Why Shakespeare?

Many people believe, rightly or wrongly, that Shakespeare was the greatest writer that ever lived. So naturally, we study him at school. A LOT. Although I do have several friends who really like Shakespeare, many teenagers just don't feel the love for him. I think I have worked out why.

There simply isn't anything teens can relate to in Shakespearean plays. We have never experienced any medieval battles, we are unlikely to have killed a man and we don't know any Kings. Even the love stories aren't relevant because in most western countries in today's world we are free to marry who we choose. That and the complicated language means it is very hard for us to engage with the story.

Other more modern classics, such as Great Expectations and Lord Of The Flies are more understandable. We are all experiencing the challenges of growing up and will soon have to decide if we want to stay with our parents or move on to uni or else where like Pip in Great Expectations. The unreturned love he has for Estella and some of the difficulties Pip has because of his class are also still possible today. Lord Of The Flies is scarily relevant as it is quite possible that the same thing could happen to us if we were all stranded on an island or a school trip.

So does this mean we should study less Shakespeare? He is still an amazing writer and many young people do enjoy his work. I personally like A Midsummer's Night Dream and Romeo and Juliet, but not his other plays. However, I do think we should study things that are relevant to us as well.