Why Read Shakespeare

Why Read Shakespeare? 

1. Mack claims that reading Shakespeare is so hard because it's complex and requires being read more than once. His answer of how to compensate for the difficulty is simply to read, read, and read again.

2. When you "get" Shakespeare you not only get the words written on a page, but you gain a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you. 

Why Read Shakespeare? 

3. A Time for Developing Interests: By reading Shakespeare, students are forced to stick with something. They may initially write off a subject, claiming it is boring or too difficult. However, when they finally sit down and study it, they may find they really enjoy it. Reading Shakespeare helps students to learn this important skill that allows them to develop new interests.  

A Time for Exploring: Shakespeare gives us a better understanding of the world we live in as well as a better understanding of ourselves. It helps us understand the "characters" of the world and sometimes audiences find themselves in Shakespeare's characters. 

A Time for Self-Knowledge - Audiences are able to have a better understanding about the world around them after reading Shakespeare. Our society has taken a lot from him. When you get down to the root of an idea you are able to better understand it.

A Different Take on Skills - Mack claims that in today's world you need a broad set of skills to be successful in the workplace. Shakespeare is able to teach us these ideas. Many of the themes of his works are still relevant today.

There is Knowledge and there is Knowledge - Shakespeare shows you how to learn with emotion and by learning with emotion you gain a better sense of your own feelings. 

4. I find that "A Time for Self Knowledge" is the most convincing argument. It can easily be argued that his other points can be found with other authors. However, Shakespeare in many ways is the root of today's literature and even society. In math class you break complex problems down to their roots. That is when you fully understand a problem. We may never fully understand ourselves as humans but Shakespeare can help us almost get there. 

Talking About Literature

 Number four of Lewis Caroll's rules may be the most important if them all. Talking about literature, in many ways, is how a reader can receive the full extent of what a piece of writing has to offer. If no one talked about literature, great works of genius would just become words on a page. The meaning would be lost. Yes, you can read, digest, and interpret on your own, but it is when you do so with someone else that the real magic appears. You can learn so much from others. A passage that you merely scanned could have been of great significance to someone else. Where you saw an object symbolizing one thing, someone else may have gotten something completely different from it. The beauty in talking about literature is you can't be wrong. No one knows what the author was actually thinking. Readers can only guess. It's hearing other people's guesses that makes literature so fascinating. 

Room For Improvement

Virginia Wolf was am avid diary writer. In some cases her diary was a way to write down her inner thoughts, feelings, and even demons. I too believe that writing down your emotions is a therapeutic necessity. It is something only your eyes will see. Even in the case of Wolf, when she would rip apart her own word flow and grammar, it was hers alone to rip apart. When one is able to look at their own pieces of work and edit without their pride getting in the way, they have mastered the art of writing. You can always improve. No one will ever be a perfect writer. What makes a great writer is growth and willingness to improve. Virginia Wolf was a great writer. 

Tragic Creon

I would argue that Creon is the tragic hero in Antigone. While it seems that Antigone is the main character of the play, by the end she almost irrelevant. Creon on the other hand is relevant until the very end of the play. He is a noble and has a fatal flaw, pride. He lets it get in the way of his decision making. In the end, he is punished for his mistake, and almost all of his family is dead. He regrets his decisions and grows as a person. He knows what he did was wrong. He understands that in certain situations pride must be forgotten. Antigone just died. There is no growth or lesson learned. Creon on the other hand encompasses all the traits and does all the actions required of a tragic hero.

Two Thousand Years Later

Antigone and Ismene have very different ideas of what women are capable of. Ismene believes that they are weak and unable to stand up to men. In today's society, women have more rights than they did two thousand years ago. Still, in many places, women are  treated less than men. Women's rights is an extremely important issue. While we have the luxury of living in a country where women aren't faced everyday with obvious discrimination, others aren't as lucky. I'm not saying that women are better than men. There tends to be the stereotype that women interested women's rights all want to bite off men's heads. Honestly, I just believe there needs to be equality. Many women today, no matter where they live, are terrified to standup to men. If it's two thousand years later and women are still having the same issues, what does that really say about the world's progress?