Bill Shakespeare… For the Layman

There is a question in studying Shakespeare that may not ever be approached.  Shakespeare has always had a design flaw; only the most wealthy have been able to study and understand his works.  Whether it was the early English kings and nobleman or today’s college students, the principles behind truly learning Shakespeare have been left to those who could afford it.

The difficulties of seeing Shakespearean plays in the time period that they came out were obvious. The plays were more expensive than the layman could afford to attend and if you could get your hands on a copy of the manuscript, they lacked the perspective that one would get from watching it on stage.  For the working class there was also a lack of time because of long work days and lack of education.

The present day problems with truly studying Shakespeare are innumerable.  Everyone has access to a public education and most high school English teachers expose their students to Shakespeare in some form.  However, they are high school students and they lack the passion and desire that it takes to appreciate great works,  For anyone who teaches high school, they understand how few of the students actually want to be in their class and what a challenge it can be to make lessons fun.

Shakespeare on the college level poses the position that, while most people do attend some college, only those who have English based degree plans or can afford to take extra classes get the opportunity to study Shakespeare.  We run into this more elite aspect of society that is necessary for scholars.

Shakespeare has been available to the layman of modern society in ways that they are not even aware.  Through The Lion King, West Side Story, Deliver us From Eva (based on Taming of the Shrew) and an entourage of other films, Shakespeare has been delivered to the modern Joe.  They just don’t realize it.  There are so many people who analyze whether or not we should make Shakespeare more modern because it loses so much of the character dynamics and true meaning.  Which is more of a tragedy, to lose a little bit of meaning, or lose an entire audience?