TL;DR- His work is mandatory in all British schools and most of the population knows his name. There is no denying that Shakespeare was a great poet and playwright, who had a massive influence on the English language- but does he really deserve all the acclaim he gets?

Contrary to popular belief, he is not as relevant and compelling as many people make out. His plays (only two of which are original stories) are labelled as timeless. However the old fashioned storylines and language he uses does not always translate well to the present; when his work is studied in schools, there is usually a translation next to the original text.

As Peter Beech states, going to see a Shakespeare play nowadays is usually a case of watching a ‘nervous cast elbow their way through 10 minutes of tedious wordplay in front of a baffled crowd’ [1]. Do we really venerate Shakespeare nowadays, or are we just told that's who we should admire out of habit, from when the dial on Shakespeare was ‘turned from ‘good writer’ to ‘god’’ [2] in the eighteenth century?

Additionally, his plays were not written to be read and ‘torn apart line by line by English teachers four centuries later’ [3], but rather acted for the enjoyment of the masses there at the time, as the scripts were nothing more than a template for the actors to work around. So, it can be argued that analysing his ‘high-brow language’ makes no sense- similar to music, ‘we don’t read the musical notes, we listen’ [4].

As well as his work now appearing pretentious and irrelevant, his work is very much overplayed, rebooted and resold, also ‘Shakespeare’ nowadays is narrowed down to ‘only a handful of plays’- the obvious ones such as Romeo and Juliet [5]. These tired plays are constantly studied in English classes across the U.K. as it’s a mandatory part of the curriculum. But surely English lessons would be more interesting without dreading difficult to read Shakespearean plays and poems, and instead, looking at these in your own time, or even just once, rather than every single year of secondary school.

Besides, other plays and poems can be picked apart just as much as Shakespeare’s, for instance, in college I found A Streetcar Named Desire and The Great Gatsby much more compelling and juicy when it came to analysis than Othello.

The way Shakespeare overshadows the world of literature and the school curriculum also marginalises writers from his own time (plus a century either way). An example of this would be Marguerite de Navarre, who I had never heard of until recently.

One of her most important works, Heptaméron (1558–59) consisted of ‘72 tales (out of a planned 100) told by a group of travellers delayed by a flood on their return from a Pyrenean spa’ [6]. Similarly to Shakespeare’s overdone work, her stories illustrated virtues such as honour, triumph and quick-wittedness.

It’s true that Shakespeare was a good writer, however ‘no more time should be spent focused on him than on Dante or Milton or Fitzgerald or Steinbeck or Dickinson’ [7].

[1 & 2] Peter Beech in The Guardian, April 14, 2009 [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/apr/14/shakespeare-theatre]
[3 & 7] Alicia Fleming in Odyssey Online, May 16, 2016 [https://www.theodysseyonline.com/shakespeare-is-overrated]
[4 & 5] Edward Burns in The Guardian, January 30, 1999 [https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/jan/30/shakespeare]
[6] "Margaret of Angoulême" in Encyclopedia Britannica, December 17, 2020 [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Margaret-of-Angouleme]

tl;dr Shakespeare’s contribution to linguistics and literature is monumental to the way we live today meaning he is not overrated.

‘addiction’, ‘bedroom’, ‘cheap’, ‘eventful’, ‘flowery’, ‘howl’, ‘informal’, ‘lonely’, ‘mountaineer’, ‘neglect’, ‘Olympian’, ‘puppy-dog’, ‘revolting’, ‘schoolboy, ‘traditional’, ‘useful’, ‘vulnerable’, ‘well-read’, ‘yelping’ and ‘zany’ are just a few of the many words that Shakespeare invented.

‘break the ice’, ‘fair play’, ‘heart of gold’, ‘kill with kindness’, ‘a laughing stock’, ‘pound of flesh’, ‘wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve’, ‘wild-goose chase’ and ‘what’s done is done’ are just a few of the many phrases that Shakespeare invented.

Although the specific number is highly disputed, it seems Shakespeare invented between 400 and 1700 words and phrases. And so his reputation is not at all overrated as without him our everyday language as well as our everyday lives would be vastly different.

His wide-ranging use of themes are still appropriate and relatable today. Whether it is the love in Romeo and Juliet', the jealousy in Othello or the darkness in Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare’s plays can help people learn about their own emotions whilst his poetry can help people express these emotions to others when personal words cannot be found.

Although Shakespeare may seem hard to grapple without the tedious line-by-line study, appreciating his works through theatre productions and also modern films, such as She’s the Man can be equally as rewarding.

And so, be it through language, emotion or mere amusement, Shakespeare is valuable to all people today and throughout history meaning he is not overrated.

The Editors (2020). ‘Why Is Shakespeare Still Important?’, Oxford Scholastica Academy. Accessible at: https://www.oxfordscholastica.com/blog/why-is-shakespeare-still-important/

TLDR: I think it would be wrong to say Shakespeare as a completely original visionary, but his impact on the literary world and beyond cannot be denied, whether you like him or not

The main issue that I have with teaching Shakespeare in school is that it is often read, or read allowed by nervous students in class. Shakespeare intended his work to be played by actors, not dryly read in a classroom, and I think this leads to a lot of dislike of his work.

But really there is no denying the impact of that work. Romeo and Juliet is seen as the quintessential classic love story, and Macbeth the classic tale of guilt and how it destroys us. His work has been spoofed, built upon and reimagined so many times and will continue to be. His work has also provided the backdrop for quite a few famous British actors, who started their careers playing his various characters.

Just for context, I am not the biggest Shakespeare fan. I like some of his plays but the majority I do not. But i can't deny just how important he is to the world of literature, whether he deserves it or not.

TL;DR - Shakespeare´s uniqueness of writing literature made him one of the best writers of all time.

Shakespeare contribution to literature was so huge that nowadays it´s being taught at school all over the world. What makes him special is the way he wrote about women and men. He could write about both of them, without thinking about their sex, and he could easily define women and men feelings and the way that affected the story.

This is a very complex device that Virginia Woold used later in her characters. Shakespeare´s originality brought a fresh and a new sense of language in literature.

Tl;Dr: Whilst Shakespeare is a literary icon, the politics of his works are outdated

TW: Mentions of Suicide

Although Shakespeare’s works have paved the way for many adaptations both on the stage and in movie theatres, his work is not diverse and excludes large audiences.

Shakespeare was no doubt, a brilliant writer. He is considered England’s national poet for a reason. However, I think it’s time for new writers to be acknowledged to the same level that he is. When reading his work, his white, male privilege often shines through. The women in his plays often have little agency and are reduced to passive figures who don’t question the male authority that surrounds them.

Furthermore, Shakespeare’s racial inclusivity is also lacking. In Othello, Shakespeare’s only play with a black male lead, ends with him murdering his wife and through his own guilt, himself. Adaptational productions of Othello [run the risk of attributing what the play calls Othello's "monstrous behavior to his blackness, and therefore reinforcing the racist assumptions that permeate the play's verbal texture.] (https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26349169.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A8df1bdbf329c5c7ef375f2c88fef06e3)

Although people argue that these factors are because his plays are a product of his time, he has been hailed the national poet for too long, and we should take the time to celebrate new, more diverse writers to the same level.

Regardless of whether I like or dislike Shakespeare’s work, his contribution to the English language and literary tradition is, I believe, not overrated.

Also, the fact that he, as a non-graduate, was able to make his mark on the world in a time when literature was largely dominated by the rich is a big thing. What I know of the 16th/17th centuries is far removed from Shakespeare, but his influence must have been to democratise this area of life, even just a little.

I think his contribution to the development of human culture cannot be underestimated.