Shakespeare and his plays

William Shakespeare, one of the most prominent authors in the world, went down in the history of literature as a classic, whose plays touch upon eternally important subjects. Being written in the sixteenth century, his plays are performed repeatedly, and every epoch presents its perception of Shakespeare plays.
Why are his works popular irrespective of time? Why are people fascinated by the characters and events throughout centuries? This is the phenomenon of Shakespeare and of his plays; it is his secret that we will try to learn.
Shakespeare created eternal characters in the world literature, as the names of his heroes became common and continue to exist in people’s consciousness nowadays. Despite the variety of Shakespeare’s plays and the diversity of subjects, all his plays are united by a common theme – the problems of tenuous human relationship, first of all, of love and friendship. That is why the focus of the majority of plays is on the test of people and of their feelings. The characters face different obstacles, get into difficulties and try to find the way out and to solve the problems due to their morality and great tenacity. Such situations happen irrespectively of time and place, these are the conditions of a human life. It must be the main reason why people still find answers to their questions in Shakespeare’s plays and watch with interest the succession of events.
The play “Romeo and Juliet” that I have read proves this opinion as it has been staged and remade many times. Every generation tries to adapt this famous story to its time, taking into account the peculiarities of perception of certain values. The latest film “Romeo + Juliet” with Leonardo di Kaprio starring, is a bright example of such remake. The plot and the problems are the same but the action takes place in our time. The weight and the expression of the dialogues and monologues make people go through all the feelings of characters. The following extract is a bright explanation why more and more readers are attracted by this play. Romeo’s words are expressive and full of love and care; the embodiment of romance and tender feelings, they create the atmosphere of love throughout the play.
“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she…
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp; her eye in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.” (Shakespeare, 1993,p. 15)
In spite of the fact that the scene of action takes place in the sixteenth century in Italy, the characters does not differ from modern ones, they have the same feelings, solve the same problems and seem to live in our epoch. Thus, Shakespeare represents the natural world in his plays. The readers feel that these heroes are common people and do not differ from them. Romeo and Juliet follow their love notwithstanding the conventionalities of society and bans of their families and despite their death, they win this battle of good and bad. Therefore, we see how these ostensibly common and usual characters act in the phenomenal world of such supreme categories as fate, inevitability, life and death, love and betrayal.
“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife…” (Shakespeare, 1993,p. 55)
To make a conclusion, it is evident that Shakespearian plays are eternal. They are independent from time, history and people. They belong to the phenomenal world of feelings and spiritual values that are beyond human power.

References

1. Halio, Jay L. (1996). ed. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: Texts, Contexts and Interpretations. Newark: University of Delaware Press.
2. Shakespeare William. (1993). Romeo and Juliet. Courier Dover