There are three reasons for Shakespeare being my all-time favourite writer. First he is very talented. I mean is there any genre he has not written with regards to his plays? There are the historical plays, then there are comedies and of course who can ever forget his tragedies! Then of course there is another category called the problem plays comprising of plays that do not fit into any of the first three categories.
Then secondly his works can be interpreted in many different ways. To borrow a cliche, his plays are like onions but without the tears – you can read it on so many levels. Peel off one layer and you can see another layer. Peel off the second layer, you see another layer, and then another. Of course the layers are not never-ending nor are they completely different. Take for example Macbeth – on the superficial level, it is about evil, about overweening ambition, about sin. On another it is also about evil, about sin – but this time the interpretations on this layer or level are different from the first. This level looks at the women in the play – the witches, Lady Macbeth (often identified as the fourth witch and Lady Macduff, the opposite of Lady Macbeth – the scene where she and her son are cruelly killed must surely be a heart wrenching scene. What does the play say about mothers, about the female gender? Lady Macbeth represents maternal power. I feel strongly that one of the themes in the play is fear
of maternal power. Of course this part is unfortunately removed from the focus of schools even the one institution with a curriculum that purportedly encourages creative and critical thinking and houses the offsprings of a portion of the elitist population in SG. And of course needless to say, it is a very well-known school.
I must not digress but I cannot help expressing my disappointment. Nonetheless this post is about my favourite play by my favourite playwright, not about some famous school which has not changed its texts for at least the last 8 years while mainstream junior colleges have been doing different texts (all thanks to be given to MOE) every few years because of the regular change of texts. So much for encouraging students to think out of the box.
Back to “Macbeth”, the witches and Macbeth form an alliance with Macduff and the King of England, Edward the Confessor, Malcolm and the other nobles etc that would successfully restore Scotland by ridding her of her evil ruler. So my point is that there is lot of politics in the play.
Another popular play that can be read on man levels is “Romeo & Juliet”. Everyone thinks that it is about two hot-headed youths swept away by the throes of passion and who are finally united in a double suicide. But there are a lot more to the play than just a teenage romance gone tragically awry!
The third reason for loving Shakespeare is his language. This man had a way with words. For someone who never went to the university, he is certainly extremely talented, awesomely gifted in his use of the English language. He is decidely wicked and witty in his choice of words and turn of speech. For more please visit https://literaturetuition.sg. 🙂
