The Shakespeare Craze

I’m pretty excited to start Hamlet. I have only read Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and The Twelfth Knight- and that was a few years ago. I thought that the video today was interesting too. It’s interesting how different speech was back then than today. Perhaps the speech goes along with the day and age. For example, we do not really emphasize our vowels, we talk quickly and efficiently. In contrast, during Shakespearian time, people emphasized certain letters, and as you had suggested, talked “rounder”. The thoughtful and lengthy speech from long ago may emulate the more leisurely or at least thoughtful way of life. Today, we are all so busy and rushed that speech is just as rapid. It is a shame really; Shakespeare proved that language is an art, and we are almost minimizing the capacity of it. We have taken out the quality in words that make them sound especially interesting and been left with simplicity. Not that simplicity is a bad thing, but it just seems weird that society would take out the beauty in the actual sound of words. Also, I find the fact that Shakespeare created an exceptional vocabulary quite intriguing. It makes me wonder where we would be today without his words. It’s cool that he just decided to take authority and develop these words. I know that society creates new words as well to a degree today, but that is society as a whole. Shakespeare totally changed his society. It is amazing that he had a 34,000 word vocabulary when the average educated person has half of that. Life would be so much more poetic with a larger vocabulary. Shakespeare was able to express so many feelings and thoughts where everybody else is confined to maybe half of those words. If everybody talked like Shakespeare, one would be able to share more personal thoughts which would lead to a more empathetic society. Shakespeare apparently did this wonderfully with his thirty seven plays. He was able to portray and include every social class and way of life. This allowed for a broader audience because everybody felt included. To be able to include all people in something so artistically touching is quite the accomplishment. It is amazing to think that one man changed the face of history with his passion for language. To think that words themselves can change something so immensely… So anyway, I’m excited to really understand the whole “Shakespeare craze”. I have already noticed the vast difference between reading as a sophomore and reading as a senior, so I’m sure Hamlet will be no exception. Also, I’m interested in comparing such an old piece of literature to the more recent novels that we have read. As we saw from the video today, language changes, but emotions and day to day life are sometimes oddly similar. Shakespeare is obviously incredibly bright and creative, and apparently he’s pretty humorous as well. That sounds like a pretty mixture to me; hopefully I won’t get too tired of five weeks of him…