MovieChat Forums > William Shakespeare Discussion > Why did his work age so well?

Why did his work age so well?


That's the question.

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he wasn't afraid to tell it like it is. he sometimes broke the rules, but he got the job done. he wasn't afraid to upset the establishment, and he was in it for the art, not the money

(dunno)

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Wrong. The Bard STRICTLY wrote his plays to make money. All Shakespearean scholars agree on this point. He did not give a damn about posterity. He wrote to sell tickets.

His works remain so popular because he wrote to please his audience, which happenstantially made him immortal.

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I'm quoting the BBC

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And how many scholars has the BBC? A scholar does not turn to a news agency for historical information. My father and I were both broadcast news professionals. News is immediate, transient and questionable. You never looked at Stephen Greenblatts seminal times about The Bard. I guess you took the path of least resistance.

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ok

possibly

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I studied Shakespeare under Greenblatt in college and never once heard him claim that Shakespeare wrote plays only to make money and lucked into immortality. You are either misunderstanding Greenblatt, or poorly paraphrasing his work. It's no secret that Shakespeare wrote with an audience in mind, but his fame, and its longevity, didn't come about because he pleased audiences of his time, it is a reflection of the brilliance of his writing. He crafted brilliant poems and plays that have lasted throughout the intervening centuries. He was an artist first, who took his writing very seriously, and carefully chose each word he wrote. The only other poet I believe is on his level is Dante. You don't write that well by happenstance in an attempt to put butts into seats.

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You are quoting BBC? I think it's time you gave up porn for a little while.

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1. what?
2. my reply was just a collection of meaningless standard cliches intended to wind up scholars
3. I am not quoting the BBC, but I have no problem blaming them

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Wrong acronym I suppose.

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The BBC is the British Broadcasting Corporation, which is the public service broadcaster of Great Britain. There's no direct American equivalent, but PBS is probably the closest thing we have.

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I've just realised BBC also stands for big black dooberywhatsits

got ya

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Maybe because his works cover universal themes that people can relate to? Or that the stories really got people's attention and make you think about the philosophies behind them? Shakespeare was never afraid to tell it like it is, or reveal the most base parts of the human psyche in his works.

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