Эссе Харлановой Алены, ученицы 10 А класса МОУ "СОШ № 59 с УИП" на тему: "A perception of W. Shakespeare’s works through books, movies and spectacles". Работу курировала Грозовская С. А.

A perception of W. Shakespeare’s works through books, movies and spectacles

Essay

People used to express themselves with the usage of creative ways since the old times and studying works of the others’ would always be the crucial way to understanding other person’s feelings and emotions. This is one of the main reasons why art and literature had always been an important part of our culture and this is why it is so important to know about people whose work is still considered ‘a masterpiece of classics’ by the mankind even now. And so, in this essay I will be talking about a man who is regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, William Shakespeare, while mostly focusing on his works.

William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor of the Renaissance era, a period of European economic, political and, most importantly for the topic of this essay, cultural ‘rebirth’, which stands for rediscovery of many classical works in all areas. Some of the humanities’ greatest scientists, artists and writers lived in the Renaissance, including Shakespeare, who is, as I already said earlier, regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and also the world’s greatest dramatist. His works are being studied and reinterpreted in different ways even nowadays and his plays had been translated into every major language.

Shakespeare wrote mainly tragedies, with some of them being considered to be among the finest works in the English language, however he also wrote comedies, histories and romances. But even though many of his works are important for cultural education, today we will be looking at the themes and plot of two of his most popular works – “Romeo and Juliet” and “Hamlet” and I will make a short generalized comparison of the original book versions with their movie adaptations.

Although both plays are tragedies they do not narrate about the same thing nor do they share a similar plot. Though both of them share the theme of death, it is vital to understand that in “Romeo and Juliet” the main theme is love. “Romeo and Juliet” is a story about two people whose love was deemed to be wrong as both of them come from two powerful families that have an age-old vendetta against each other. In the end both Romeo and Juliet die but their death was not meaningless as because of this both grieving families adreed to end their feud. “Romeo and Juliet” covers the themes of love, hate, families and obligation and as it was said earlier death.

“Hamlet” on the other hand heavily focuses on the theme of death. The play tells about Hamlet, son of the King of Denmark. The ghost of his father tells him to avenge his murder by killing the new king, who happens to be Hamlet’s uncle. Hamlet seeks revenge and thinks about life and death while feigning madness. However his uncle fears for his life and also conceives plots to kill Hamlet. The play ends with a duel where both opponents, the King and the Queen are all killed. This story covers the themes of death, revenge, religion and honor.

Both of this tragedies are referred to as the classics of English literature and are widely known and loved all around the world. With popularization of a story comes it’s movie adaptation and this is where the slight differences can be seen. The original text contains the smallest details that are important for understanding what the author wanted to say. But the films are a story created by the other person and on the screen we see the director’s point of view that often lacks important details. Books give us freedom of imagination and in the movies everything is decided by other people. Still, in my opinion it is important to see both. Reading the original can be enlightening for education but seeing others’ point of view on the same concept is important as well.

In conclusion, William Shakespeare’s works remain as relevant as ever. It does not matter if the source is a book or a movie adaptation as it is still just the form of perception. To understand the author it is vital to read his original thoughts and to understand his thoughts it is important to listen others’ opinions. At last, Shakespeare’s works remain the example of a magnificent work and understanding of human emotions and feelings and this is the reason why this author stays one of the most relevant and popular classical writer even nowadays.