麻豆影院

Audio Script

William Shakespeare: 400 years later
April 22, 2016听听听听听听听听听听 Katherine Eggert
To be or not to be considered the greatest English speaking writer is a question that has been asked about William Shakespeare for hundreds of years and one that is still being asked on the 400th anniversary of his death on April 23. But for those who have studied the 鈥淏ard鈥� the answer is simple, says Katherine Eggert (A-Gert), an English professor and Shakespeare expert at CU-麻豆影院.
CUT 1 鈥淭o say he鈥檚 the greatest author well he鈥檚 the greatest to me. But I think the fact that he is, relatively speaking, so widely read makes that statement a valid one. (:14) He鈥檚 great and he鈥檚 widely read. And so does that combine into the greatest? Perhaps so.鈥� (:19)
Eggert says there are a number of things that make Shakespeare so unusual. One is the fact that 400 years after his death he remains relevant even in non-English speaking cultures.
CUT 2 鈥淗is impact has been world wide. Shakespeare continues to have relevance in cultures that really had no attachment to England. Shakespeare is big in China. Shakespeare is big in Korea. (:14) Why is that so? Partly, I think, we have to credit the extraordinary nature of Shakespeare鈥檚 plays. He鈥檚 got an extremely wide range. He doesn鈥檛 write in a single genre. His work develops a lot over the course of his long career. He wrote 37 plays.鈥� (:31)
And another reasons he remains relevant, says Eggert, is that Shakespeare created memorable characters.
CUT 3 鈥淪hakespeare鈥檚 characters were recognized as being memorable. So Hamlet and Falstaff, for example, were immediately popular. And other writers referred to them. Shakespeare kind of went out of fashion a little bit soon after his death as authors do. But he was picked up pretty fast in the 18th Century. (:20) And it was precisely to put the plays on the stage. They were recognized as great theater pieces. And it鈥檚 because of these memorable characters that people could identify with.鈥� (:30)
It is that language and the way Shakespeare uses it that makes his plays so enduring, says Eggert.
听CUT 4 鈥淗is language is unparalleled. Its complexity. Its poetry. Its inventiveness. Its playfulness. Shakespeare is unlike any other dramatist of his time. (:14) And I think the reason that is so is Shakespeare makes you think thoughts that you didn鈥檛 know how to think before. Because his language takes risks. Because he鈥檚 addressing universal situations but from angles that you never considered before.鈥� (:30)
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