Legacy3

WHAT IS SHAKESPEARE’S LEGACY? WHERE DO WE FIND SHAKESPEARE’S INFLUENCES EVEN TODAY? WHERE IS SHAKESPEARE IN MODERN POP CULTURE? WHAT IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFE ARE REFERENCES OR ALLUSIONS TO SHAKESPEARE? WHAT DEBT DO WE OWE TO SHAKESPEARE IN OUR CULTURE, LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND ART? Answer prepared by: Adan AH ** “To be, or not to be: that is the question," Hamlet (Act III, Scene I) is one of the first quotes that people think of while connecting to Shakespeare. Yet, in your daily life you quote Shakespeare too! Well-known sayings such as, “It’s all Greek to me,” “Et tu, Brute,” “The course of true love never did run smooth,” or “Neither a borrower nor lender be,” are also quotes from Shakespeare's plays (Alchin). In our everyday culture, we often use words and quotes Shakespeare coined over 400 years ago, proving how William Shakespeare is alive even today.

You may not see it, but there are many examples of Shakespearean-made words. Look around you. You are using your EYEBALL to see the objects in front of you. You might get thirsty soon. Are you going to have a glass of SKIM MILK? Did you forget to clean your room today? Then I’ll bet you had to listen to your mother RANT on and on about responsibilities and chores. Before Shakespeare wrote them down, words like "rant," "eyeball," or "skim milk" were non-existent. We owe a debt to Shakespeare’s influence on our culture today in literature and language for creating words never thought of before!

Not only did William’s influences affect literature, but the arts, too. The Folger Shakespeare Library’s website states, “Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country is a great example," talking about references to Shakespeare in movies today. Star Trek episodes constantly allude to Shakespeare plays. His stories inspire movies, plays, and songs! Romeo and Juliet has many versions, including the movie West Side Story, the book Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper, and the song "Romeo and Juliet" by the Dire Straights. Even Disney has cartoon versions of plays like A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Used in titles, plots, and themes, you can’t escape the world of Shakespeare, no matter how modern you may consider yourself.

Ben Jonson, an English actor during Shakepseare's times, said "He was not of an age, but for all time!" about Shakespeare's plays. Although Shakespeare wrote for Elizabethan times, his works can relate in any situation, because he wrote on broad subjects. Marchette Chute, an author on Shakespeare's works and time, relates that Shakespeare wrote across all genres- tragedy, history, comedy, fairytales, love stories, and adventure- and so a wider range of people connect with his writing, in turn making him more popular.

Our modern culture has been shaped by William Shakespeare. “His legacy lives on with his writing,” says Amanda Mabillard, a Shakespearean scholar. His plays have been translated in languages all around the world, performed everywhere, quoted daily, and his characters able to connect with every human being. The reason we still read Shakespeare is because of his talent at expressing all emotions in many different ways, in the conflicting human nature we all experience.

**Words! Words! Words! This game has you try and figure out the meanings of Shakespeare phrases!**
 * LINKS AND GAMES! **

Want to see an example of a modernized version of Shakespeare? The Reduced Shakespeare Company put on a performance of Othello, in a rap! Warning!! The Reduced Shakespeare Company has some suggestive wording not for younger children.

Alchin, L.K. “William Shakespeare Quotes and Quotations”. William Shakespeare info (the Complete Works online). February 1, 2007. April 4, 2010. <[]>
 * WORKS CITED **

Chrisp, Peter. Shakespeare. New York: DK Publishing. 2004. 33-4, 40-1, 49, 62-3. Print.

Chute, Marchette. //Stories from Shakespeare//. New York: World Publishing Company, 1956.

Mabillard, Amanda. “Shakespeare's Influence on Other Writers”. Shakespeare Online. August 20, 2000. April 4, 2010. .

Mabillard, Amanda. “Why Study Shakespeare?” Shakespeare Online. August 20, 2000. April 4, 2010. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/whystudyshakespeare.html >.

Mowat, Barbara A. and Paul Werstine. Introduction. A Midsummer Night's Dream. By William Shakespeare. 1600. New York: Washington Square P, 1993. xiii-lii. Print.

Searching for Shakespeare. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. 2006. 91-2, 104, 113-21. Print.