I believe that William Shakespeare is one of the most well-known writers in the world today and many people would agree with me when I say he is one of or the best British writers and playmakers. Even though he is a tremendously old writer and playmaker his stories and plays are still very relevant to today's day and age. William Shakespeare has helped me understand the unique side of drama and the reason is simply his plays and stories are still relevant to today's day and age. This is because of the characters, universal themes such as love and power, the message behind each and every one of his plays and lastly are the type of genre of plays he wrote, which were comedy, tragedy and romance. His unique and different characters feel like they are relatable to many people an example of why his characters are relatable is the ages of his characters vary from teenagers, for example, Romeo is only 16 from the play “ Romeo and Juliet” to older adults, for example, Julius Caesar from the play “Julius Caesar”. There are two plays that I will talk about in my essay today, the first one being Julius Caesar and the second play is “A Midsummer Night's Dream”.
So the first play that I will talk about is the play “A Midsummer Night's Dream”. William Shakespeare wrote this play as a type of romance with a slight hint of comedy which was two of the three genres of plays he wrote. “A Midsummer Night's Dream” was written somewhere between 1595 to 1596. It is one of Shakespeare's most popular plays and is performed across the world. This play has inspired people to make many movies, the newest one being released in 2017. This movie is slightly different being a modern rendition that relocates the location from ancient Athens to a present-day place being Los Angeles.
A universal theme in the play that is still relevant for a modern audience is love. First of all, there's a quote that truly and perfectly describes love from the play which is when Helena says “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind”, (Helena, Act 1 Scene 1). I believe that this quote is very relevant to the theme of love and also to a modern-day audience because it portrays an extremely important message which is that we should not like someone for what they look on the outside but just simply who they are on the inside. I also believe that we as humans live of being social, I know this because love brings people closer together and also helps people forgive people who have done the wrong thing.
Although “A Midsummer Night's Dream” is a very popular play I strongly believe that “Julius Caesar” is also extremely popular play and one or is the most relevant plays that William Shakespeare wrote to a modern-day audience. This play of Shakespeare's fits into the genre of tragedy. I know this because of the element that happens in the play which is when Julius Caesar a hero who has a fatal flaw that leads to downfall, “ his death”. Shakespeare wrote his play “Julis Caesar” in 1599. I think that this is crazy because of how old it is but it has so much in common in today's society and I know that many people who have watched or read “Julis Caesar” will agree.
I strongly believe that this play is his most relevant plays because of the universal theme of power. This theme is so relevant because it shows the theme of power in a political way. This is because in the play Brutus, one of the main characters is deciding if he should kill Caesar or let him live which is just like life when people are deciding if they should try to take over the current president or let him or she stay in that place.
In conclusion, Shakespeare's plays and stories are still relevant to today’s day and age because it is important for teenagers to learn Shakespeare and his work because to understand Shakespeare, you need to be imaginative and creative and that is vital for teenagers. It is so major for teenagers to be creative because of the problems that they will face in the future, for example, climate change, they will have to find a way to reduce or stop it. I hope next time you watch or read one of William Shakespeare fantastic and unlike plays you don’t only pay attention to it but also to the strong and powerful messages and themes.