The Influence of Shakespeare

Across the universe of time: Shakespeare's influence on 21st century society.

It is harder to imagine a more universal writer than William Shakespeare. Rarely if ever is one of his many plays not being performed somewhere in the world and similarly rare is the tertiary English student who has not examined his work at length. His plays, sonnets and poems are common fodder for high school English departments across the globe.

Shakespeare has perhaps contributed the most to the English language of any writer known to man – literally. Over 1000 words and phrases that he coined as part of his plays and prose are now in common use across the globe. He changed nouns into verbs, verbs into adjectives, added on previously unheard-of prefixes and suffixes and in some cases made words out of nothing. Even culturally sensitive words such as ‘ode' (The ANZACS) and scientific jargon (‘epileptic') are in fact products of Shakespeare. Bernard Levin probably summed this up best when he wrote: "If you cannot understand my argument, and declare "It's Greek to me", you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger, if your wish is father to the thought, if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle… had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, … - why, be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare;…" (Bernard Levin. From The Story of English. Robert McCrum, William Cran and Robert MacNeil. Viking: 1986).

Shakespeare's influence continues even in the world of film, not invented until several hundreds of years after his death in 1616. As well as the inevitable BBC remakes of most of his plays, newer adaptation such as Kenneth Branagh's ‘Much Ado About Nothing' (starring Keanu Reeves and Denzel Washington) and Baz Luhrmann's ‘Romeo and Juliet' (featuring Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio) have met critical acclaim and can be credited with bringing Shakespeare to a new generation not inclined to visiting theatres. The very-loosely-biographical ‘Shakespeare in Love' picked up several Academy Awards after its release in 1999 and was a worldwide hit. Shakespeare has even infiltrated the teen movie genre with the film ‘Get Over It' (starring Kirsten Dunst) loosely based on ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream'.

Shakespeare remains a theatre favourite with hundreds of companies all over the world putting on performances of his most popular plays and few of the lesser-known ones as well. Even in New Zealand a highlight of the Auckland University calendar is the annual ‘Summer Shakespeare' outdoor performances on campus. Several drama festivals such as the ‘Sheila Winn Shakespeare Festival' are run in his honour with high school students performing excerpts form his works and writing essays.

Shakespeare's influence has even extended to tourism. Stratford-upon-Avon in England is the site of annual pilgrimages from thousand of people from across the world, flocking to see where Shakespeare was born, where he went to school and where he is buried. In 1998 Shakespeare's Globe theatre on the banks of the River Thames was rebuilt and now houses annual performances of his works. Interest in Shakespeare's life and works has provided a strong focal point for tourism in England.

Having immersed himself firmly in school curriculum's, the film industry, the theatre scene, the National Tourism Board of England and indeed the English language himself, Shakespeare's influence is not about to decrease any time soon. In fact a worldwide survey several years ago found that 71% of participants thought that Shakespeare was under-rated, compared to 9% thinking he was over-rated. With results like these, it looks like we'll be stuck with this one literary genius for a while yet!