The Department Of Education in New South Wales have a budget of more than 8 million dollars, controlling over 2240 schools, and almost 1 million students enrolled in NSW, they have a lot of power, no doubt. There is a lot of debate about the curriculum in schools, what should and shouldn’t be taught. One thing that I think they’re definitely getting right is the encouragement of the study of Shakespeare.
But is this subject really relevant to today’s society? Does his work stand the test of time? Should children really be studying poetry written more than 400 years ago? The answer is a plain yes to all of them.
Shakespeare's works are most definitely relevant today. His portraits of the human soul make you realise that people are the same after 400 years. The way he writes about human emotions such as anger, love, jealousy, betrayal, jubilation talks directly you.
Shakespeare wrote so much and about so many different things, there is something for everybody. He writes about life from so many perspectives: comedic, dramatic or romantic. His stories include war, religious conflict, racial prejudice, class division, love, death, and betrayal.
Listen to these words from Macbeth
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing
Some people say that Shakespeare’s wording is silly. They complain that he writes the pieces in a cryptic way, making it a chore to read it, and his verses a longer than they need to be. In fact, his original audiences had no trouble understanding his plays. They were for common enjoyment of everybody, like going to a movie for us today.
For us now his work takes more time and effort to understand. We read it in a way that slows us down so we have to think slowly, allowing us to appreciate every word, every idea.
TS Eliot once said that “Shakespeare’s primitiveness is what made him truly modern”.
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