Why Is Shakespeare So Popular - Essay Example

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare [Institute’s William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was a great playwright and poet ofthe sixteenth century and his contribution to theatre is immense, the most affluent art of his age. Shakespeare is still remembered, through his theatrical work, as he was responsible for bringing depth to drama. Moreover, all his plays ranging from comedy to tragedy had an aspect of psychological realism, which made each of his characters believable. This paper would discuss William Shakespeare’s brilliance as a playwright due to his strong usage of language and characterization. Shakespeare’s plays were therefore were brought to theatre and have earned massive applause to date. Shakespeares acting/production company dominated the London theater scene during both the last decade of Elizabeth reign and, after 1603, under her Jacobean Age successor, James I. Moreover, indeed, under James I, Shakespeares theatre troop was called "His Majestys Servants". The principals of the troop received an exalted status as members of James Is Royal household. A total of 26 names are recorded as the "Principal Actors" of Shakespeares company at the Globe Theatre, a renowned theatre company based in London. The aura of royal patronage extended to its commercial productions at the Globe Theatre Company (e-notes, n.d) Even four centuries later, people can identify with the aspirations, strengths and weaknesses of the hundreds of characters and could feel the moral dilemmas depicted in Shakespeare’s plays. The close to reality depiction of the characters was the chief reason Shakespeare’s plays were able to gain popularity when brought to theatres. Also, not only the protagonists but even the supporting roles in the plays were described with such detail that when performed in theatres, each character in the plays had its own essence. “Shakespeare’s characters have an almost automatic belief, typical of his time, in “a divinity that shapes our ends”, “flights of angels”, and “the Everlasting” who, for example, opposes “self slaughter”.  They tend to believe in devils and ghosts and witches” (The British Humanist Association, n.d). This brought a larger than life aura and ambience to the plays. Adding on to it, each character brought life to the stage with their unique dialogues. The theatre of Shakespeare’s era even though deprived of technological resources was able to leave an impact due to the language used in the plays. Shakespeare’s dialogue’s strong language was the weapon he used to counter the lack of props and stage ornaments. His plays had more to do with auditory beauty rather than being a visual treat for the audience. Furthermore, the acclaim gotten by contemporary plays is often accomplished through sets, props and costumes, Shakespeare gave his audiences almost entirely through language. Therefore, the insightful playwright depended immensely on the dialogue writing and the script and has managed to win over the hearts of not only the intellectual audience but the lay-men of each era, familiar with the English language. His plays drip in poetry. Understanding the power of language, Shakespeare succeeded in painting landscapes, creating atmospheres and compelling characters through the power of his words, which formulated beautiful expressions and phrases. It is because of this talent of Shakespeare that the actors could be translated into performance with ease. Moreover, the great playwright’s works were not close to reality as per say but instead created a miniature world of their own. Because of this, Shakespeare’s plays are seen with the same zeal and zest even in today’s world. It is important to note, the thirty-seven plays of Shakespeare don’t come under the category of moral sermons, handbooks of etiquette, philosophical dissertations and neither as documentaries of English life in the period of Renaissance. Therefore, Shakespearean plays, essentially, demonstrate power of illusion over reality. Additionally, the themes of the plays and the dialogue show that the playwright was a humanist and had a diverse theme base covering romance, comedy and tragedy. Interestingly, he mastered all of the three themes with the same brilliance. Therefore, Shakespeare cannot be categorized as a specific genre’s expert in the world of theatre. Shakespeare, although belonging to an era having a vast religious impact, portrayed attitudes that were far from the convention of Christianity. He was, contrary to the then popular beliefs was significantly secular which could be gathered from his famous plays. Additionally, he mingled with the category of Histories, which constituted plays that chronicled the lives of the English Kings. One of the most popular historical plays of Shakespeare was “Henry IV” and “Richard II”. Moreover, each of Shakespeare’s plays is its own world in miniature: “the happy-go-lucky farcical world of The Comedy of Errors or The Taming of the Shrew, the romantic, fairy-tale world of Cymbeline and The Tempest, the darkly ironic world of Troilus and Cressida and the tragic world of Lear or Othello are all places different from each other and from our own” (Shakespeare’s theatre, n.d). Furthermore, Shakespeare’s collection of 154 love sonnets are the most beautifully sonnets written in the English language. He explored the art of literature through poetry, inventing new words and phrase, which are used till today and have been inspiring the generations to come. Poetry was the art of nobles and gentlemen, and Shakespeare who was a rustic interloper without the usual college-educated wit for the means of profit introduced himself between1593 and 1594. Venus and Adonis became Shakespeares most widely printed work during his lifetime. The following year, Shakespeare published The Rape of Lucrece (Shakespeare Resource Center, n.d). Moreover, the aforementioned poems not only bolstered Shakespeares reputation but even his wallet as he needed to earn to start a profession in theatre. William Shakespeare is best known for writing the greatest love story of all kinds, the “Romeo and Juliet”. The play has become a symbol in the romanticism culture and its adaptations are performed with innovative variations although keeping the essence of the theme intact. The name Romeo has still been attached to the young lovers who are ready to go against odds to win over their love (Jamieson, n.d). Also, without any doubt “Hamlet” is the crowning achievement of Shakespeare’s literature career in theatre. It was the most dramatic characters ever produces in the age to which Shakespeare belonged to. Therefore, it can easily be stated that Shakespeare’s psychologically loaded characterization is extraordinary as it was hundred years later that the concept of psychology was developed (Free Shakespeare Resources, n.d). Moreover, one must be familiar with the early days of English literature in order to comprehend the foundation beneath much of more modern literature’s basis. Shakespeare’s modern influence is still seen to date in several ways. For example, the success of Shakespeare’s works helped to set the precedent for the evolution of modern dramas and plays. He is also credited with being one of the first writers to use any modern prose in his writings. Hence, it can be concluded that Shakespeare was not only revolutionary in his writings as he did not follow the orthodox pattern of play writing but his plays were literary sources of entertainment. The themes that Shakespeare resorted to were made powerful through the believable characterization with the usage of strong and beautiful language in narration and dialogues. It is commendable that the characters invented by Shakespeare have gained immense popularity to date because of the powerful and unique characterization. Even though the themes were not close to reality, the characters defined the psychological variance in people belonging to the same period. Therefore, the success of Shakespeare’s works helped to set the precedent for the evolution of modern dramas and plays. Hence, it would be no wrong to say in Ben Jonson words that “Shakespeare is not of an age but of all time”. References English Theater in the Mid-Sixteenth Century. (n.d.). Shakespeares Theatre. Retrieved June 16, 2012, from academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/sh_th.html Jamieson, L. (n.d.). Shakespeare Popular for 400 Years - Why is Shakespeare so Popular?. Shakespeare – Free Shakespeare Resources for Students and Teachers. Retrieved June 16, 2012, from http://shakespeare.about.com/od/shakespearebasics/tp/popular.htm Shakespeare Resource Center - Shakespeares Poetry. (n.d.). Shakespeare Resource Center. Retrieved June 16, 2012, from http://www.bardweb.net/poetry.html Shakespeares Globe Theater. (n.d.). eNotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More.. Retrieved June 16, 2012, from http://www.enotes.com/william-shakespeare/shakespeares-globe-theater William Shakespeare (1546–1616). (n.d.). The British Humanist Association. Retrieved June 16, 2012, from http://www.humanism.org.uk/humanism/humanist-tradition/renaissance/shakespeare Read More