Hamlet, The Twelfth Night

Hamlet, Macbeth, The Twelfth Night. All famous plays written by Shakespeare, an innovative playwright and author. Shakespeare has changed the way people view poetry and the world itself. He was the first playwright to give women rights. Shakespeare is a talented and brilliant author. At the end of these plays, it all comes down to one question: Should Shakespeare still be read to this day? While Shakespeare’s language is outdated and burdensome, the works of art are still relevant due to some marginalized people using them spiritually in order to help themselves through their hard times and struggles. Although the language is too difficult for some people, the heart of the matter lies deep within the text. Some Iraqi civilians and jail inmates
The civilians even see their life in Romeo and Juliet, as if Shakespeare was traveling through time. They interpret Montague, a “hard-line[d]” character as the “presence of Al-Qaeda in Iraq” (Janmohamed 380). It is amazing to see people in different countries seeing the play a different way than someone else in a different country. This is a good reason on why Shakespeare is still relevant. In the play, Capulet is very violent, just like Al Qaeda. At the end, Capulet is not welcome anymore and the civilians are trying to let Al Qaeda know that. In Shakespeare’s plays, there is a universal theme. Some may be “conflicts [that] persist across human societies [that] must be addressed before [they] spiral out of control” (Janmohamed 380). In each play, Shakespeare has a character face a problem and has another character help solve the problem with a reasonable solution. Shakespeare has impacted people all over the
Most children today “don’t like him and don’t get him” (Robshaw 401). The language is becoming very difficult to understand. If English teachers taught Shakespearean language, maybe the children wouldn’t have a problem with it. Robshaw makes an excellent argument, though: “Force-feeding children Shakespeare can only induce nausea and a lifelong aversion” (Robshaw 402). Children should wait until they are old enough to understand it. Reading it as a freshman in high school is different than reading it in college or when they are old enough to understand. With this author’s opinion, I agree to disagree. However, Shakespeare still needs to be incorporated into the curriculum. There is a way to work around language, such as teaching “a fragment of Romeo and Juliet and then showing the class West Side Story”(Robshaw 402). This is an effective way of using the advancements to our advantage because people say West Side Story is almost parallel to Romeo and Juliet. This makes the scenes be put into modern day perspective and puts life to the words. Some children learn through reading and others through watching. A teacher must cater to every student’s needs. Robshaw had some valid points, overall, but not enough to prove that the “Bard” needs the “heave-ho!”(Robshaw