William Shakespeare's penmanship transcends temporal bounds

The fact that Shakespeare’s universality is being debated more than four centuries after his death proves his undeniable impact on not just literature as a subject, but language as a medium of communication. His literary works mark a transition from the use of Middle English to early modern English; a distant ancestor to the contemporary language now in everyday use. Unhappy with the outcome of conforming to the traditional writing styles of the period, as seen in his early plays like “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, he went on to not just break the norms of writing but set up standards that influenced all the writers to come. Those standards are upheld even to this day. Writing in a rhythm known as iambic pentameter^[1] lent his plays and sonnets a theatrical, musical quality that captured and held the attention of the listener. He used some in his plays like “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Romeo and Juliet” to hone his writing skills, and the use of metaphors and tropes to ultimately achieve perfection with two of his most famous tragedies, “Hamlet” and “Macbeth”. Shakespeare’s use of soliloquies (monologues) does not just help in furthering the plot but also enables the reader to get a glimpse into the psyche of his characters--such as one of his most Machiavellian villains, Iago--making it one of the earliest methods of introspection visible to the audience. Furthermore, it puts forward the notion of unacted upon thoughts. Often we have thoughts running through our mind, which if acted upon, would be considered unacceptable by society. Shakespeare’s characters, being dynamic, were not immune to this inherently human quality, and thus through soliloquies, the audience was able to see the true intentions of characters and the strong influence that society exerted upon them. What made Shakespeare the witty genius as we know him to be now was his hidden subtext delivered through his layered penmanship that held a mirror up to society, regardless of the era.

[P1] Shakespeare's use of language is self-reflective.