Over the years, William Shakespeare, as all writers, has suffered literary criticism for his plays and his writing style. I am going to present to you, reader, several arguments against Shakespeare so that you may come to a conclusion yourself about my thesis. One argument that has been made about the writings of Shakespeare attacks his ambiguity with his meanings. Prof. Hawkins of the University of Wales Cardiff believes Shakespeare “lacks necessary distinction” in his plays, or a clear interpretation. The argument is essentially that since there is no clear meaning for Shakespeare, then he is a “black hole” into which we throw our meanings. (http://svpaserver.perform.utas.edu.au/resources/unit_resource/drama2/shakes1.html Hawkins, Terence) Kristie Bush disputes the belief that readers identify with Shakespeare’s characters easily, which explains for his endurance over time. She uses the character Othello as an example, “?a mentally healthy person usually will not be able to relate to many of Shakespeare’s lead characters because, as their motivations and actions reveal, many of them had what are now diagnosed as serious mental disorders and even psychoses.” (http://student.cscc.edu/ENGL/Engl264/res.htm#Bush: Bush, Kristie) Bush goes on to diagnose Othello with delusional disorder, jealousy type, and explosive disorder. Bush believes that Shakespeare’s characters are not easily identifiable because they have mental disorders. Naturally this begs the question, if people do identify with Shakespeare’s characters, does that imply they’re crazy?
To conclude, I think that yes, Shakespeare is the best modern author yet. I believe this because of three reasons. Shakespeare’s eloquent writing style, namely his use of prose, metaphors, and his open interpretations allows the reader to take what they want out of his play, rather than have it forced at them. Shakespeare’s characters and plots are so richly developed; the characters behave by their own personalities, an element foreign to prior literature. The plots wrangle with universal questions of morality and tradition, while the characters are very realistic and genuine. Shakespeare’s historical plays are an area of interest, not only for the history, for they provide a mirror for society. Over the years, society’s views have changed on many issues. Plays such as ‘Richard III’ and ‘King Henry VI’ demonstrate how culture and people have changed over a matter of a few hundred years. Imagine, someone in three hundred years may read “Richard III” and react totally differently than you or I would react to the play today. So, all in all, Shakespeare’s literary achievements made him the most significant modern author in the history of the English language.
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