what is shakespeare trying to express about revenge through his characters?

'To be or not to be?"

That is the question that has passed over the lips of countless actors playing Hamlet in the last four centuries on stage and screen. Information technology'due south too a question that people in almost every country and in whatever language know quite well. We can thank playwright William Shakespeare, whose reach is extensive.

In April, people effectually the world will celebrate the Bard's timeless works on the 400th anniversary of his decease. There will exist performances of his plays, readings of his poesy and new publications defended to analyzing his prolific and time-honored text.

Skullduggery abounds in works past Shakespeare. (Photograph/istock)

So why does Shakespeare's work continue to resonate with each generation?

"Shakespeare reveals a dissimilar face to different cultures and different people at dissimilar times," explained Bruce Smith, Dean's Professor of English and professor of theater at USC.

"When the Offset Page of Shakespeare's work was published in 1623, seven years after his death, Ben Johnson, who was a beau writer, noted that Shakespeare was 'not of an age, but for all time.' That statement tin can exist taken two ways: that the meaning of Shakespeare's work is ever the same or that it is always different. The second interpretation is the one that has been borne out."

Smith is editor of The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare, which will be published Feb. 11 past Cambridge University Press. Written for full general and academic audiences past an international roster of almost 300 contributors, the guide boasts more than 2,000 pages exploring both Shakespeare's world and the influence of his works on the globe.

Topics range from the language and initial reception of Shakespeare'southward plays and poems to studies of his works in pop culture, new media and advertising, as well as their influence on film, religion and fine arts.

Hither are half-dozen reasons (amid endless others) explored in the guide why Shakespeare remains an icon 400 years later his death.

1. You quote Shakespeare on a regular basis and don't even know it.

Shakespeare's influence on the English language language runs deep. For instance, if you search the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) — the definitive tape of the English linguistic communication — Shakespeare is often identified equally the sole user or beginning user of a word or phrase, according to Charlotte Brewer who authored the guide'south chapter on "Shakespeare and the OED."

"The more of Shakespeare's words yous look up, the more you lot discover that, time after fourth dimension, according to the OED, he turns out to accept used linguistic communication in wholly individual ways or [more ofttimes] to accept originated usages that afterwards became established in the language," Brewer wrote.

If you have ever said "It'southward Greek to me," suffered from "green-eyed jealousy," "stood on ceremony," been "tongue-tied," "hoodwinked" or "in a pickle," you lot are quoting Shakespeare.

2. The Bard'due south reach is cosmic.

The planet Uranus has 27 moons, the majority of which are named for Shakespearean characters: Titania, Oberon, Puck (A Midsummer Night'southward Dream); Ariel, Miranda, Caliban, Sycorax, Prospero, Setebos, Stephano, Trinculo, Francisco, Ferdinand (The Tempest); Cordelia (King Lear); Ophelia (Hamlet); Bianca (The Taming of the Shrew); Cressida (Troilus and Cressida); Desdemona (Othello); Juliet, Mab (Romeo and Juliet); Portia (The Merchant of Venice); Rosalind (Equally You Like It); Margaret (Much Ado Nearly Goose egg); Perdita (The Wintertime's Tale); and Cupid (Timon of Athens). (The ii remaining moons, Umbriel and Belinda, are named for characters in Alexander Pope'south The Rape of the Lock.

three. Some people don't believe Shakespeare wrote the plays and poems that bear his name.

What cements a writer's legacy more than when a segment of his or her audience contests their work? The peachy Shakespeare authorship controversy was sparked in the 1850s — more than 200 years subsequently his death — when American writer Delia Bacon and British bookseller William Henry Smith each published their arguments on the topic. Amongst other potential authors of the plays credited to Shakespeare, they suggested philosopher Francis Bacon and poet Walter Raleigh were more likely the "real" writers of Romeo and Juliet, etc. In the subsequent century, more than fifty alternative writers were proposed.

However, David Kathman, who wrote the "Authorship Controversy" chapter in The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare, is confident that Shakespeare'due south works are his own.

"Despite the claims of anti-Stratfordians," he explains, "the prove that William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the works of William Shakespeare is arable and wide-ranging for the fourth dimension, more arable than the comparable evidence for most other of his contemporary playwrights."

Kathman is 1 of several contained scholars without an bookish engagement recognized as authorities on Shakespeare who contributed to the guide. Smith noted that their inclusion "is yet another sign of Shakespeare's universal entreatment.

iv. Shakespeare has been a assisting brand for hundreds of years.

In 1710, publisher Jacob Tonson started a trend when he adopted Shakespeare's likeness as his corporate logo, using the Bard's portrait on his bookshop sign, in advertisements and on the editions of Shakespeare'south works that he published. In the by four centuries, Shakespeare'due south strength equally a brand has not faltered. In fact, information technology's ubiquitous. His likeness and his works have been used to sell soap, chocolate, cigarettes, computers, beer, soda and almost annihilation else you can call up of

v. His likeness remains a mystery.

Although Shakespeare'due south image has been reproduced time and once more, nosotros don't actually know what he looks like. None of the printed portraits that accompanied his work date back to his lifetime. The image that most people are familiar with is an engraving by Martin Droeshout, which debuted in 1623 on the title page of the first edition of Shakespeare's collected plays called the First Folio.

However, Erin C. Blake explained in the guide's chapter on "Likenesses: Prints and Portraits," that the editors of the First Folio were friends and colleagues of the Bard's. She wrote: "They knew what he looked similar and would not accept accustomed a portrait that differed wildly from the human they remembered.

6. His works are universal and enduring, as are his characters.

Shakespeare's works are emotional, hilarious, pithy. But above all, he was masterful at imbuing his stories and his characters with qualities that audiences and readers identify with — Hamlet's anguish, Ophelia'southward distress, the enduring love betwixt Romeo and Juliet.

In Samuel Johnson'southward preface to The Plays of Shakespeare (1765), he wrote, "His characters … are the genuine progeny of common humanity, such equally the world will always supply, and observation volition always find."

For those who would like to explore Shakespeare's legacy more extensively, the print version of The Cambridge Guide volition be available at the Doheny Memorial Library. The online version of the guide volition be accessible through USC Libraries in the coming months.

Smith also will celebrate the anniversary of Shakespeare's passing with the publication of his seventh volume in June with Shakespeare | Cutting: Rethinking Cutwork in an Age of Distraction (Oxford University Printing). Shakespeare | Cut, which looks at the creative ways snippets of the Bard'due south work have appeared on phase, in video games or on YouTube, is an elaboration of the Oxford Wells Shakespeare Lectures that he delivered at Oxford University in 2014.

More than stories nigh: Literature

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Source: https://news.usc.edu/91717/six-reasons-shakespeare-remains-relevant-400-years-after-his-death/

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