The Influence of Shakespeare :: essays research papers

Across the universe of time Shakespeares influence on 21st century society. It is harder to imagine a more(prenominal) universal writer than William Shakespeare. Rarely if ever is one of his many plays not being performed somewhere in the arena and similarly rare is the third English student who has not examined his work at length. His plays, sonnets and poems are commonplace fodder for high school English departments across the globe. Shakespeare has perhaps contributed the well-nigh to the English language of any writer k directn to man literally. oer 1000 words and phrases that he coined as part of his plays and prose are now in common use across the globe. He changed nouns into verbs, verbs into adjectives, added on antecedently unheard-of prefixes and suffixes and in some cases made words out of no comminutedg. level(p) culturally sensitive words such as ode (The ANZACS) and scientific slang (epileptic) are in fact products of Shakespeare. Bernard Levin probably summed this up trump out when he wrote If you cannot understand my argument, and declare "Its Greek to me", you are quoting Shakespeare if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare if you act more in sorrow than in anger, if your wish 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 jealous jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle 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 foregone conclusion that you are (as good passel 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 world of film, not invented until several hundreds of years after his death in 1616. As well as the inevitable BBC remakes of most of his plays, newer adaptation such as Kenneth Branaghs Much Ado About Nothing (starring Keanu Reeves and Denzel Washington) and Baz Luhrmanns Romeo and Juliet (featuring Claire Danes and da Vinci DiCaprio) have met critical acclaim and can be credited with livery Shakespeare to a new generation not inclined to visiting theatres.