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Shakespeare's Literature in Modern Society

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Shakespeare's Literature in Modern Society

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In Shakespeare’s plays, injustice was often the main theme of the plot. Racism, prejudice and discrimination were exhibited in stories such as The Merchant of Venice and Othello. Despite the tendency of people to take offence to subjects such as these, Shakespeare didn’t write about these topics because he needed to, but because it was his reality that he most likely wanted everyone else to know about. These injustices existed and occurred frequently in his society around 400 years ago. Attempting to censor or change the way he wrote his plays would conceal the part of history that it was written in and further avoid a topic that we should eventually learn about at a certain part of our lives.

Furthermore, these mistakes help us remember a part in time when they were made, allowing us to learn from them and improve. Preventing our next generation from learning this topics would most likely result in these actions being repeated without the knowledge that it is wrong, restarting the cycle again. Therefore, we all should be aware of what is wrong in our society before taking action.

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March 5, 2015
Shakespeare's plays contain anti-Semitism, racism and sexism, sexual abuse and violence; they magnify the tenor of their age. But should they be censored when they might offend a particular community?

Actor Mark Rylance, former artistic director of the Globe theater, recently said that he has sometimes cut "some unfortunate anti-Semitic things" from Shakespeare's plays:

If a character says it, it doesn't mean the author means it but since the Holocaust . . . these statements have a lot more resonance now than they did at that time.

The Merchant of Venice is the most obvious example here. It's the play that most thoroughly reveals the anti-Semitism of Shakespeare's day. Rylance's words perhaps act as a kind of warning to theater makers in our current climate of fear, heightened by the attack on a Kosher supermarket in Paris after the shootings at Charlie Hebdo magazine in January.

Yet for other contemporary writers and directors, Shakespeare's anti-Semitism offers a chance to highlight social injustice. Director Rupert Goold's recently revived " Merchant of Venice" for the Almeida Theatre in London was a bright, brash show that set the play in Las Vegas. It turned the spotlight on the hypocrisy of Christian fundamentalism in a digital age.

The anti-Semitism of Shakespeare's words was emphasized in one shocking scene where, following Shylock's forced conversion from Judaism to Christianity, Bassanio's men spit on him and film his humiliation on their mobile phones. He struggles to his feet and runs through the audience, implicitly damning all silent observers with his pained cries. On stage, Bassanio's men laugh; to them, anti-Semitism is no more than a moment's entertainment. The implication is of course that soon their videos will find an airing on the Internet.

It was deeply disturbing: a reminder of how anti-Semitism is alive in the heartland of kitsch and capitalist America. Reviewers called the show " revelatory" and " provocative "; two comments that support productions that don't shy away from problematic subject matter in difficult times.

But my brief canvas of the audience after the show revealed opinion was divided. Some agreed with the reviews; others felt Goold's production was irresponsibly extreme, guilty of expressing the racism it purportedly critiqued.

Next year will see the publication of " A Wilderness of Monkeys," Howard Jacobson's literary re-imagining of "Merchant." Writing post-Holocaust gives him the chance to exploit the ambivalence in Shakespeare's text. "Who is the hero of this play and who is the villain?" Jacobson said when the book was announced:

For an English novelist, Shakespeare is where it all begins. For an English novelist who also happens to be Jewish, "The Merchant of Venice" is where it all snarls up.

This does not only apply to English and Jewish authors. Across the world, Syrian writer-director Nawar Bulbul is producing Shakespeare with Syrian refugee children in Amman, Jordan. "I would not do 'Merchant of Venice,' " he says. "For me to do that play would be taken as too controversial" because of Syria's majority-Muslim affiliation.

Conversely, in 2012, leading British actors and directors (including Rylance) signed an open letter calling for the Jewish-Israeli Habima theater production of "Merchant of Venice" to be barred from coming to the Globe theater's World Shakespeare Festival in London. They complained because of the company's "shameful record" of performing plays in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.

Jacobson responded by writing in the Observer that art "proceeds from, and addresses, our unaligned humanity. . . . So to censor it in the name of political or religious conviction . . . is to tear out its very heart." In the end, the Habima production took place. About 15 people were led from the auditorium during the production for unfurling Palestinian flags.

With the complex contemporary politics this play throws into relief, Shakespeare has left directors and producers a thorny problem. Evidence from his other works suggests that he was for free speech however, urging at the end of "King Lear" that we should "speak what we feel, not what we ought to say." So perhaps he might have agreed with Jacobson rather than Rylance; as he advocated against censorship of any point of view, even if it might offend or oppose. In "Richard II," he writes:

Free speech and fearless, I to thee allow.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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March 5, 2015 Shakespeare's plays contain anti-Semitism, racism and sexism, sexual abuse and violence; they magnify the tenor of their age. But should they be censored when they might offend a particular community?

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With the 21st century being the era of technological innovation, Shakespeare's works have been recreated and distributed on many different platforms. Allowing a great variety of unique people to comprehend his literature. However, the prejudice and social injustice involved in his plays are almost completely certain to offend someone in our overly sensitive generation. Although, those who feel offended by Shakespeare's remarks are most likely unaware of its intended purpose. These people can be further educated on the works of Shakespeare and how his often questionable literature helped alter modern society positively and understand how humans interacted with each others in the past.

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March 5, 2015
Shakespeare's plays contain anti-Semitism, racism and sexism, sexual abuse and violence; they magnify the tenor of their age. But should they be censored when they might offend a particular community?

Actor Mark Rylance, former artistic director of the Globe theater, recently said that he has sometimes cut "some unfortunate anti-Semitic things" from Shakespeare's plays:

If a character says it, it doesn't mean the author means it but since the Holocaust . . . these statements have a lot more resonance now than they did at that time.

The Merchant of Venice is the most obvious example here. It's the play that most thoroughly reveals the anti-Semitism of Shakespeare's day. Rylance's words perhaps act as a kind of warning to theater makers in our current climate of fear, heightened by the attack on a Kosher supermarket in Paris after the shootings at Charlie Hebdo magazine in January.

Yet for other contemporary writers and directors, Shakespeare's anti-Semitism offers a chance to highlight social injustice. Director Rupert Goold's recently revived " Merchant of Venice" for the Almeida Theatre in London was a bright, brash show that set the play in Las Vegas. It turned the spotlight on the hypocrisy of Christian fundamentalism in a digital age.

The anti-Semitism of Shakespeare's words was emphasized in one shocking scene where, following Shylock's forced conversion from Judaism to Christianity, Bassanio's men spit on him and film his humiliation on their mobile phones. He struggles to his feet and runs through the audience, implicitly damning all silent observers with his pained cries. On stage, Bassanio's men laugh; to them, anti-Semitism is no more than a moment's entertainment. The implication is of course that soon their videos will find an airing on the Internet.

It was deeply disturbing: a reminder of how anti-Semitism is alive in the heartland of kitsch and capitalist America. Reviewers called the show " revelatory" and " provocative "; two comments that support productions that don't shy away from problematic subject matter in difficult times.

But my brief canvas of the audience after the show revealed opinion was divided. Some agreed with the reviews; others felt Goold's production was irresponsibly extreme, guilty of expressing the racism it purportedly critiqued.

Next year will see the publication of " A Wilderness of Monkeys," Howard Jacobson's literary re-imagining of "Merchant." Writing post-Holocaust gives him the chance to exploit the ambivalence in Shakespeare's text. "Who is the hero of this play and who is the villain?" Jacobson said when the book was announced:

For an English novelist, Shakespeare is where it all begins. For an English novelist who also happens to be Jewish, "The Merchant of Venice" is where it all snarls up.

This does not only apply to English and Jewish authors. Across the world, Syrian writer-director Nawar Bulbul is producing Shakespeare with Syrian refugee children in Amman, Jordan. "I would not do 'Merchant of Venice,' " he says. "For me to do that play would be taken as too controversial" because of Syria's majority-Muslim affiliation.

Conversely, in 2012, leading British actors and directors (including Rylance) signed an open letter calling for the Jewish-Israeli Habima theater production of "Merchant of Venice" to be barred from coming to the Globe theater's World Shakespeare Festival in London. They complained because of the company's "shameful record" of performing plays in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.

Jacobson responded by writing in the Observer that art "proceeds from, and addresses, our unaligned humanity. . . . So to censor it in the name of political or religious conviction . . . is to tear out its very heart." In the end, the Habima production took place. About 15 people were led from the auditorium during the production for unfurling Palestinian flags.

With the complex contemporary politics this play throws into relief, Shakespeare has left directors and producers a thorny problem. Evidence from his other works suggests that he was for free speech however, urging at the end of "King Lear" that we should "speak what we feel, not what we ought to say." So perhaps he might have agreed with Jacobson rather than Rylance; as he advocated against censorship of any point of view, even if it might offend or oppose. In "Richard II," he writes:

Free speech and fearless, I to thee allow.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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March 5, 2015 Shakespeare's plays contain anti-Semitism, racism and sexism, sexual abuse and violence; they magnify the tenor of their age. But should they be censored when they might offend a particular community?

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Shakespeare tends to express problems that happened during his time through his plays like a message

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‘Shakespeare and Modern Culture’ (Published 2008)

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“The premise of this book is simple and direct: Shakespeare makes modern culture and modern culture makes Shakespeare.”

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Whos literature can we compare to Shakespeare from our day and age?
Is their anyone better than Shakespeare?

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Shakespeare made his literary works either tragic, romantic or hilarious and to this day he is still famous for his writing and his ideas

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Shakespeare has shows many types of emotions in his plays. He also brings up many types of topics that relate to the real world such as prejudice and discrimination.

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Controversial topics in Shakespeare plays

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Controversial topics in Shakespeare plays

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I do not believe that the controversial topics focused on in William Shakespeare's plays should be modified or removed. This is due to the fact that most of the controversial topics read about in Shakespeare's plays are still highly relevant to society today. Most high school students will study Shakespeare during their education, and they are the ones that need to learn that the insensitive, often racist and sexist topics in the plays are wrong and need to become outdated. By removing these, we will remove a way of teaching the youngest generation how society should and should not be. By changing or adapting Shakespeare's plays to the views of the offended, we will be removing a chance for change in our future societies. Controversial topics in literature can be a great way to teach right versus wrong.

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Shakespeare often brings up topics that involved discrimination and wrote them in a way so that the people who watched could realize how ridiculous their prejudice was. In Merchant of Venice, for example, the treatment of the character Shylock shows how far the mistreatment can drive someone in terms of revenge.

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Shakespeare would bring attention to racism, probably making at least a few people realize 400 years ago through his plays that it is wrong. he brought attention to it in the form of entertainment, which was pretty neat.

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I think Shakespeare is very knowledged on the lifestyle and attitudes of people in the past, this allowed him to write plays that portrayed and mocked their beliefs and the way they interpreted certain things in life. His literature is not only challenging to understand, but it teaches us and shows us how different things were before than now.

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Why some people think Shakespeare didn’t write Shakespeare, explained

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The anti-Stratfordian theory is complete nonsense. Here’s why people like it.

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Something Shakespeare does well in his writing, is his ability to subtly criticize prejudice. In the Merchant of Venice, two characters are heavily insulted upon based on their race or religion. Shakespeare delivers a famous soliloquy by Shylock, a Jewish money lender. Shakespeare was trying to show the world, there is more to these people than the colour of their skin or choice of religion. Shakespeare uses Othello and the Prince of Morocco as satire for racism. The Prince of Morocco explains that there is more to him than the colour of his skin, and that it shouldn't prevent him from wooing Portia. In Othello's case, he is accused of using witchcraft to trick Desdemona into marriage. However, that is not the case. Desdemona fell in love with Othello honestly. The Duke actually complimented him on how virtuous he is. In the end, these characters are the only ones who walk away with dignity.

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Shakespeare was very creative and different than other authors during his time. He used his plays to portray and give voice to issues surrounding his time, and almost all of his plays have very important themes(prejudice, appearance vs reality, love etc) that are still applicable to today’ modern world.

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In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on stage so all the female parts had to be played by boys.

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In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to act on stage so all the female parts had to be played by boys.

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William Shakespeare has around 4 billion copies of his plays sold

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He shows emotion in his plays. His emotions effect the audience. The audience can feel of what the actors are feeling in the play. The audience can relate through past events that had happen in their life

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Shakespeare's work was so deep and so fascinating that people still continuing reading it till today. They use Shakespeare to express opinions and teach.

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Why people still talk about Shakesphere 

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Why people still talk about Shakesphere 

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Shakesphere, the English poet wrote rich poetry. His poetry consisted of dramatical language, which caught the attention of many. The characters which belonged to his plays were endlessly intresting

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Shakespeare is one author whose works have been translated into every major language of the world and his plays are performed more than that of any other playwright living or dead.

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Shakespeare is one author whose works have been translated into every major language of the world and his plays are performed more than that of any other playwright living or dead.

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I believe that we should not change parts that may offend some people in Shakespeare's plays because that is like changing a piece of history. If you are offended don't watch or read it then.

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He is

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Shakespeare wrote about everything. For Example, life, love, death, revenge, jealousy, and murder.

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Shakespeare was a very talented person who made his plays very diverse and different from others in his time.

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Conflict is deadly and tricky if handled badly, as shown in shakespears plays. Romeo and Juliet was one of his biggest conflict novel and it had ended in death over a solution to the conflict.

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Why Shakespeare's plays are still relevant

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Why Shakespeare's plays are still relevant

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There are many reasons why Shakespeare's plays are still relevant from the fact that his plays are still relatable even after 400 years.

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I find it interesting that although Shakespeare was alive a looong time ago, the main issues in his plays are still issues today. In class we're reading Othello and ofc, the big thing so far is racism which is still a big issue today. I find it disappointing that we haven't found a way for people to mature and properly address issues that were around in the 1600's. It's been 100+ years people, c'mon.

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In all of his plays, Shakespeares shows a matter of appearence versus reality. Shakespeare is a master of making people and things appear what they are not.

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WIlliam Shakespeare

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Shakespeare made all of his plays very interesting. He always had a twist which would make you want to keep reading and see what will happen next.

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elove is always over rules in Shakespeares plays, even when the loves forbidden . In the majority of plays he makes the love birds love looked down upon by the families. the couples usually have to run off,do it secretly or fight for their love with the help of friends and religious figures. Example: romeo and Juliet the families hate each other so they marry in secret, but it ends up a tragedy . In merchant of Venice , Shylock's daughter runs off to marry a catholic, which has Shylock upset. in Othello, Othello marries the senates daughter which the senate is not happy about at all. in conclusion though the love in his plays is usually forbidden.

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Was likely one of the most progressive writers of his time

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We see that in the books of Shakespeare the protagonist always has a wise man that he knows. From Romeos friend to the a Merchant. From male to female we see that one way or the other the protagonist receives wise words from someone. so Shakespeare doesn't limit wise words to an old man.

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I just found this article while looking for writings about prejudice in Shakespeare.

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If a Shakespeare play is racist or antisemitic, is it OK to change the ending?

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An Australian production of Merchant of Venice changes the final scene, adding completely new phrases. It's profoundly affecting - but is it right?