It has already been mentioned but bears reiterating - ShakespearE E thats an E on the end, surely if you're going to set on the greatest playwright of all time you can atleast spell his name right.
*Clears throat* Much better, there. Right, to some explanation.
Clearly you never had any teachers which actually inspired you when it comes to great works of literature, a teacher really would have to work hard to actually 'drone' on about
Macbeth since it contains hideous hags which manipulate the protagonist, as much graphic violence and blood as Gears of War, and of course Lady Macbeth whose lust for power drives her husband to murder. Yet, beyond a certain point the evil becomes so intense that she starts seeing things, specifically blood on her hands, she is driven insane by her the warped evil of her own mind and in a crecendo of her own terror clashing with malevolent and burning desire for power she slits her own throat. Could be F.E.A.R, Dead Space or Silent Hill right there.
But this is beside the point. Shakespeare is, as many have pointed out in this thread alone, an extremely intelligent writer. His works are meticulously put together. This is not to say his original, by no means, he pilfered every story from history, greek literature or whatever he could find. However, what he does with it is unmatched. Every sentence can be analysed and had mutliple meanings, his characters while a bit uneven admittedly, are fascinating. Take the classic, Hamlet. Now, is Hamlet insane? You could argue, legitimately, either way. Some have argued that he does indeed go insane, his madness is too convincing and unnecessary for what he requires it for in the story. Also, his actions lead Ophelia to her death, would a sane person let it get that far?
These are just some very minor examples and are not representative of everything that Shakespeare is about. His plays are very varied after all. Given the time that we live, to be honest, his comedy and history plays fall flat on their face, but not everything can endure. That said, the truely great plays endure, because they deal with universal themes, as relevant now as then, and 2000 years before that.
Where is the line at which a person is mad?
Are we locked by fate into a single course of action or can we genuinely choose?
Should you hate it if you're uncle marries your mother? (Yes, you should.)
Is it more noble to suffer the outrageous fortune of life, or is it actually braver to face that which lies beyond death? This one in particular is incredibly relevant, and for its time, extremely contravertial. The church was teaching that it was unacceptable to take your own life, and here is a protagonist (Hamlet) in his famous soliloque, contemplating whether non existance or even hell beyond this life is preferable to the torture of life itslef - is there a greater issue for a mortal person???
Now, this probably wont convince you, teachers doing a crappy job have pushed you too far the other way. You have to be willing to engage with these things, work at it. A Shakespeare play is not an action flick, you will not be spoon fed the good stuff. Now, if you genuinely have an open mind, watch Kenneth Brannagh's Hamlet - actually seeing brilliant actors understand what they are saying, acting it out, it's no longer a struggle to comprehend what is going on. A few students in a classroom stumbling through the dialogue is no way to understand it.
This may come across as arrogant, but it is not intended to be so: but unfortantely, if you say that Shakespeare is no big deal, or nothing special, or rubbish, you have, actually, missed the point. Not all his plays are amazing, some of them are quite dull actually. Not all the jokes still work, but as an entity his (better) plays are astounding, meticulously constructed, thought through, intricate and clever dialgoue, wit, complexity and they grapple with the most fundemental issues of life.
If you're still reading, lets do some proper analysing of that famous passage I mentioned, my personal favourite.
To be or not to be - that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And, by opposing, end them.
This is what I was discussing earlier, is it braver to take your own life, or endure life itself?
To die, to sleep
No more -and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to - 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished.
Here he is relishing that release, that sleep which death might bring.
To die, to sleep
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.
There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of disprized love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
Hamlet pauses, WAIT, what if you dreamed in that sleep? Ie. Hell. So here it is, the rub, the reason we do not immidiately kill ourselves now, because we fear what lies beyond.
Think Bender from Futurama - "If I thought I had to go through a whole other life I would kill myself right now!"
So here, because of that fear we endure all manner of unpleasant things in life, why?:
But that the dread of something after death,
That dread of something after death, dread. that undiscovered country (Star Trek VI)
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all
Here, with his revelation to himself and his audience, he brands us all cowards, we continue to play at life, to act in a certain way, to endure the hardships in whatever form they come, because we do not have the balls to stare death in the face and go "Come on then, take me you *****!"
This is not boring, Hamlet, and by extension Shakespeare is grappling with LIFE, mortality, the very crux of what makes us human!
The play's the thing!
PS. This post though long was rushed, maybe a longer thread is needed, for what What IS the big deal with Shakespeare (or more accurately, why he is a big deal) I have to do this sort of thing alot in my degree and if I had longer I would do a better job.
Thanks for reading
