Ask anyone involved with English literature:"Who is the greatest writer?"and you will undoubtedly hear one name mentioned----William Shakespeare.Although Skakespeare died over 360 years ago,his thirty-seven plays are still valued and loved today.Why? Part of the answer lies in the fact that Shakespeare dealt with timeless problems that continue to concern us ,such as prejudice and parent-child conflicts,This essay will discuss these problems,using several of Shakespeare's plays as example.
Two of Shakespeare's best-know plays tackle the unly and still unsolved problem of prejudice.The hero of Othello is a black soldier who marries a high society white woman,Desdemona.Othello is clearly the best male charater in the play.He is brave,sucessful,and talented.Yet,most of the white people are horrifed by his marriage.While straining against such prejudice,Desdemona's father also objects to their marriage.While straining against such prejudice,their marriage is preyed upon by Iago,one of Othello's officers,who excites Othello to become jealous of his wilfe.As a result,Othello and his wife tragically die.Shakespeare also worked with another form of prejudice,antisemitism,in The Merchant of Vience.The character shylock is jewish,and all the christians curse him,hate him,and even spit on him.Even though Shylock is the villain,Shakespeare gives him many speeches to make it clear that Jews are also human beings.
Many of Shakespeare's plays are concerned with another still unsolved problem the generation gap.For example,King Henry the Forth in the play of the same name,is a very cool,cynical,and snobbish politician.His son Prince Hal is just the oppiste.Hal is warm and outgoing and friendly with all kind of people.He is also a "swinger"who goes to taverns and who plays around with women.Naturally,the father cannot understand the kind of life his son leads,and part of the action of the paly Henry IV revolves around this parent-child difference.The play cymbeline begins with another sort of parent-child difference.Here,the father,Cymbelline,wants his daugher Imogen to marry a man he likes,However,Imogen falls in love with someone else and secretly marries him.Cymbelline is furious.He orders the husband to go away,and he locks up his brokenhearted daughter.The rest of the play deals with the solution to this problem.
Shakespeare's palys are deservedly popular.They contain many colorful charaters beautiful poety,and action-filled plots.Shakespeare's uncanny ability to focus on problems that are still current today also adds to the continuing success of his plays.
