In studying important literature, I am often confronted with a dual feeling of appreciation for the work’s genius and dismay at the distance between the author and myself in our life perspectives. It’s always difficult for me to imagine how an author’s thoughts progressed in writing when their life experiences are so far from my own. I have always felt an acute sense of this distance in reading Shakespeare due in part to the difficulty of the language and also in part to my unfamiliarity with the history and setting of his plays. I had decided in high school that Shakespeare was not for me. Though I accepted his greatness, it was just acceptance of what teachers and books have told me to be true.
This past weekend my perspective was changed. I was fortunate enough visit Stratford-Upon-Avon, William Shakespeare’s birthplace. I walked the streets where Shakespeare spent much of his life. I visited his grave and birthplace. Suddenly, this picture of a man in a textbook felt more like a real man. I was still not convinced, though, that his language wasn’t mostly gibberish to my eyes and the allusions in his plays simply historical trivia I would never catch.
The phenomenal production of As You Like It at the Courtyard Theater had me eating my words once again. This comedy about love and disguised gender had me laughing out loud. It was full of subtle word play and in-your-face physical humor I never expected. Not only that, but it was RELATABLE!
I realized that these stories about misguided love triangles were nothing new. Shakespeare grew out of the Greek myths in which God and Goddesses were constantly changing figures and creating plans to capture their loved ones. Out of Shakespeare grew the melodrama of telenovelas, romance novels, films and TV of today.
As I sat in the play I pictured those who sat at the Globe for the first production of As You Like It, laughter flowing from the upper-upper-class in gowns to the lower-class standing in the center. It’s incredible that today a college student can enjoy the same humor as people in Shakespeare’s time.
I left the Theater feeling an amazing sense of change in myself. I felt connected, intelligent, matured and simply happy. I could feel the kind of transformation which makes study abroad so important.
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Many people don't realize that Shakespeare wasn't entirely original. He borrowed a great deal of his plots from sources historical and contemporary alike. In fact, he reuses some of these ideas in multiple works.
ReplyDeleteStill he is the greatest writer in the English cannon because of his ability as a communicator. He made those obscure or uninteresting story lines vibrant and relatable. Even more remarkable is, as you said, his timelessness. People have enjoyed his plays for centuries and will continue to do so for centuries more.
His humor is the quintessential British humor, which requires an acquired taste, but is priceless to those who enjoy it. In other words, you have to appreciate puns.