Shakespeare made an impact on the world through writing,influence on Modern English,and his contributions to theater.Shakespeare contributed to writing. He contributed by "Shakespeare used language of startling originality to portray many-sided characters and tell fascinating stories."(Lander 4)Shakespeare try's to hook readers and other people by making the actors express themselves clearly that way people can feel what he feels with his poem or play."It is interesting to note that George Bernard Shaw (1865-1950), who ridiculed those who worshiped Shakespeare (inventing an insulting term to denote the study of Shakespeare - bardolatry), secretly admired Shakespeare a great deal and often told his close friends that he thought the Bard had an unsurpassed command of the language"(Mabillard 2)George Bernard often made fun of anyone that thought Shakespeare was good. He invented an new word that is dedicated to people who praise Shakespeare.Many people also were not a very big fan of Shakespeare because they believed his material was over exaggerated."Shakespeare influenced every generation of writers since his death and he continues to have an enormous impact on contemporary plays, movies, and poems. The Romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821) was so influenced by Shakespeare that he kept a bust of the Bard beside him while he wrote, hoping that Shakespeare would spark his creativity. Keats's poems duplicate Shakespeare's style and are full of Shakespearean imagery."The famous poet John Keats was so inspired by Shakespeare that every time that he wrote, he would have something that reminded him of Shakespeare as a "good luck" charm.Shakespeare was so famous that many people try to keep his legacy going by recreating similar plays and poems like him.
Shakespeare did many things to contribute to society’s English language.Such as,"His impact endures not only in the way we express ourselves, but how we experience and process the world around us. Had Shakespeare not given us the words, would we truly feel “bedazzled” (The Taming of the Shrew)? Had he not taught us the word “gloomy”, would it be a feeling we recognise in ourselves?"(Anderson 5)What the author is trying to get across is that people in today's society express themselves in a different way compared to how actors were in play from back then.Also, many of the words that Shakespeare has used are very creative compared to the ones we have used in today's society."Of the 25,000 words in the canon, roughly 1,500 were coined by Shakespeare himself. Prior to and during Shakespeare's time, the grammar and rules of English were not standardized. But once Shakespeare's plays became popular in the late seventeenth and eighteenth century, they helped contribute to the standardization of the English language"(Weebly 2).What the article is also trying to prove is that when Shakespeare made his first plays,English still was not as advanced as it was today.Therefore,many of his words were adjusted in order for them to fit into society. "His works have helped shape the literature of all English-speaking countries. His work has also had an important effect on the literary cultures of such countries as Germany and Russia. In addition, his widespread presence in popular culture extends to motion pictures, television, cartoons, and even songs." (Lander 5) His poems,plays,and stories have been influenced by day to day things in many places of the world." Among Shakespeare's greatest contributions to the English language must be the introduction of new vocabulary and phrases which have enriched the language making it more colorful and expressive. Some estimates at the number of words coined by Shakespeare number in the several thousands. He created these words by, "changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used together, adding prefixes and suffixes, and devising words wholly original."(Weebly)The author is also trying to convey that many of the day to day words we use originated from Shakespeare but were then adjusted to help make the word more understandable.
Lastly Shakespeare contributed to theater.Such as,"Since his death Shakespeare's plays have been almost continually performed, in non-English speaking nations as well as those where English is the native tongue; they are quoted more than the works of any other single author. The plays have been subject to ongoing examination and evaluation by critics attempting to explain their perennial appeal, which does not appear to derive from any set of profound or explicitly formulated ideas."Many of Shakespeare's plays have been performed ever since his death and to this day they are performed in the current version of English unlike how Shakespeare used old fashion English."Shakespeare helped bring the Renaissance freedom, humanity and rebirth of appreciation of classical antiquity to the English theater. Until Shakespeare's time, although the English language was widely used, it did not have the complexity to express profundity adequately. "(Anderson 9)Also, even though English was a language at the time, it did not have the same meaning compared to today's vocabulary.
Overall Shakespeare contributed to English Modern Language, the Theater, and lastly writing.
Work Cited
Anderson, Hephzibah. "Shakespeare's Contribution's." History's Culture,Anderson, 21 Oct. 2014, www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140527-say-what-shakespeares-words. Accessed 8 Dec. 2016.
Anderson, Robert. "William Shakespear Life A Genius from Stanford." HoltLiterature & Language Arts: Mastering the California Standards: Reading,Writing, Listening, Speaking, by G. Kylene Beers et al., Austin, Holt,Rinehart & Winston, 2003, pp. 776-77.
Lander, Jesse M. Shakespeare,William. World Book Advanced,www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar504520&st=william+shakespeare#tab=homepage. Accessed 4 Dec.2016.
Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare's Influence on Other Writers." Shakespeare's
Influence on Other Writers, 20 Oct. 2013, www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/shakespearewriter.html. Accessed 8 Dec. 2016.
"Shakespeare's Contributions to the English Language" ["What didShakespeare Contribute?"]. Shakespeare's Contributions to the English
Language, p. 1. Weebly, shakespearescontribution.weebly.com/contribution-to-english-language.html. Accessed 8 Dec. 2016.
William Shakespear. EBSCO eBook Collection.
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