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Shakespeare - Why Is He Still So Widely Studied And Relavent Today?

Anaylaze why Shakespeare is relevant
and so widely studied and performed today?

Denise Ooi

The History of Theatre
Mrs
24 September 2008

For over four hundred years, the works of British playwright William Shakespeare has remained fundamental in the role of theatre, study of the English language and presumably, skills in the study of business management as critics claim. 1
Shakespeare's works had cultured the stage all over the world as well as in the development of English literature, which was amongst his contributions to the Westernized societies. Another significant contribution of his works is the expansion of the English language by over 1700 commonly used words and phrases. This is clear evidence of an ever-lasting reminiscence of his works. 2
His works include around thirty-eight plays which had survived are grouped into three categories, namely comedy, tragedy and history. Shakespeare also produced fine poetry and sonnets. All of these have been studied and performed world wide in many different languages. 3
The provenance of his works is dated during the Elizabethan era in London, where royalties and people from the higher social strata patronised his productions. 4 During this time, the stage had very much depended on words to communicate the plays to the members of the audience. There was an absence of theatre technology, props and other general forms of visual media unlike today, where modern theatre has greatly advanced. 5 Therefore Elizabethans London had very much likely encouraged the result of the massive manipulation of language used in Shakespeare's writings.
Despite significant changes in the way theatre is run during the Elizabethan era and now, there are several common elements with regards to Shakespeare’s style and bodies of writings which had not changed with time.
Firstly, the plots in Shakespeare’s plays had unique contexts as well as characteristics which allowed them to be appreciated by people throughout history,...