Reflections on Shakespeare

As I read through my blog posts what ties them together is my interest in the underlying themes that Shakespeare brought to his works. Shakespeare’s genius was in taking stories that already existed and stamping them with his own unique vision. A Midsummer Night’s Dream could have been a simple romantic comedy where all the couples marry and live happily ever after but this is not the case. A casual reading of the play may glean this happy ending but once the play is finished you’re left with this uneasy feeling about the ending.

Will Hermia ever be as innocent and trusting of Lysander as she was before he was given the potion that made him fall in love with Helena? Now that Helena has Demetrius can she be content in a love that is the result of magic? What happens if the potion wears off? Can Hippoylta find true love with Theseus, the man who has taken her by force and defeated her people? And finally, what will be the next battle waged by Oberon and Titania and how will it affect the human world? Questions swirl at the end of the play which challenges the nature of love.

More than four hundred years later we still read Shakespeare and love him because of the questions he leaves his audience at the end of works. I feel he challenges us to step “outside the box” of expectations by presenting us with a microcosm of life on the stage. At the conclusion of Much Ado About Nothing, we are again confronted with two “happy” couples who wed. Claudio has the hand of the fair Hero but this conclusion comes with a price. Claudio, the fickle lover, falls hard for Hero. The moment Hero’s purity is questioned Claudio just as quickly and passionately is ready to reject her. Claudio may have Hero but will trust truly reign in their household?

I am drawn to the ambiguity of Shakespeare. I am a creative writing major and I believe writers and actors have a lot in common. We are always interested in the grey areas of characters and their relationships. The plot, while important, must take a secondary role to the motivations propelling the characters. Shakespeare’s brilliance is in leaving these motivations open. Because Shakespeare was an actor and a writer, he has a keen sense of human nature and it is obvious he enjoyed allowing a wide range of interpretations for his characters.

Reading through the blog posts as well as the discussions in class, there are so many diverse reasons to meditate on when considering these plays. They are not simple at all. I love how this blog allows us to have full reign to express our opinions and ideas. In this forum, Shakespeare is alive and very well. He is not some dead writer we are forced to study because he is part of the canon. Shakespeare’s creativity is as relevant now as it was in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century.