Shakespeare’s Enduring Legacy
By Mya Thae (Research)
Despite
passing away over 400 years ago, Shakespeare’s legacy remains vibrant and continues
to shape the literary and cultural landscape of the modern world.
Shakespeare was a
famous writer. He wrote many good and winning plays. He created many
attractive plays. When I was in 10th standard, I had to study two
English textbooks. I like them and keep them in my drawers. One is “Seven
Inventors”, and another book is “Six Tales” by Shakespeare. From Seven Inventors,
we learnt about Thomas Edison, Charles Goodyear, the Wright brothers and other
inventors. For their inventions, we can conveniently use many usable things.
Six tales from Shakespeare contained “Julius Ceasar”, “King Lear and his three
daughters”, and other exciting stories. Julius Ceasar passed away for his
faithful friend “Brutus”, and his wife Cleopatra was suicide by biting a cobra.
Cleopatra’s film was famous, and the audience loved it so much, and the cinema
hall was crowded. My father also liked it, and he watched several times with
me. This film indicates that no one trusts it. Brutus betrayed his lovely
friend Julius Ceasar. We got many lessons from King Lear and his three
daughters. King Lear asked his daughters how much they loved him. The elder two
sisters replied they loved more than their lives. The youngest daughter
replied she loved him as much as she could. The King angried his youngest
daughter and drew out from the palace. But when the King was old, only the
youngest daughter looked after his father. These tales also gave good lessons
to the audience.
Shakespeare passed away over 400 years
ago, yet his writing remains as influential as ever. An English professor and
two actors explained why his work is so profile. It has been translated into
more than 80 languages, including Klingon, a constructed language that first
appeared in Star Trek. More recently, it drew massive audiences to the Pop-up
Globe theatres in Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney.
So, why do we still care so much about
the language from the “Bard of Abon”? Although William Shakespeare was a playwright
for not much more than 20 years, he is still considered by many to be the
greatest dramatist of all time.
The most famous writer who ever
lived
“It seems contradictory for a world her
hurtling headlong into an increasingly grim future to embrace preservation of
any kind,” says Tom Bishop’ professor of English and drama at the University
of Auckland and author of Shakespeare and the Theatre of Wonder. “Yet,
Shakespeare’s prestige had never been higher or more widely invested in. His
floating head with its balding pate is probably better known globally than that
of any other artist of the past.
“In part, this fame is merely
contingent, he explains”. “If the dominant world power of the age of colonial
settlement had been Spain, as it nearly was, we would now be reading and
recognizing Calderon or if it had been China, J, Junxiang”. We should not underestimate
this extent to which Shakespeare’s contemporary dominance is the product of circumstances
that have little to do with his actual work”.
Still, Shakespeare’s language is an
intrinsic reason for his position.
“The modern Anglophone world has
embraced its intensity, its dynamism and its express pungency,” says Professor
Bishop.
Pop-up Globe is the world’s first
full-scale temporary working replica of one of the greatest theatres in
history, the second Globe, the theatre Shakespeare and his company built in
1614 after the first Globe burned down. The Pop-up Globe host Shakespeare
festivals in Australia and New Zealand. The Merchant of Venice performed in
front of Kiwi and Australian audiences.
Engaging the Emotions
It’s the raw emotion that makes
Shakespeare’s language so engaging to Albert Walker, 27, who acted in the
Pop-up Globe in Auckland.
“No writer is as good at finding the
core themes of human existence and exploring them in great, simple storylines,”
says Walker. “I think the only barrier is the language, which is often
misunderstood and can become something to be feared, especially during high
school, where, to me, it was taught in a stale and torturous way.
“I think Shakespeare is as relevant now
as he ever was and ever will be. His stories deal with universal themes that
transcend time. Whether it’s the devastating, conflicting loss Hamlet suffers
or the intense, forbidden love that our famous lovers Romeo and Juliet go
through, Shakespeare’s themes relate to people of all generations.
Universal Themes and Emotional
Truth
Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA)
trained New Zealand actor Lisa Harrow, 75, has spent many years performing with
the Royal Shakespeare Company. Harrow has attained much acclaim in both
theatre and film and has acted with Dame Judy Dench, David Suchet Pierce
Brosnan, Peter O’ Tootle and Nigel Havers. At the Pop-up Globe in Auckland, she
performed as Prospero in the Tempest.
“I think for an actor there’s nothing
more thrilling than standing on a stage and engaging fully in the fibre of
your being-mental, as well as physical with some of the things Shakespeare
wants us to say,” says Harrow.
“It just vibrates through your body. In
his plays, there are some heroic characters, but most of them have feet or
clay. There are some great leaders, but most of them fail. What he’s able to do
is be honest and fearless about what makes us tick. And exploring emotion is
what makes us want to act.
I’ve never really studied Shakespeare.
I’ve never done a course or read literary criticism because, for me, it’s never
been about that. It’s about emotional thought. It’s about what’s inside the
consonants and vowels that he puts on the page. It’s the feeling of the power
of his language and the clarity and depth and perception with which he
expresses what it’s like to be human with at our foibles,” she says.
Shakespeare’s Appeal is Worldwide
Bard’s work has made its mark around the
globe because of its enduring language and themes. “I’ve heard of a project in
the US where they take military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder
and work with them on Shakespeare plays in which soldiers and military readers
experience war and brutality’ deceit and betrayal, victory and remorse,” says
actress Lisa Harrow.
Shakespeare with Veterans is a free
weekly conversation and acting ensemble based in Kentucky for military service
personnel. Veterans of the US Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps are
finding confidence and comfort in Shakespeare’s language despite never having
acted before.
The group discusses and tells stories
about their lives, helping with the healing process and performing snippets of
Shakespeare for other veterans and civilians.
“People who have never encountered a
Shakespeare play in their lives find his work is giving them a way of getting
to the grief that has been trapped inside them,” says Harrow.
“There can be no greater argument for
Shakespeare’s continuing relevance than the power to heal some who is so
destroyed by his or her experience of the brutality of war, and to help, then
find their humanity again, and therefore find themselves”.
Shakespeare in short
Although his official birthdate is not
recorded, in church records, Shakespeare was baptized on 26 April 1564. In
Shakespeare’s time, it was traditional for baptisms to take place three days
after birth.
The third child of a leather merchant
and later bailiff, John Shakespeare, who landed heiress Mary Andrey William,
was born in Stratford-upon-Avan during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
He wrote 37 recorded plays from 1590 to
1613, and experts estimate Shakespeare passed away on his 52nd birthday, 23
April 1616. Amazingly, the Bard is considered a late bloomer and was once
called an ‘upstart crow’ by a fellow playwright, Robert Greene.
In fact, his full literary genius wasn’t
recognized until the 19th century.
Shakespeare’s birth is located in
Henley Street Stratford upon Avon, England.
By Judy Wilford
Ref – Ingenio, the alumni
magazine of the University of Auckland
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