William Shakespeare, born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, is widely regarded as the defining playwright and writer in the history of the English-speaking world. His 38 plays and at least 150 sonnets have been translated in over 100 languages, giving him an astonishingly widespread global influence - say the word ‘Shakespeare’ in any classroom in most parts of the world and you will undoubtedly be met with nods. Yet sometimes we may find Shakespeare’s writings somewhat hard to decode today; his convoluted word order, obscure references and elevated metaphors are perhaps difficult to transpose into a modern-day setting, particularly in an engaging way. How can we relate to tales of long-dead kings fighting battles that have been and gone?
However we could choose to look at Shakespeare in a different light; his stories are not relatable in that we can directly relate, but in that their themes have the power to still resonate with us today. We can recognise the indecisiveness of Hamlet, the egoism of Richard III, the paranoia of Macbeth and the grief of Juliet in perhaps our own lives, or the lives of those around us. Possible more indirectly, Shakespeare’s works (whether inadvertently or deliberately) are surprisingly adept at tackling themes we still grapple with today, such as feminism, ableism and morality. Shakespeare’s words have been adapted in thousands of films, television series and more, not to mention inspiring (albeit loosely) the 2000s films ‘She’s the Man’ and ‘Ten Things I Hate About You’. Shakespeare may be long-dead, but his works have far outlived him in endless forms, in forms which still resonate with audiences and consumers hundreds of years later.
