Hi, this is Cora Klassen, doing a blog about the relevance of Shakespeare towards teenagers.
Love, tyranny,
violence, and even scenes between reality, unreality, and a stage within a
stage. These themes came from various plays by a playwright named William
Shakespeare. All his plays have different themes. There is one question about it;
the topic question we’re learning today is why Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets
are relevant to teenagers today. I too
am a teen and into a few out of 37 of those plays. This information rightfully
came from http://blog.study2u.com/128/why-you-should-study-shakespeare/ , http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_Shakespeare's_plays_relate_to_teens ,
Here are some example
of the themes in the last paragraph and also some other themes from the work of
Shakespeare. Love is a popular one which is in Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, and The Twelfth Night. Romeo and Juliet is a strong example
about a couple of things that might get almost every teen’s attention and also
got mine. It’s young and boundless love and star-crossed lovers wanting to
escape their parents’ wishes. There’s definably something related in real life
about star-crossed lovers and escaping from the family boundaries. To make it
on their own like breaking away from the chains that kept you home bound. It
did unleash this expression “You and me against the world,” is quite relevant
with young couples. I do too wish to escape from my parents’ wishes and go my
own way with a guy that I love. This very theme is also on A Midsummer Night’s
Dream; near the end of play, there is a Greek play called Pyramus and Thisbe. It
didn’t just bring out the topic of star-crossed lovers; it also brings out another
theme that is a stage within a stage like with Hamlet, The Tempest and Love’s
Labour’s Lost. Also before this comedic play that happened with the two lovers,
Hermia and Lysander, Hermia’s father
wanted his daughter to marry Demetrius and the two lovers ran away from her
father’s wishes. Love is also in my favorite play called The Twelfth Night
which brings out the love system. Duke Orsino is in love with Duchess Olivia,
Olivia is in love with Cesario (who is Viola disguised as a man) and in love
with Sebastian (Viola’s twin brother) whom was mistaken for Cesario. Cesario
(Viola) is in love with Orsino, Malvalio is also in love with Olivia, Sir Toby
(Olivia’s uncle) is in love with the maid; Maria.
These are good
examples from the works of Shakespeare of mixing in themes into one play and
sonnet, but there are more examples. These examples are a bit kind of grim,
just to warn you. Tyranny is a terrible one which is in Macbeth. When you kill
a good friend, his bloody ghost of the past will haunt you because of your
betrayal and your cruel ruling. That’s what happened to Macbeth when he saw the
bloody ghost of his friend, Banquo. Tyranny can cause such madness to make
matters worse for the people in the area in which the ruler is taking control
of and ghostly hallucinations come along to scare the daylights out of him.
Violence is also in Macbeth like what happened to Macduff’s wife and children,
but such violence, such murder is in real life and it’s illegal. This sort of
event can cause revenge. Macduff wants
to avenge Macbeth for killing his wife and children which might cause sadness
and also such rage like a fire that is becoming bigger thinking of this very
thought, this powerful grudge. Macbeth is one of those people who want the power
and government control and doesn’t have the intention to give it up. Tyranny is
also in Julius Caesar, when you kill one tyrant; it causes more tyranny and
makes things even worse.
Shakespeare’s
plays are not just relevant to teenagers, it also causes an emotional effect
towards the audience. With comedies it
causes laughter, tragedies sheds out tears and some things causes other reactions
like with me as an audience watching the scene from Macbeth, of the murder of
Lady Macduff and her children. It causes a negative effect on me like there’s a
dark flame igniting within the shadows of my heart and it grows with my rage. I
would’ve been satisfied if the ghost of Banquo haunted Macbeth once more for
his wrong doings. Because I don’t like it when people kill children like animals
and I’ll try anything to quench away this rage in my heart. That’s a powerful,
yet emotional example of the plays’ effect. Even the classic element of
surprise like I was surprised about the quote “The wood began to move”, I’d
heard it before I’d watch the play of Macbeth. In a special feature/documentary
of the Two Towers in disc 3 of the Appendices,
Tolkien must have watched Macbeth. The part about Brigham Woods
beginning to move, all the author saw was people with leaf hats and branches
and he thought “What a mistake.” In the
second part of the Lord of the Rings, that’s when the woods really began to
move. Possibly it could be a reference from one of Shakespeare’ plays into his
stories, possibly for the character of Saurman with ambition, wanting power and
the abuse of power and cruelty that is related to the character of Macbeth. The
March of the Ents from the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and the Brigham
Woods from Macbeth have something quite in common, that living trees are
attacking their enemies and the person who wants power and abusing it.
There’s some
things I like about Shakespeare, that with star-crossed lovers; love has no
boundaries, escaping from the invisible chains of their parents’ wishes and
even fight and avenge against the tyrant or against tyranny itself; with a
righteous heart, you might be able to fight a cruel ruler and his ambitions and
become the ruler who is true at heart.
