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Is Shakespeare Relevant Today

Decent Essays

The Relevance of Romeo William Shakespeare, the man who’s works are read at one point and time by nearly all. The question is, should they be? Shakespeare was a playwright over 400 years ago. His portfolio of plays includes Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest, and many more. He is known by a large majority of the world’s population, and he is considered a national treasure in his country of England. William Shakespeare is not relevant in today’s culture because of the changing times, the difficult language, and the unnecessary reason his works are still being read today. To begin, Shakespeare is not relevant in today’s culture because of the changing times. First, technology has changed how people think, as referenced by Alexandra …show more content…

Alexandra Petri convincingly states, “These are not works we read and see together as a generation or a country. They’re works we enjoy as a species.” (Par. 32). A large percent of the population knows and reads Shakespeare, so there is no purpose in getting rid of him. Stopping or limiting the amount of Shakespeare students read wouldn’t make anything better, and wouldn’t be beneficial in any way. This argument is wrong, because there are much better ways to honor Shakespeare than forcing children to read so much of his work, so early. Mark Powell explains this by stating, “If it's to preserve his national monument status, this is an unnecessary and counter-productive way of going about it. If it is to teach those things that literature is supposed to teach (…) then Shakespeare is simply not delivering.” (Par. 7). Students and teachers shouldn't have Shakespeare forced upon them just because it has been done like that for so long. If people really want to keep Shakespeare’s legacy intact, ruining his reputation in the minds of children everywhere is not a good idea, but that is exactly what the world is doing. This refutation, along with the changing times, and the difficult language, show that Shakespeare is not suited for today’s

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