Shakespeare's Impact

A Bigger Impact Than Most People Think William Shakespeare, the creative and brilliant author himself, captivated hundreds of people with his well written plays and poems. They were so well written, that they had a huge impact on the English language of today. Matter of fact, Shakespeare had such an impact, that his quotes from his plays are used in our everyday language. Some of his quotes like: “A fool’s paradise”, “All of a sudden”, ”Fair Play” and “A foregone conclusion” are used in our reports, in our books and in our everyday language now, making Shakespeare one the greatest influences in language ever. Shakespeare wrote hundreds plays, but he couldn’t have done it without a little bit of help. “A fool’s paradise” (Shakespeare “Romeo and Juliet” Act2 Scene 4) was not the first time the phrase was coined. It was first mention in the Paston Letters, a group of letters created by the Paston family in England in 1462. In the Paston Letter it was to as "I wold not be in a folis paradyce". So, Shakespeare didn’t necessarily make the quote up, he just made it more famous and now everyone says it because of him. Then all of a sudden, Shakespeare comes up with another brilliant quote. “All of a sudden” (Shakespeare “The Taming of the Shrew” Act1 Scene 1) is used pretty much anywhere. In books, in poetry, in movies, “All of a sudden” is very common phrase used in the modern day English language. First coined by Shakespeare in 1596, it used was to show a sudden change of heart in one his characters. Today, it is preferred by many writers and authors in their writing because of it being like a poetic version of “suddenly”. Just another way Shakespeare has influence the modern day world
Then there is the quote “A foregone conclusion” (Shakespeare “Othello” Act 3 Scene 3) is probably not as famous as the other 2 quotes. The first founded in Shakespeare’s play “Othello” in 1604, and means that a conclusion is made before it happens.
Last but not least, “Fair Play”