Brecht and Shakespeare - Book Report/Review Example

To begin with, it would be imperative to talk about William Shakespeare's history. Born to a glove maker in the year 1564, Shakespeare grew up with a strong penchant for the unusual. This has characterised his writing in more ways than one. He married Anne Hathaway and went onto become one of the greatest playwrights and poets the world has ever seen. (Neilson et al, 1913) style of writing is concerned, his nuances and detailing have been a benchmark for many a writer. On a more personal note, William Shakespeare's life reflects the story of a boy from a provincial town who made it to the top without any money or connections to support his talent or dreams.

Besides influencing the theaterical scene in more ways than one, Shakespeare has been creadited with the creation of the most splendid plays the world has ever seen. He had the power to revolutionalise theatre and he actually achieved that aim with the creation of the most admired plays in Western Literature. As a matter of fact, in various poarts of the world, his ideals revolving around romance have affected modern day writers in Asian countries as well - Rabindra Nath Tagore (a great Indian playwright), and Harivansh Rai Bachchan (a renowned Indian poet) - to name a few.

(Harold, 2003) Shakespeare's main arena included one where he affected people through his intellectual, yet seemingly ordinary and therefore, easily accessible message. Shakespeare managed to imbibe a sense of physical action into the rather static state of affairs in the thearetical scene upon his arrival. Also, he was phenomenal as far as creating symbolic instead of purely realistic plots were concerned.This brings us to the writer and social thinker named bertolt Bercht. Born in the year 1898 as Eugen Berthold Friedrich Bercht, this German was primarily known for his contribution to the social arena in terms of lietrary work in the world of drama and stage.

His most notable works include Hauspostille, a volume of poems, and learning oriented plays like Lehrstucke. (Esslin, 1974) As a writer, Bercht had a style that brought people face to face with realism and certain sense of duty as well. The main element that he has drawn from Shakespeare's work is the use of tragedy to depict a theme. This has been done by Brecht as he focussed on bringing back an Elizabethan quality to the stage he directed and set. In this context, Brecht has tried to portray one social message or another through his work, in true Shakesperean style.

The only difference has been in his methods of delivering ideals. Bercht used his won sensibilities to portray various situations so as to offer a wider perspective - this is another quality that is like Shakespeare's style. The difference in the perspectives garnered lies in the invidual life experiences that Brecth and Shakespeare were exposed to. (Bentley et al, 1991) In this context, writers of modern day literature have avidly followed Shakespeare's lead by experimenting with real life scenarios to twist and turn them to trasmit a meassge.

The striking characteristic of Shakespeare's work