeare’s relation with Italy, infact the playwright set most of his plays in Italy.)
Why should we study Shakespeare? We should study him for learning and knowing. Who was William Shakespeare? He was a poet and a playwright. He wrote a lot of masterpieces. I think study his works means add knowledge in our luggage. When we study English we have to know who is him because he was the most important genius in the English literature. Study him can help you open your mind and think on his works. He was a reference of in the English theatre, he created a language, a poetic language. Then, I think study his works is marvelous because they speaks about love but also about dramatic things how the Elizabethan playwright. Now a days we study this playwright and sometimes we think it is boring but in my opinion this is a pastime because the Elizabethan playwright speaks about love and war or dramatic things that are modern theme. When you read something with boring themes your mind flies away with your thoughts and you aren’t concentrate but when you read about something modern you enjoy yourself and you can see you in the character. I should bother of him because he is the father of the English literature as Dante for the Italian literature. Shakespeare is also ascribable to the Italian literature because was conditioned by Dante Petrarch and Boccaccio but in specific by Petrarch for the sonnets. As an English student I think that the reason is this but for me the reason is also because I love theatre and for me Shakespeare is the base of it. Some students said that they prefer read some contemporary books as Hunger Games or fantasy books. I think that if you want to read Hunger games you can do it but in your bedroom because with this type of books you can improve your English but you can’t learn history or something important for the English literature. I prefer read Shakespeare to learn things that I will remember for the rest of my life. I conclude saying that I really want learn Shakespeare with every means we have for example with the net or with him operas.
Shakespeare was a great poet and a playright.
He is also a good example of what we should follow because his plays teach a moral or lesson.
I think we should study Shakespeare because he wrote extremly important plays.
His works are still relevant in our time because he deals with contemporary issues and with his works he makes entire generations dream because presents universal themes such as love , family conflicts , hate,friendship,death suicide, jealousy, murders, revenge… When you read a work of Shakespeare you always go beyond the reality and you can always identify yourself in his stories.
Shakespeare’s ability is to summarize all the human emotions in simple but profoundly verses.
If you cannot find words to express how you feel and your thought, Shakespeare can speak for you.
I think Shakespeare understood the human character, its weaknesses and imperfections and his stories reveal universal truths about the human condition.
Shakespeare’s writings prompt us to reflect on our deeds, feelings and values and tell us who we are.
His language was rich infact he introduced the modern english and invented many words and phrases which are still used today.
As a student of English, I may bother because it is quite hard to translate Shakespeare’s language into Italian, it is rich and sometimes I can’t immediately understand the words and the meanings hidden in and also what he want say.
I read “Hunger Games” and I liked it, it is a modern novel and it is easier but in my opinion it is not an educative book, it does not open your mind, it does not deal with the reality and I think that it has no sense to compare Shakespeare’s works to books like Hunger games.
We can relate Shakespeare to Italy because many of his sonnets follow the ‘two poem’ structure of the Petrarchan form and then because some of his plays take place in Italy, like Romeo and Juliet and Othello.
I don’t know how it is better to study Shakespeare but I would like to “change” reading him.
For study Shakespeare there are a lot of motivations. He is widely regarded as the gratest writer in all of english literatur, although he composed a lot of paly for the theatre. Another reason is that Shakespeare never grows old, probably because his rare quality of work. As a student of english, at the same time while I sudy Dante and the gratest italian poets, I care also to study to study the poets of other nations as Shakespearethat is oneof the most important in the world to better undestand the culture of the time in which he lived. I think that in Shakespeare comedies we can find whatever we want, love, filled with faith and loding to happy end, as in real life, the happy endings neve come without struggle! I’ve already read Hunger Games books and I’ve found them interessants, but I read them safly alone, instead of Shakespeare that I find more difficult to study and understand by myself.
We can put Shakespeare in connection with Italy for several reasons: he was influenced by a great italian poet, Francesco Petrarca, and the most famous palys have plots set in Italy, from the conditioned love of Romeo and Juliet’s in Verona to the intrigue in Othello’s in Venice. I would like to appraoch Shakespeare’s works not only with the books but also whatching videos or analyzing relevant documents.
Thank you for pointing out the “necessity” of appreciating Shakespeare’s works through films, but also through historical documents. I will certainly bear this suggestion of yours in mind while planning my classes.