William Shakespeare Influences

“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago” (-Warren Buffet). Today, people enjoy plenty of inheritances from the past such as freedom, technological gadgets, artistic and literary master pieces. They can appreciate these privileges because people in the past put their passions, times, and efforts to approach these things. William Shakespeare is one of those men who gave great presents to the generations coming. He wrote several plays, poems, and sonnets that made huge impacts. William Shakespeare, through his works, tremendously influenced modern day theater, literature, and even everyday speech. William Shakespeare changed theaters to be more active and lively through characters and music. He arranged that the decisions of each characters would move plot forward. On the other hand, he also used plot that moves forward to develop each character’s personality. Some historians claim that he also influenced the role of music in a play. They claim that before Shakespeare, music’s only function was to fill the gaps between different scenes. However, Shakespeare combined music into the play itself that it may function as a tool for storytelling. Shakespeare’s arrangement of characters and music improved theaters to deliver more impressive stories. (Shakespeare’s Influence on Theater)
For example, Charles Dickens used plenty of Shakespeare’s quotes in his work. Another great writer Herman Melville created a character “Captain Ahab” who is an epitome of Shakespearean tragic characters. He also followed Shakespeare’s writing techniques such as formal stage directions and extended soliloquies. Shakespeare also influenced many other great novelists and romantic poets. People can observe how Shakespeare influenced modern day literature by comparing the similarities between modern literatures and Shakespearean literatures.