Shakespeare's Impact

Paper Summary:

Shakespeare's plays have been studied in educational facilities since their appearance. The use of these works in education shows that they are valued and that they impart some of this value to students. This paper raises the question of how these plays have affected and changed society and what values they nurture in students today. Factors mentioned are an enrichment of language, deeper understanding of history and respect for class and culture.

From the Paper:

"These plays first have contributed much to our language. William Shakespeare contributed to the language by perpetuating a large vocabulary--which is why many have cited the large vocabulary of the plays as evidence that the largely uneducated Shakespeare could not have written the works attributed to him--and also in the poetic nature of the dialogue he created. Shakespeare's vocabulary has been estimated at about 20,000 words, including Renaissance technical terms, derivations, compounds, archaisms, and idioms (McArthur 928). Many aphorisms and enriching, poetic descriptions and terms have been carried through from Shakespeare to common usage and to other literary works. The popularity of Shakespeare's works over many centuries has helped perpetuate the power of this language, and again and again other writers have turned to Shakespeare for inspiration and for some phrase that would then become popular even to many who did not know its origins."

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