Why Read Shakespeare and Twelfth Night Overview
I was in the tenth grade the first time I picked up a Shakespeare play, and it was not by choice. My class was reading Twelfth Night, and I hated every moment of it. I didn’t get the humor or understand the language, and hearing my classmates read the Acts felt excruciating. Since my time first reading Twelfth Night, I’ve heard a lot of people ask why we still read Shakespeare. I thought the same thing at the time.
Looking back at it now, I get why I felt that way. I also understand why a lot of other people feel that way when forced to read old books. It’s isolating being immersed in a world now four hundred years old. I also understand the question if Shakespeare is appropriate for students. Out of all the authors and playwrights in the world, with the access to global works readily available today, why choose to read such old and at times racist and misogynistic work written by a white man?
I think the answer to this question is that Shakespeare, after hundreds of years, still depicts relavent themes. His work is also proof that literature, its meaning, and its life is long lasting. Sure, if Gen Z woke up tomorrow and decided to burn all of Shakespeare’s work and never speak of the man again, he’d be forgotten. But I know that’s never going to happen. A lot of people around the world have related to his works in some way, regardless of their background. His exploration of power, gender, society, and class relate just as much to our world as they did to his. As I’ve gotten older, talked about Shakespeare among my peers, and started a yearlong university course solely about Shakespeare, I see how relevant and interesting his work remains.
After suffering through Shakespeare in grade 10, I was lucky to have English teachers and professors excited to teach the Bard. Yet I don't think I can credit them as much as I can credit Hamlet as the play that truly drew me in. I found Hamlet the character so interesting, and watching him spiral into ruins was tragic, but I couldn't look away. The play has everything: an evil villain, moral dilemma, death, and dark humor. (The themes may sound familiar because Hamlet is the inspiration behind Disney's The Lion King!) Even as one of Shakespeare’s longest plays, I found my experience reading it excellent. And like any play, it’s even better when read aloud. This year- my last day on campus before COVID shut everything down- I attended a read-through of Hamlet. It took over three hours, but remains one of the highlights so far of my university experience.
Over the years, I’ve gotten used to Shakespeare’s prose, but it can take some adjustment to get used to the language. If you’re lucky, I recommend finding a copy that has notes and translations, as it makes the reading experience easier. As with anything, there’s so much benefit to immersing oneself into a different culture and time period. It allows us to understand how humans have developed culturally, yet still retain traits that are relatable throughout history. It also allows us to examine social issues from a different perspective, or even to see where many of the things we assume to be natural' today developed. As for a good place to start, I would recommend Shakespeare's sonnets, which I personally think are a lot of fun to read!
What inspired this post was rereading Twelfth Night for the third time for my course. It's been a shared experience, and I now find it refreshing to hear their takes on different scenes and being able to laugh along with them at Shakespeare's puns. While it takes some dedication to read Shakespeare for fun, I would encourage anyone who is interested to give it a go. There’s a reason that Shakespeare is so revered and that his work continues to be studied and adapted in the modern age: It's funny, interesting, and heartbreakingly human.
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