William Shakespeare: A Possibly-Talented, Privileged Jewel

   I often find the relevance of Shakespeare being debated, and whether he's even worth our time. I'm not going to ramble on and on about how amazing Shakespeare is, or try to convince you to adore the man with all your heart. Instead, I'm going to focus on a song that I've had sprinting back and forth in my head the past few days: "God, I Hate Shakespeare" from Something Rotten!.

 

    Towards the beginning of the song are the lines, "I just don't get it / How a mediocre actor from a measly little town / Is suddenly the brightest jewel in England's royal crown?" I did a bit of research, finding that William Shakespeare was born in a town called Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England. Fun fact, he was born during an outbreak of the plague in 1564, though the town survived it. By that time, there was a grammar school (elementary school) in his town, so he was able to go. Shakespeare learned Latin and English, while many other just as talented people wouldn't have been able to. Because Shakespeare was a middle-class boy, he was allowed to learn these skills that greatly pushed forward his career. I think this is what the "mediocre actor" line is referring to, because he might have not been the most skilled person in his area, but he was the one that was given the opportunities. The royal crown has many priceless jewels on it, so being the brightest one would be quite a feat. However, Shakespeare is one of the most well-known writers of his time, so it's only fitting.

    Another verse from the song is "That little turd, he has no / Sense about the audience / He makes them feel so dumb / The b*stard doesn't care that my / Poor a** is getting numb." Please excuse the song's language. I think the first three lines of this excerpt are pointing out how often people reading Shakespeare now don't know what's going on. English has changed so much since Shakespeare was alive, that often the meaning of his work is thrown in a blender, mixed thoroughly, and then left up for interpretation. Therefore, people sometimes feel dumb when reading his work even though there's no reason they should be able to understand English from 400 years ago. In my opinion, the last line either entails how boring some people find Shakespeare, or it's hinting at how long some of Shakespeare's plays are. There are often a lot of references in Shakespearian plays that people don't understand, so much of the content feels worthless. In fact, it might just be a case of bad writing on Shakespeare's part, who knows.

    Finally, I'll cover the lines, "'Cause he's a hack with a knack / For stealing anything he can." There's a lot of debate out there on whether the ideas in Shakespeare's plays are originally his. Some like Nigel in God, I Hate Shakespeare" exclaim that only Shakespeare could craft such complex plots. However, the opposing argument is that he actually used other sources to come up with his plots and/or characters. For example, Arthur Brooke wrote a poem in 1562 titled "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet." Some believe this is where Shakespeare got the idea for his famous play, "Romeo and Juliet." I think it's unlikely that all of his plots and characters came right from his noggin. In fact, pretty much all artists copy each other, whether that's consciously or subconsciously. That's a phrase many of my previous art teachers have slapped in our faces time and time again. Even that phrase isn't original!

    So, is Shakespeare worth our time? Is he really all he's cracked up to be? Well, the simple answer is I have no idea. After all, the man lived over 450 years ago. But, according to the lyrics of "God, I Hate Shakespeare," Shakespeare was a privileged plagiarist who wasn't all that skillful. However, there had to be some kind of talent there. A nobody certainly can't be thought of as the shiniest jewel on the royal crown. After all, as he himself said, "nothing comes from nothing." 

- Ellix