The Influence of Shakespeare :: essays research papers

Across the universe of time Shakespeares influence on twenty-first century society. It is harder to imagine a more universal writer than William Shakespeare. seldom if constantly is one of his m all plays non being performed some(prenominal)where in the world and similarly rare is the tertiary English student who has not examined his work at length. His plays, sonnets and poems are common fodder for high train English departments across the globe. Shakespeare has perhaps contributed the most to the English language of any writer known to man literally. Over 1000 linguistic communication and phrases that he coined as part of his plays and prose are now in common hold across the globe. He changed nouns into verbs, verbs into adjectives, added on previously unheard-of prefixes and suffixes and in some cases made words out of nothing. Even culturally sensitive words such as ode (The ANZACS) and scientific jargon (epileptic) are in fact products of Shakespeare. Bernard Levin proba bly summed this up best when he wrote If you cannot understand my argument, and state "Its Greek to me", you are quoting Shakespeare if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare if you return your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare if you act more in sorrow than in anger, if your invite is father to the thought, if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played debauched and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a fuddle had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, - why, be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a antedate conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare (Bernard Levin. From The Story of English. Robert McCrum, William Cran and Robert MacNeil. Viking 1986).Shakespeares influence continues even in the worl d of film, not invented until several hundreds of days after his death in 1616. As well as the undeniable BBC remakes of most of his plays, newer adaptation such as Kenneth Branaghs Much flurry About Nothing (starring Keanu Reeves and Denzel Washington) and Baz Luhrmanns Romeo and Juliet (featuring Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio) have met critical plaudit and can be credited with bringing Shakespeare to a new extension not inclined to visiting theatres.