When a book is called a "classic," one assumes that it defines its time and will forever be a work of true literature. But, when I think of Shakespeare I think, truly, that all his plays are greater than classics. They override time. They exist and make sense in a world completely different then they were originally intended for.
I have shown in previous blogs my enthusiasm for Shakespeare. When Professor Ambrose asked if it was possible that the films suggest Shakespeare is universal, I agreed completely. Each play has an underlying emotion: love, jealousy, or anger, that any person can understand. Perhaps, the fact that Shakespeare still manages to touch his audiences centuries after the original compositions is what causes him to be so universal. Shakespeare's plays have endless adaptions-in books, movies and plays. We modernize Shakespeare over and over again because of his ability to relate to anyone in different aspects of life. Shakespeare's plays are read or acted repeatedly but they never fail to please their audience or to dramatize the realities everyone faces. We appreciate the exaggerated drama that we know we will never fail to understand because all of the emotions expressed are human through and through.
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Great thoughts here, Casey! Believing that Shakespeare's works are more than classics is an incredibly valid statement! When I hear classics, I automatically thing something from the past but Shakespeare's work is something more... it has lived and been appreciated in the past and it will continue to be appreciated in the future because of it's keying into human emotions which are constant.
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