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Thursday, January 3, 2019
William Shakespeare—due April 25
How can seniors in 2019 possibly make Shakespeare useful?
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Glen 2
Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful by understanding what he wrote in his plays/pieces, and then interpreting it to how it may pertain to their own life. Although, Shakespeare's plays are very stubborn to interpret into the “modern english,” they can carry life lessons. Such as, justice. Many people, even in today’s society, people are deceitful and untrustworthy. These themes can be shown in Shakespeare's play called “Macbeth.” In this play, the main character is drawn to power through materials; he has to test himself and see how he can control what he desires. By Shakespeare being able to predict that actions of what others may think, it can help other people in being cautious of the true intentions of others. What I like about Shakespeare, is that he writes dramatic stories that may or may not pertain to young teenagers. But, his writing requires his audience to think about the actions of others and the reason behind why the act why they do which I think is important in order to understanding others. Therefore, I think us seniors can make Shakespeare useful by using his lessons and teachings as a guideline for how individuals should or should not act towards one another.
There are multiple ways seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful, but it is up to the senior on what they do with his work. Seniors can either just read Shakespeare because they have to or read Shakespeare and learn from what he has to say in his plays. Every senior is different and can interpret Shakespeare's piece of work differently; that is what makes everyone unique. A senior can make Shakespeare useful by taking his pieces of work and understanding them so they can apply it in their everyday lives. A senior must want to get something out of his work to make Shakespeare useful. Shakespeare as a writer is difficult to understand in the present day and for that this makes it more complicating for a senior to understand and use Shakespeare. Othello, one of Shakespeare's pieces of work, is a play a senior can use in their everyday life. Othello is a piece of work that is based on tragedy and jealousy. Through this seniors can learn the dangers of jealousy so that disaster doesn’t happen to them. In all of Shakespeare's work, especially Othello, seniors can take Shakespeare's life lessons and use them, so they know what to do and what not to do.
It would be very easy for seniors in 2019 to think that studying Shakespeare is useless, when in fact it can be very beneficial. Since everything Shakespeare wrote is from a relatively long time ago, it makes his works harder to read and more interesting to study. Some words he used when writing back then may even have different meanings now which makes his writings even more interesting to study. Another reason why seniors in 2019 can benefit from Shakspeare is because of the effect he had on the English language. He is credited with being the first to use a lot of words that are in the dictionaries that we still use today. Shakespeare has many famous plays and some of them are still being performed today from simple high school plays all the way up to Broadway. There is a lot for seniors in 2019 to learn from the way Shakespeare wrote, and that is why his work is useful and relevant even still today.
Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful in many ways. I feel like our generation thinks that Shakespeare is often “too old” to be read and studied but if you apply yourself and focus it in you can find it very interesting in different kinds of ways and make it what you want of it. Some of the words he uses can be hard to understand but only because it is different than what we are used to and they challenge us to study different kinds of vocabulary words. His work also has types of lessons and teaching through them which is always helpful no matter how old you are. Everybody can benefit from a lesson no matter how old. Us seniors can take what we want from Shakespeare which is why I think he is useful. I am eager to study him more this next week and excited to watch my classmates act out scenes.
Graber 2 Studying Shakespeare will be very beneficial for 2019 students. It is beneficial to read and learn about the day and age when Shakespeare was around. He was around in the 1500s which was so long ago. We are so ingrained into our own day and age that it is beneficial to hear about the lifestyle of people back in that time period. The language in the plays are different too. They speak differently than we do today. They have different accents and use different words and word orders. It is interesting to hear these language differences and thus beneficial to us. I think in the end you get out of it what you make it. If you go into reading and watching with a good attitude, it will be interesting and you will learn a lot about the past. If you go in with a bad attitude, you won’t learn anything and it won’t be beneficial to your learning.
Reinschmidt 5 2019 seniors can benefit from Shakespeare in a multitude of ways. It is easy for seniors to think that Shakespeare is useless because it is so hard to read and understand. Even though his works are from a long time ago, the knowledge we can gain and interpret from them are essential. We can understand what he wrote by using literary theories and comparing it to our own lives. Although we have to be patient to understand what he is saying because it is so complicated. It is a good way to compare how writing was then and what it is now. We can take what Shakespeare said and convert it to our own lives and have our own meanings for it. Another reason Shakespeare is beneficial to us as young adults is because of the influence he had on the American language and the people. His plays and poetry are still very popular today, and that is why it is crucial that we keep Shakespeare around because of the positive influence he has had on the American people.
Studying Shakespeare can be useful to 2019 seniors in a couple different ways. Many of us seem to want to give up because of the difficult wordage and style of the writings. We see it as too challenging, and boring. Much of his work seems unrelatable and unimportant. However, studying this type of work can influence new and unique writing of our own. It challenges us to learn and study different words and time periods. Much of the literature we study is based in the time period we are currently in, but by studying the 1500s we are able to understand times we are not used to. Also even if we can not relate to the challenges the characters may face, we can use these themes and relate them to our own lives. For an author to remain relevant for this amount of time shows that his work is valued and important.
Huntimer 2 2019 Seniors can make Shakespeare useful if we apply it to modern day events. It may be difficult for people to assume the story Romeo and Juliet would happen current day; however, there are actions that Shakespeare wrote about that entwine with and current day events. For example, Juliet was pressured to marry someone who is socially more acceptable than Romeo. Current day youths are pressured to marry someone who is financially stable and socially acceptable leading to a stable life for a family. Jealousy, social status, discrimination, sexism, and prejudice still exist in the real world and are also present in all of Shakespeare’s plays. People studying Shakespeare’s literature often find it confusing with the puzzling language that they become distracted from the main lessons of the plot. Even though everyone in the world could read one of Shakespeare’s plays, the world wouldn’t become a better place if they didn’t understand the message behind it.
Shakespeare to many people can be very confusing. Although his works are from a long time ago one can learn a lot from them. Reading his works can help you better understand the lifestyle in the 1500’s. As noticed in his works they speak quite differently than we do today. This is how they talked in Shakespeare day and age. It is very interesting to see how much our language has evolved to today. You can also read his works using literary theories to understand them better. The 2019 seniors can make Shakespeare useful by understanding his work. If you are able to interpret the words of Shakespeare you are able to use your mind it a special way. The more likely you are open to learning about Shakespeares works the more likely you are able to get something out of them if you do not take time and read through them slowly you will never understand the wonderful works of Shakespeare.
Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful in multiple ways. It is very beneficial to read and learn about literature that was written long ago, rather than just reading text from current times. It will be useful for us to learn about how people from Shakespeare times talked and lived that long ago. From watching and listening to the movie, you can tell that the way they speak is very different. They use different wording, that for us is very hard to understand. From this, we will learn many things about that time period. It challenges us to try and read and interpret things in our own ways. Many of these ways may be different in what Shakespeare had originally intended, but we still can still discuss and try to apply it to our own lives as well. Because Shakespeare has been around since the 1500s, we know it is very important to study as well as learn from.
There are a few ways seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful. The best way is to interpret Shakespeare’s writing and apply his lessons to our own lives. While Shakespeare can be very hard to understand, the lessons he wrote can still be used today. He wrote many of justice and also many plays that deal with mistakes. People learn a lot from their mistakes, but we can also learn from those of others, even if they are fictional. Everyone can take something different from Shakespeare writing and that is why everyone, even seniors today can learn from it. Seniors today can also use the struggle of trying to understand Shakespeare. When something is hard, generally we learn more from it. Shakespeare forces us to truly pay attention and think about what we are reading. By the time we are seniors, we feel that we can read a pretty high level, but Shakespeare forces us not to just read the words. If we only skim or read without thought we will gain nothing from his writing. These are two ways seniors in 2019 can still learn lessons from Shakespeare.
I believe that there is lots of knowledge given by Shakespeare and his plays that can carry through to the seniors of 2019. The theme and the overall message of all of his works can be thought about and used as life lessons for the rest of our lives to be used and hopefully told, if not taught. The usefulness and the true mean and the crafting of his words and phrases are truly unbeatable when it comes to today's seniors. Seniors can get the most out of Shakespeare if they can just not only listen to his plays and sentences, but dig through them and find the real meaning behind the letters. Today’s seniors have learned so much in their careers here at Brandon Valley, but, it is just a stepping stone to where we all are going to go in the future. Shakespeare can see that in all of us by the way we study his works and admire what he has done for us and what we will do for the future.
I think that seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare very useful. Throughout most of his plays and any of his writings really, there is one very prominent reoccurring theme. The characters use their emotions instead of rational thinking. It is very impulsive. I think that we can take a lot away from that. While there are a lot of situations that you should definitely use rational thinking over your emotions to avoid consequences, being in touch with your emotions is also a very good trait to possess. You don't want to go through life emotionless. He also shows people learning from their mistakes which is one of the best lessons anyone can learn. He doesn't necessarily teach us math or English but he teaches us real-world lessons. Then, because Shakespeare is written in hard to understand language, it helps today's senior use their resources to try and understand the meaning.
Shakespeare was a man who lived over 400 years ago and wrote some of the most well-known plays and poems in the western world. In 2019, people may be asking why we still study such old literature. They say that history repeats itself, so why would learning from a 400-year-old play be so far fetched in today’s society. These stories have been rewritten as parodies for years. We are also able to learn about the cultural differences between then and now. Phrases that we say would have been completely unheard of in the 1500s. Although this makes it harder to follow the plot, once you are able to decipher the lines, the themes are clear. Themes of love, loss, betrayal, war, humor, and tragedy are all still prevalent today, just in a different capacity. Through the examples of Shakespeare, we are able to learn the dos and don’ts when traversing our modern world.
Seniors of 2019 can use Shakespeare in every aspect of their life. We have studied William Shakespeare since the beginning of our high school career and now till the very end. Shakespeare has written masterpieces of love and lust along with hate and defiance. In each of his plays, each student can find something to relate to. There is heartbreak, the loss of someone important, and parents who disagree with the actions of their children. Although they were written centuries ago we as teens still struggle with the same issues today. I think this is a great way to let our generation see into the eyes of people from centuries past. Although these exact events never occurred these plays were there Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars. William Shakespeare can bring the has brought us the past and the lessons and themes portrayed in his work is something we should use in our future.
Spencer 5 Seniors in 2019 can definitely make shakespeare useful. Shakespeare's writing/plays can be taken like any other book. Each person can read or watch the plays and interpret it in their own personal way. They can relate it to life today and apply it. They can also see the differences compared to today's writings/plays. Yes, the language may be a little difficult to understand, but it also makes you study the piece, just like the odyssey. He purposely used the language to make people slow down and study each word to get the true meaning. I believe it is important to have us study his words. Like I said earlier, the things he rights about are meant to apply to our lives and meant to have meaning. He makes people slow down to understand and have them really think about the meanings portrayed across his writings/plays. Seniors in 2019 can definitely make Shakespeare important in their lives just like I can.
Kocer 5 2019 seniors will be able to make Shakespeare useful in multiple ways. Reading and listening to the different style of English can be challenging to students but also beneficial. It forces students to really study and go deeper into what they are reading allowing them to get a better understanding of the stories. Behind that hard style of writing is still good stories with lessons to be learned. Although the character in his plays seems over emotional and dramatic, people can still relate to the struggles and emotions they are going through. Also, it is nice to have a different style of writing to read instead of just the normal we are used to. The plays allow readers to get a better understanding and knowing of each character better in the story. It also allows readers to put themselves in the characters’ shoes and think if that is how they would react.
Seniors in 2019 can learn from the mistakes of the main characters. For example, in Othello, we can learn to not always assume what is told us, and always talk to your partner to clarify that assumption. However, the lessons learned in Shakespeare need to be interpreted by the seniors. Each lesson is different, and one student may interpret that lesson differently than another student. Shakespeare shows that in society, including today’s, people are untrustworthy and deceitful and you should always watch your back. You can’t trust anyone more than you trust yourself. Othello also teaches the seniors a possibility of what can happen if their jealousy gets out of control. Also, in Romeo and Juliet, seniors can learn not to take love so drastically. In this play, the two kids of rival families fall in love, fake their deaths but actually die, and then their families die of broken hearts over the course of three days. We can take this lesson as to not be overdramatic with their love for someone.
Geringer 1 Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful by translating it to “our language”. We understand things a lot better when it is put into the terms/words we use every day. Like every other author in the world, Shakespeare has something he wants us to learn from each of his plays. For example, he is trying to teach us how much jealousy affects people and how other’s words can get inside our head and make us believe things that may not be true. In order to make Shakespeare useful, we have to be able to take something away from it. Shakespeare wrote his plays in a completely different time period, using a completely different way of speaking, therefore, people do not like to read his work because it is not written in a way that people would have written now. That is why it is extremely important to make it useful in your own life because if we do not, the reading of Shakespeare's work may die.
Knutson 2 Shakespeare’s works of literature have been a part of our world for as long as we can remember. The 2019 seniors have learned much through his successful pieces. His many different writings have proven to be useful to us as students in many ways. When reading his many different plays, you have to concentrate very hard to get the meaning of the story. The different style Shakespeare uses gives us seniors a new perspective on literature. Not only can we learn from many works, but we can also relate them to our own lives. Much of his writings include the emotions of excitement, love, and tragedy. Through the experiences of the characters’ emotions in Shakespeare's work, the seniors can learn from them when dealing with emotions of their own. We have just started reading Othello by William Shakespeare. This story is a helpful guide to showing the seniors what happens when you let jealousy get the best of you. Also, you should always make sure to know the whole truth before you do something you regret. This play exemplifies how Shakespeare’s works have and will continue to be useful to the seniors of 2019 to be able to learn and grow in this society.
In 2019 it is debatable that Shakespeare is as an important figure as he was back in 1564. Back then, his use of language seemed normal or otherwise a little extravagant. But compared to “modern-day English” this writing almost seems like a different language altogether. However, Shakespeare’s use of setting, characters, and morals are still intriguing to this day and high schoolers can still learn a thing or two from these amazing epics of storytelling. For example, throughout most of Shakespeare’s writings, there is always a theme of don’t trust everything/everyone. This lesson of always being alert could lead someone to avoid an untimely end. There is also the theme of loving out of personality, not class or wealth. This lesson is important because it’s what the true meaning of love is; loving someone for who they are rather than what they are. I would say that to this day Shakespeare is still an important figure in our society
Seniors in 2019 are able to use Shakespeare as basically a how not to do life. Shakespeare writes stories about tragedies that are meant to entertain, but would be very unlikely to happen in real life. The premise of Othello is that Othello does not think with reason and only trusts the words out of one person's mouth. Othello trusts Iago more than he trusts his actual wife. Seniors can take this as a lesson to have multiple people close to them to trust. They can also use it as a lesson to have some faith in a significant other. If Othello had just reasonably talked to his wife, Cassio, or Emilia, the story of Othello would not have been a tragedy. Seniors can also use Shakespeare as a way to help them find meaning in text. Shakespeare wrote in English, but in an English that is very foreign to people in the modern times, so learning to find meaning in Shakespeare's words is a good start to the world of Literary Theory.
Many seniors who have had to read Shakespeare's plays or work, believe they have no relevance to them or their life. They were written 400 years ago. This however is not true. Many of Shakespeare's ideas have been turned into movies or TV shows, such as Game of Thrones. This has been turned to fit modern pop culture, and since has become a huge hit. Game of Thrones and the modern Romeo and Juliet being played on screen in movie or TV show form is equivalent to us as what it would’ve been for them back then when they acted it on a stage. People often look to Shakespeare's work to make meaning of our experiences. I believe that every person today can understand and possibly even has a little of each of the characters within them. We understand Hamlet’s despondency; we recognize Othello’s envy; we feel Lear’s decline. I believe we can make Shakespeare useful today by relating to him and his texts, and be able to recognize this qualities and characteristics in ourselves. Shakespears plays are basically all worst case scenarios.
Kellogg 2 In 2019, seniors can make Shakespeare useful by taking time to decipher a basically all-new language. Because Shakespearean language has been developed over time and has become the English language that we know today, it is hard for students nowadays to understand what the plays were about and the symbolism involved in the wording. By having students read Shakespeare, they can begin to understand more of their own language and the ways it has developed over time. Also by reading Shakespeare, the students and other readers can learn about the differences between society 400 years ago and society today because there are many differences in how the general public works. Some of the issues that were dealt with in Shakespeare’s plays have continued to be around up until current time. There are still family problems and even a society who does not approve of interracial relationships, like with Desdemona and Othello.
Johnson 1 Shakespeare is quite relevant to today's world. Many of his ideas are turned into shows, such examples are Game of Thrones and movies like Romeo and Juliet. Also, Shakespeare's work tends to show all of us not what to do in life. We can take these lessons from these stories where it seems everyone dies and apply them to our life so we don't end up the same way. Othello really teaches us that gossip and rumors can turn a great situation into a dire one and everyone should take that lesson away from the movie. Othello is also a great example to show teenagers that getting jealous can really get the best of you and drive you to do terrible things. I think that by us reading Shakespeare's texts we can learn a lot from his writings that are so intricate and his stories teach us many valuable lessons that could be very helpful down the road.
I think seniors in 2019 can really benefit from Shakespeare. This famous author and playwright has left a legendary legacy for years to come. It is important we learn from him because we need to learn the literature they used. It is also important to have students interpret writing styles and analyze the different themes and plot structures. The stories Shakespeare wrote were very dramatic, and some stories could be predicted completely. The language we use today is very different than what it used to be. Learning Shakespeare now will be very beneficial to those who are furthering their education and will continue to take challenging English classes. Watching Othello in class with the closed captions on really helped us dig deeper into the story and understand their "language" easier. This story was very dramatic, but the 2019 seniors appreciated getting to see quite the masterpiece film from a Shakespeare book. I hope this type of writing stays around for many more years to come.
Bickley Pd.2 Seniors at Brandon Valley High School can make Shakespeare useful by focusing on the phrasing that is used in his literature. The phrasing the Shakespeare uses is more complex than the wording that is used in novels that we read in modern times. This challenges our understanding and forces us to dig deeper into the meaning of the phrases. The order of words in phrases written by Shakespeare appears backward to our understanding, so we must interpret them as we would today. Also, students who study Shakespeare are able to examine literature from an earlier time period. This helps us understand the changes literature has gone through over the years. We get the opportunity to study the words that the great Shakespeare had written for the entertainment of the people. The art of poetry/theatrical plays is able to be studied through Shakespeare by students who otherwise may not be exposed to it.
Shakespeare is useful because it gives us a sense of what time was like back in the Renaissance. Although super dramatic and sometimes over exaggerated, his plays and sonnets still have important messages. He covers tough subjects that other people at the time did not and he was not afraid to portray more risque situations. I think it is also important to study the type of English he uses. It can be difficult to understand sometimes, but it is how they talked and it helps us better understand the time period. It is also kind of a pretty way to talk. Everything they say sounds more pretty than how we talk today. It also shows us how times have changed over the years. It is overall really interesting and I think it is definitely beneficial for high schoolers to study Shakespeare. He was one of the greatest writers of all time and we should study and analyze his works.
Bunker 5 In 2019 we can make Shakespeare useful by examining the English language in a way we are not used to. His plays are very exaggerated and give us a sense of how things might have been back in the 1600s. While watching Othello I have learned not to get caught up in the hearsay and to also confront problems head-on. The character in his plays always gets too caught up in their emotions to the point they can not think straight. Shakespeare's plays can teach you all kinds of life lessons. The way people talk is very different from the way we talk. Their language makes us think and decipher what they mean. While learning his language, it helps us learn how the English language has changed over the years. Shakespeare has taught us lots of life lessons and has taught us to respect other forms of the English language.
High school seniors may make Shakespeare relevant in their lives as much or as little as they wish. I believe that the themes that Shakespeare's plays exhibit are as relevant in his day and age as they are now, even for seniors in 2019! For example, the subjects of Othello relate to feelings of jealousy, revenge, malice, and insecurity. Each one of these feelings has been experienced by modern-day teenagers in one way or another. It is because of this that I strongly believe studying this playwright is essential in understanding the depth of literature as well as its journey through time. I also believe that Shakespeare’s work could be made relevant in a teen’s life by remembering that they are normal to be feeling things such as jealousy, hate, and passionate love. These feelings have been around for ages, and I think studying plays such as Othello may aide a high school senior in feeling more secure in their fluctuating emotions.
Senior of 2019 can make Shakespeare useful by reading his literary works and understanding english writing from his time. Shakespeare’s works can provide readers with entertainment in his writing. Once you are able to understand how he writes, his plays can be interesting. It is important for people to be aware of the man that produced many of the words in the dictionary we use today. We can also learn many lessons from Shakespeare’s plays. One lesson is that people often think with their heart and not their head, which can be a dangerous thing, as shown by Shakespeare. We also learn that not all stories end well, which is obvious in Romeo and Juliet. It is important to understand the differences between english writing today and writing of the 16th century, and to be aware of how significantly things have changed. We can also interpret his plays in our own way, which is a great aspect of all writing.
By reading and watching Shakespeare plays, seniors can make the stories useful while writing. Although the slang words used in this time are nonexistent now, the way the words are put together give students a better understanding of how to write. This way can be different from everyone else during an essay or scholarship essay, but it will also show peers that Shakespeare is still relevant today. It is no lie that almost everybody knows the famous Romeo & Juliet play along with Hamlet, and Disney even makes movies based on his plays. Shakespeare changed the future through his stories that were mostly considered immoral at the time with all the death and tragedy, but he had to take a risk to help students in the future.
The seniors of 2019 can indeed make studying Shakespeare useful. Shakespeare has been studied and taught for many years prior to our existence so obviously there are many things to take away from it. It is just up to us as individuals to have the mindset and motivation to do so. For starters we learn how to persevere through hard material. Shakespeare is hard to read and understand for it is entirely in old English. Someone who has the patience and mindset to listen, analyze, and understand what is being said already takes away a great skill from studying his writing. Along with being able to understand what is being said one will take away a great expanse of vocabulary. Taking away a whole new set of sophisticated words to say in our speech is a great thing. This makes us look, talk, and act much smarter all because we took to the time to understand Shakespeare.
Seniors in 2019 can do many things to make Shakespeare useful. They can use it as a lesson to be learned. In a lot of Shakespeare’s works conflicts are created by over exaggerating and ignorance. The lesson to be taken away from this is to know situations and both sides of stories before overreacting and creating problems that do not need to be created. Another way seniors can make Shakespeare useful is to learn about history. Understanding the way in which words are spoken is hard for most. When a person gets to looking into the words and figuring it out, it teaches about history and what Shakespeare is conveying in his stories. The way in which Shakespeare wrote can teach a lot about how stories were told back then. A lot of his works are plays, meaning that stories were meant to be performed and visualized. Lessons and history are to be learned when reading or watching Shakespeare.
There are many different ways seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful. Just by reading and watching Shakespeare you get the full experience of what that day and age was like. Shakespeare used a wide variety of vocabulary words and slang in the writing of his plays, some of the words he used are nonexistent now and probably still will be in the future. Students who understand the slang of Shakespeare are overall better writers because they understand some complex vocabulary and literary styles, that others may not. Everyone has heard of Shakespeare, especially when it comes to the play Romeo and Juliet that most movies recreate or use the romantic scenes in a TV show for example. But, not everyone really understands the underlying context of what actually is going on within the play or story, they think they know what's going on but in all reality they probably don’t. Overall, Shakespeare has helped our seniors become better writers and it will help the seniors in the future also.
The application of Shakespeare in today’s day age is much more difficult than in past generations. Modernity has forced Shakespeare’s lessons to become obsolete and difficult to comprehend due to the complexity of the language. However, students today can make Shakespeare useful by using the brilliance of his writing. Mirroring Shakespeare’s writing technique is not going to be the most useful way to write an essay, but occasionally shifting sentence structure to match his varies the writing thus making it more enjoyable to read. Another function of his writings that may be useful to high schools is the ability to write in complex structures like iambic pentameter. This style of writing is hard to copy, but when forced upon students, it forces them to think of structuring their writing in a much different manner. Shakespeare forces students in the modern era to think much differently than what is normally asked of them which can be useful for inspiring creativity. Using this creative inspiration is how seniors can make Shakespeare useful today.
Shakespeare can often be seen as hard to understand. I think it depends on the senior on how they can make it useful. But, I think everyone can find it useful when applying it to their own lives. Everybody is different and has their own personalities that make them who they are. For each person, they can apply Shakespeare in a way that makes sense to them whether it be in a movie, a play, etc. Even when it comes to other subjects/materials, it is always easiest to understand when applying it to your own life because it allows you to connect to it easier. When you can finally understand the piece of art, you realize how intriguing and unique Shakespeare really is. Also after understanding what Shakespeare is writing about it gives the readers a sense of confidence knowing they have the ability to overcome something that is seen difficult.
Frantzen 1 Seniors in 2019 can 100% make Shakespeare useful in our lives. Shakespeare is a very challenging read because how long ago it was written but that is the fun of it. Since it was written so long ago we are able to interpret is in more ways than people were able to back when it was written. Once you get past the weird verbiage, you can really dig deep and use literary lenses to improve the way you look at it. Othello teaches us many lessons that we can take with us in life. It teaches us to not always listen to what others say especially if it goes against something you believe in. The biggest lesson I learned from it is to talk to someone if you have a problem. If Othello would have just talked it out and been rational he maybe would not have killed her. Shakespeare is still impacting our lives today.
Whenever a high school student hears Shakespeare it can be educated guess that they are not happy about reading his works. Trying to make sense of 400-year-old language is difficult. However, Shakespeare has greatly affected literature, authors, and readers. Shakespeare makes the reader question the plot, the characters, and one’s self. I believe seniors of 2019 could make Shakespeare useful by taking in the lesson learned by “Othello.” As most of us head of to college, a career, and what have it, trust is a valuable lesson we need to have a fresh reminder of. Trust is something that has to be earned and should never be taken advantage of. Shakespeare obviously has a dark way of showing his audience the truth, but nevertheless, he makes a great point. As seniors in high school, we can learn many lessons from literature as long as we chose to apply them. I believe Shakespeare is someone who should always be studied and learned from because his honest writing is exactly what this world needs.
Making Shakespeare useful, today would be a difficult task. As there is not much application of Shakespeare in the world other than in a literary sense. There is no need for Shakespeare to be studied directly, it is not a necessity in the working world. However, 2019 seniors can study Shakespeare to broaden their understanding and inculcate themselves with more diverse ways of thinking and writing. I've noticed while watching Othello, that I have to pay attention to the entire sentence in order to derive meaning from it. Shakespeare likes to use large signifying phrases, and I often find myself having to slow down and pay attention to understand the sentence as a whole. This could be applied in the lives of seniors as they go forward in life. Particularly, I find myself, while in the process of note-taking, copying everything down word for word, and not retaining any of the information myself—hoping that I will be able to decipher my notes at a later date, when necessary. Perhaps Shakespeare could help me in that regard.
Shakespeare can be useful to 2019 seniors in many different ways. Shakespeare was considered a literary genius, writing multiple poems and plays during his time. Today many people, such as teens, recreate his plays on their own stages with their own interpretation. When someone like a teen from this century attempts to "translate" one of Shakespeare's pieces, it can be very difficult and most of the time the interpretation can be incorrect. If someone with a young age would like to understand Shakespeare's writing, they should ask an expert who has studied these older writings. Shakespeare's writings can also be very interesting and can be filled with history and can inform us how people may have lived back then. When watching "Othello" I was very intrigued by it. Although the language was very hard to understand, it was very helpful when the plot was explained to us before we watched the movie. I thought the use of the fourth wall with Iago was super interesting and really drew me into the movie.
Shakespeare in 2019 has been somewhat forgotten along with many other classic poets because our generation lacks the focus and interest to understand them. The language we use today is very different than what it used to be. Learning Shakespeare now will be very beneficial to those who are furthering their education and will continue to make challenging English classes. Reading and watching Shakespeare’s poems and plays allows young viewers to understand the lost passion that was valued back in the 1500s. It is important for people to be aware of Shakespeare and his work because he produced a lot of the words in the dictionary used today. There are also many lessons that we can learn from Shakespeare’s plays such as self love, be wise, think with your heart, etc. We can make Shakespeare useful today by relating to him and his texts, and be able to recognize the lessons and passions within ourselves.
Reading Shakespeare is akin to speaking to someone with an accent thicker than molasses. It isn’t enjoyable. It isn’t easy. Many people claim that the lessons in Shakespearean plays are so powerful, profound, and relevant to life today. That’s a load of horse piss. The merit in reading Shakespeare is certainly not in the content. The characters are childish, dumber than a box of rocks, and more easily manipulated than a cat with a laser pointer. When your entire plot is driven forth by characters simply refusing to communicate as normal human beings would, the “remarkable innovation and intelligence” of your writing ought to be under fire. It's honestly pathetic. Although I have found Shakespeare's plays themselves to be an utter sack of garbage, the true value of them lies in their language. I related reading Shakespeare to having a conversation with someone that struggles to understand because therein lies the value. As we challenge ourselves to understand “what the heck this dude is saying,” we further our ability to interpret literature. The principle of specificity fully applies; doing something that is difficult will make everything leading up to it a walk in the park.
Seniors of the 2019 class can make Shakespeare useful by not just reading his works because they have to but to retain his insightful teachings. Often times students put Shakespeare on the backburner and view is his as unimportant. However, each of his stories has a lesson behind it. Both Midsummer Nights Dream and Romeo and Juliet were both largely driven by love. Midsummer Night's Dream as a blind yet beautiful force that can be both grueling and amazing. Romeo and Juliet literally has the idea: til death do us part. The overall theme of this is that love conquers over the hate between the Montagues and Capulets, however, it sometimes comes with a price. These themes can teach students to be mindful, cautious, learn to be rational, yet be courageous and live your life to the fullest. Most of Shakespeare's characters act on passion before ration. Shakespeare allows his characters to make mistakes for viewers to learn from without having consequences on their actual life. 2019 seniors can take the initiative to allow Shakespeare to have an impact on them in how to live their life, especially since very soon they will be thrown into the world on their own.
Olivier 5 Seniors in 2019 can use Shakespeare's work in many ways. To my understanding, all of Shakespeare's work could be taken as a life lesson, or at least the tragedies can. Othello is a tragedy filled with greed and misfortune. Iago, the villain can be perceived as any deceptive person in a 2019 senior's life. People deceive for their own good or betterment. People should not always be trusted. Another great lesson in the play, Othello, is to never act upon greed or anger. Othello ends up killing his wife that he loves dearly because Iago has spread a rumor that she is a whore. Of course, Desdemona is not a whore, but Othello is so enraged that he ends up killing her. Students learning about Shakespeare should learn to transfer his ideas to present-day conflicts in order for them to make more sense. Shakespeare's lessons teach us to recognize certain traits within ourselves.
Although Shakespeare is a little hard to read since it is written in old time English, it still can provide value to seniors in 2019. One thing that studying Shakespeare shows us is that the English language has changed over time and will continue to change as time goes on. It shows us that not only the English language has changed, but times have also changed. Shakespeare writes about characters during his time period and how they talked, which shows us the change that has happened in our world over time. Even if this way of writing is harder for us to understand, there are many lessons that Shakespeare’s writing can teach us. His writing also tells of characters that face challenges and how they handle them. From this, readers can learn how to face challenges that arise in their own lives. All of his plays have a lesson that we can learn from.
Shakespeare can be extremely useful, but it is up to the students to make it so. Seniors can simply do what is asked of them, or they can think more critically and discover the true ideas of Shakespeare. His works are from long ago and can be extremely difficult to understand. However, that complexity is exactly what makes it so useful and the history is important to understand how we are at the current point in time. It forces the seniors to think harder about the meanings and create their own interpretations while discovering new ideas. Shakespeare is very influential in the lives of people today, and seniors in 2019 can benefit from learning the history of that influence. Many plays are still performed, vocabulary continues to be used, and cultural aspects can still be seen. When a student has a mindset of yearning to discover, they can find true meanings that directly apply to everyday life. The intent of some of his work may have been different during his time, but the beauty of literature and theater is that interpretations can change, and people learn what best helps them with their lives. Shakespeare’s work challenges students to a different level, but those works can be some of the best to learn from, if the student desires.
Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful by applying it to current day. Shakespeare is brilliant example on how to not react to certain things. If you suspect that your wife is cheating on you, instead of just talking to your friend you should talk to your wife. Shakespeare is a classic example of overreacting to things. When you suspect something is going on, just talk to the person that is affected by it instead of letting your anger boil over. Seniors can also show that Shakespeare can still be fun when you learn about it, and it shows that literature is still relevant.
Peyton 5 Highschoolers may not enjoy reading Shakespeare. They may even hate reading and studying Shakespeare. It is very hard to apply lessons from his work to our lives because it was a much older time and the events, in my opinion, are not very likely. I think that one of the only lessons you can get from it is to see both sides of a story before you assume something. You can see Othello that many of the characters are very ignorant and just believe everything they hear. This leads to a lot of dumb chaos and unnecessary conflict. Too many of these characters are not thinking things out and thinking with their hearts instead of their heads. They let their emotions take them over and it leads to their peril. This shows us to just calm down and look at things when a problem occurs. Sit back find all the facts and do not assume. I think this can also apply in politics. Too many people believe the first social media post about politics and won't check up on if it is completely true.
Seniors in 2019 can still make Shakespeare useful, even though his plays were written long ago. Although sometimes Shakespeare can be hard to understand, the lessons learned are still relevant. In Othello, a common theme was believing rumors and a lack of trust. Othello only believed Iago, not his wife. There was a lack of trust in their marriage. We can also learn that eventually, the truth will come out. Iago spent the entire play lying to get his way. At the end of the play, everyone knew he was lying and what the truth actually was. Emelia also stated that women were equal to men in every way, which shows feminism even though Shakespeare was before the feminist movement. We can also learn not to overreact. Every single character in the play overreacted and was very dramatic. This led to even more conflict, and eventually multiple deaths. If the senior is willing, a lot can be taken from Shakespeare.
Shakespeare's plays and sonnets are still studied in English classes today for many reasons. Shakespeare's work takes us back to a different time—it is a history lesson inside of an English lesson. He teaches us about the culture of the 16th century. He also invented many popular words and phrases still used today. Most students seem to find reading Shakespeare boring and difficult, and for that reason do not see any value in reading his work. I was first introduced to Shakespeare in a classroom setting in 6th grade when we studied Romeo and Juliet in gifted ed. It taught me how to read closely and helped me become a better literary analyst. Being introduced to old English as a 6th grader has also helped me tremendously in understanding Othello while watching the movie. I think that students overlook the usefulness of Shakespeare because it is difficult to read his work and they can never truly become interested in it. I know that as a student I would not be as well-rounded if I had not read any Shakespeare in school. If students can realize that we read Shakespeare as a sort of "literature exercise", I think that we could find all sorts of reasons why Shakespeare is useful in 2019.
The stories that Shakespeare tells have lessons that everyone can relate to. Romeo and Juliet tell the love story of two teenagers whose rash decisions ended up ruining (and ending) their lives. Seniors today can learn many things from this story. One being, think before you act. Another might be that actions can have serious consequences. Making rash decisions hardly ever ends well, as can clearly be seen with Romeo and Juliet. One last lesson might be not to fall in love too quickly. If Romeo and Juliet knew each other better, they wouldn’t have believed that the other killed themselves. Othello teaches lessons about jealousy. If someone, like Othello, lets jealousy control their life, serious consequences can occur. Shakespeare is trying to show the importance of trust. If Othello would have simply trusted Desdemona, no one would have died. Trust is important to relationships, and Shakespeare is clearly trying to show this with Othello. While the stories Shakespeare told may seem dated, the basic lessons they teach will forever be relevant.
Talcott 2 Making Shakespeare useful today is very difficult since the time period Shakespeare lived in was very different from our current time period. The writing style was different making it hard to understand. Shakespeare is very difficult to understand, but it can be very useful when you understand it. When you read Shakespeare’s writing you can gain information about the time period he wrote in. His writings tell stories of customs that occurred in the late 1500s and early 1600s. Shakespeare also teaches some great lessons in his plays and novels that we can still use today. One of those lessons is taught in his story, Othello. The lesson learned in Othello is careful who you put your trust in. Meeting new people we need to be careful have much trust we give them until we really get to know them. There are people in the world that could scam you.
There are many ways that 2019 seniors can make Shakespeare useful. One major way Shakespeare can be applied to seniors lives is understanding his lessons. If we read Shakespeare and learn the lessons then we can apply those to our everyday lives. In stories like Romeo & Juliet and Othello, teenagers can learn not to trust the wrong people and love is not worth killing yourself for. Even when some of the lessons do not apply to use now, we can still learn from or be entertained by them. Another way Shakespeare can be useful to teenagers now is his writing style and process. We can learn many things from the way Shakespeare wrote his plays. He was able to entice many people to be interested in his plays. I think the more people read and learn from Shakespeare the more interesting today’s stories will become. I also feel that far into the future there are writers that will be studied the same way Shakespeare is studied now.
The information that Shakespeare has in his plays are can be very important. Many people our generation think that Shakespeare work is very difficult to comprehend. They are very great for learning how to comprehend sentences, although, that were created back then. He created plays around the years 1590 and 1613. This being made back in times way before this century, seniors today could use they information or advice it gives to us. America’s culture has evolved a drastic amount throughout many years. Seniors could apply this advice that was probably lost that Shakespeare plays are trying to convey. These could be lessons we can apply to our lives now. A lot of Shakespeare's plays are about love, drama, and jealousy. These can relate to any life of a high schooler. It is good to read and understand his work to compare it to our experiences.
Shakespeare shows a lot of value when learning about truth, relationships, trust, recklessness, and other things. In this day and age, the facts become even more valuable than back then. We see Othello loses his wife, reputation, job, and life because he didn't get his facts right. He didn't look for the evidence. Although I might not die because I said something that wasn't true or believed something that was false, and especially for me as a political science major, I need to make sure that I'm getting all the evidence and seeing both sides of the issue. One of the most prominent lessons that I took from Shakespeare's tragedy is that I should always look for the good in people, not the bad. Be surprised by someone's unloyalty. Be surprised if they lied, cheated, stole, did something wrong. Unlike Othello, who rushed to find the truth in a rumor and was too passionate about someone's alleged wrongdoing than seeing if it was actually true, don't believe those things until you have to. See people in the best way possible.
I believe that in 2019 Seniors can make Shakespeare useful. Shakespeare can help us in many ways. For one example, Shakespeare has a big influence on today’s culture. He is in songs, poems, movies, plays, musicals, novels… He is in almost everything and especially his play Romeo and Juliet are referenced to many times to count. So to understand references in life once you leave high school and go on and contribute to the world you will constantly get these references. They may also teach Shakespeare because it is a way to teach themes and morals to people like in Romeo and Juliet, it teaches how you should not be beguiled by love to the point that you are willing to kill yourself for one another. You also should not hate a family so much that it forces your children who are in love to run away and get married or like Othello’s lessons are to not be so gullible to believe in everything people say.
The only possible use I can think of for Shakespeare in this current year, especially pertaining to seniors, is as a form of entertainment. Everything that we study that William Shakespeare created is in the form of plays which are meant to be watched. Even if they were written so long ago, entertainment can still be derived from the scenes that he has concocted. The language that is used within the lines of his plays is somewhat complicated, especially for people who speak normally. Because of this, the ability to see actions performed on stage or on the movie screen makes the story a little more clear to those who intend to study his work. So because of the easier access to more people, seeing the works of Shakespeare performed is the best way and most useful way to digest the plays of the past.
Christensen 5 Shakespeare is a very well-known figure in the literary world. He is known for his unique language and well-written plays. In today’s culture, we view Shakespeare as an old guy who has some pretty popular plays. However, his works are still taught in English classes today all over the world. So, the real question is, what can us, as teens today, learn from a man whose works have been taught for centuries? First of all, we can learn how to decipher the meaning of different words and phrases that are not very common in today’s world. Shakespeare uses his own type of phrasing that does not always make sense on the surface. However, if you analyze and read the text around it, you will be able to decipher what Shakespeare was trying to convey. We can also learn about how people viewed certain gender roles in society back in the late 1500s to the early 1600s.
Betanzo 5Looking back at all the stories the class of 2019 has read from Shakespeare, I can, wholeheartedly, say that I found most of them a waste of time. For me, it took a steady time for the plot to move along in most stories, and once it did, I started to lose interest in what the story was even about. For example in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, when Puck accidentally gave the “love juice” to Lysander instead of Demetrius, I lost interest and didn’t care if Helena and Demetrius would ever get together by the end of the play. In Romeo and Juliet, when Romeo was describing the way Juliet looked after she took the sleeping potion to make her seem lifeless, it made me feel irritated because it was clearly obvious that Juliet was still alive the way Romeo described how her rosy cheeks were still visible. By the end of the story, it didn’t matter to me that both characters died. In Othello, I was extremely dissatisfied when Othello strangled Desdemona for committing adultery, but it was clear to the reader/audience that, that did not occur at all. I was just thankful that Emila revealed the truth before Othello took his own life. Looking back at all these decisions made by Shakespeare’s characters, I can say that the seniors of 2019 should take Shakespeare’s work into mind and learn not to make such dumb and idiotic decisions. We all need to make decisions that we do not end up regretting and have a better outcome than making a decision that potentially has dire consequences.
As a student that is not a fan of Shakespeare's writing, it is sometimes hard to understand the value of studying his writing. After minutes of contemplating the benefits, I have decided that in order to understand English today we need to understand the history of English. If you know why English has evolved as it has you can better understand the rules and nuances of the language. If you can understand old-timey English you will have no problem understanding what is being written today. Old English uses symbols and imagery in almost every sentence, reading and understanding this can help you to search for symbols in modern English as well as the more limited use of imagery. Studying this literature also allows students to understand just how many references are made to writings from Shakespeare’s time and even before his time. With the references to Shakespeare and Ancient Greece increasing each year, or maybe we have just started to pick up on more of these references.
Law 2 Useful is a tough word. It is as much as you make out of it. To make the most out of Shakespeare we have to take the most out of this. Accomplishing this is tough since there is not a lot of time to do so but being able to break down the meanings and passion of different kinds of Shakespeare and understanding its meaning. I think it would be very beneficial to discuss it just as we do with our other novels, through a forum. This way we are all able to talk about our ideas and understandings of what went on throughout the play. Also, I feel talking about it and even having something to look at and refer to makes it easier to remember. I am also looking forward to being able to also possibly being able to act scenes out and really get into the play itself. To make it more useful to us I believe that we can try to relate it to different things and study it to get a better understanding of what it was and why it was such a popular thing.
Studying Shakespeare can be useful for seniors in many different ways. Since Shakespeare was written in the 1500s, we are able to get a better understanding of their lifestyle. In the movie, you can tell that the way they talked back then is very different from the way we talk today. This gives us insight into the early English language and how it has changed throughout time. Another reason Shakespeare has been beneficial to the class of 2019 because we have to use our literary lens when reading and watching his work. We have to dig deeper into the meaning of his work because it is not always easy to understand. This also leads to us focusing more on literature and having better class discussions over his work. For these reasons, studying Shakespeare's work has been beneficial to everyone, and is why it has stuck around for so long in history.
Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful in a variety of different ways. Reading Shakespeare offers us a unique learning experience. His style of writing causes us to break down his works of literature in order to understand it. It also forces us to read material that we would not normally be interested in. Both of these are valuable skills that we can take with us to college and beyond. Not everything we study in college is going to be easy or modern, so it helps that we are introduced to similar things in high school. Another way Shakespeare can be useful is by applying the lessons he is portraying in his literature to our own lives. Shakespeare's books often contain a common presence of love and hate. They show how our emotions can sometimes get the best of us. This causes us to think about how our actions affect other people and how we can be more aware of our actions.
Seniors in 2019 could make Shakespeare useful by using the smallest of things we just learned about him to the real world. He was such a creative, unique, smart mastermind of plays that no one can live up too. He not only applied the times to his plays an incredible story that made you get caught up in it, no matter how old. It was really cool when he had Lago speak to the camera as if we were truly there, for background information on his thoughts. We can try and understand his learning process and masterworks he has created to use them in our future with college. By applying them to our English classes and or a profession one might be pursuing in. It can be hard to detect his true meaning behind his plays, but there is a lot that is kept hidden because a true master can't reveal his tricks. We could take away how incredibly smart he was. By thinking out so much stuff in ways where the plot and dialogue lined up perfectly with a twist in it that can throw either reader off, or the people watching the play. A true mastermind of pure trickery and perception upon his followers.
For seniors in 2019, Shakespeare is primarily useful in understanding the spectacular use of imagery. Shakespeare wrote his plays during a time where not many people could travel throughout the word. His plays must be made simple enough for the masses to understand but also descriptive enough to give viewers an idea of what he's trying to show. However, at the same time, Shakespeare uses such an odd form of English that was embellished for dramatic effect. For the most part, Englishmen of the time probably had no clue of what the actors were saying, as their speech is not reflective of how normal people spoke. Again, however, this is just another display of Shakespeare's ability to increase the dramatic experience. Shakespeare's literature is also helpful in understanding references and allusions within literature and film. From Shakespeare, we are given plays like "Macbeth" which can be implemented into films such as "The Lion King" or "West Side Story" which is almost a complete copy of "Romeo and Juliet" but set in more modern times.
Shakespeare can be useful only if you let it. I will admit if you are not totally engaged in the movie or play you will be so lost and confused. Reading Shakespeare and many other talented artists in his time period teaches you how to investigate further into the storyline. All of the books we have read make us think harder about the deeper meaning and Shakespeare makes us do just that. Without this class, I would not be reading Shakespeare. It makes us read plays and stories that we would normally not be interested in reading. One interesting aspect of the movie that we are watching now is that Iago talks to us like we are part of the story. That is really intriguing and makes you want to watch more. The only thing I am not real fond of in reading Shakespeare is the language. If it could be translated into our way of speaking now it would be much easier to understand. Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful by paying attention to the moral of every piece. There is always a meaning behind things. For example, in today's culture, you can take Romeo and Juliet's lifeline and understand that love is not always what it is pictured to be.
Unlike many responses to this prompt, I do believe there is value to be found in William Shakespeare's literature. However, I do not believe that the value of it is not found in the manifest material but the latent material. I find it that many people claim that the plays are meant to be read, pondered upon, and then implemented (the lesson) into our daily lives. Shakespeare, however, is romantic and therefore focuses on the emotions of human nature rather than the logic. What I interpret from his literature is that it purely for drama and entertainment, as well as showing the absolute lengths people will go. It is a warning. I also find value in his difficult writing style/language. It allows us to further our ability to understand literature and ultimately make us better literary theorists.
I believe that the 2019 seniors can use Shakespeare's plays as life lessons. Although Shakespeare is hard to interpret for some people the lessons that it does teach are very useful. The people that don’t think his work teaches a lesson are not trying hard enough to dig deep and think about what he is trying to say. Some things I can pick out from his work I can relate to with situations in today's world. Especially the dramas that he wrote about teenage love.
This is a topic that I have thought about, and am struggling to relate and bring back substance to. The writings of Shakespeare are such famous and common literary knowledge, that it seems as though most people can remember hearing the story of Romeo and Juliet as a young child; however, all though they are commonly known, it does not mean they are commonly enjoyed. Shakespeare's writing of poems, plays, etc. can often be confusing and misleading if one does not look into it enough. Personally, I believe that what seniors in the class of 2019 can get out of Shakespeare is whatever they put into it while reading, acting, or listening to it. If you only read the words for what they are, and not for what they are symbolizing, foreshadowing, or for the picture they are painting, they will simply stay words. If you dig into the novel to find meaning, symbols, foreshadowing, imagery, and dozens of other literary terms—you WILL reap the benefits of the lessons that Shakespeare is attempting to portray and get through to you. I am also aware and understand the complexity of the Shakespearian language in today's society and how complicated it can be to read and understand; however, there is always the option of two page translation, which allows you to still grasp what is going on in the story, but also experience the pretentious language that is also used.
There are several ways in which the seniors of 2019 can make Shakespeare useful, that is if they are intrigued enough with his work to do so. Shakespeare offers contemporary connections that open pathways to learning some of society's most marginalized such as high schoolers. That being said Shakespeare is useful to seniors because it has highly relatable characters and has consequential storylines that provide incite. We as people still experience love, loss, betrayal, war(disagreement), humor and tragedy which is why Shakespeare lives on in high school literature classes and anywhere else. Such dense material brings about incite to all aspects of life. He portrays themes of the human experience(Revenge, Love, Marriage, Power, Ambition, Murder, Obsession, Dreaming, Ambition, Loyalty, Death, Sin, Guilt) in a timeless way. Since his influence on literature and language has been so profound it is useful to have an understanding of Shakespeare to understand the modern world. Everyone can learn so much from studying the works of this famous bard including understanding the history behind his writings and learning from the messages he wished to convey.
Reading Shakespeare is not everyone's favorite past time. I feel that reading his stories and watching his plays come to life help readers understand what life was like back then. Through these stories, a reader gains insight on personalities and different cultures of the time. Romeo and Juliet taught us how important family and status was. Othello showed us that people of other nationalities and colors could along together. Both stories had their ups and downs and lessons that are still relevant today. One example would be that a person should not let irrational thinking take over your life. In Romeo and Juliet, both of them are killed because they fall in love and can not wait for another second to be with their love. In Othello, five different people ended up dead because of irrational thinking. Lago felt that he needed to manipulate everyone in order to better himself. Attempts and successful murders over nothing caused all of these deaths. Hopefully, people will not live to this extreme but it may help them understand to not freak out and overreact in every situation.
Kolbeck 7 Shakespeare has tons of literary material to draw from for inspiration. He made dozens of characters and plotlines that could be reinterpreted and reused. Many modern movies have already used many of plots because they are so brilliant and entertaining. Seniors can use the same technique with their writing career. There is no doubt that is a few aspiring writers that struggle with crafting a fully cohesive story. For many of them, it is their first time on a large scale. If using his storylines is too much, Shakespeare's characters are some of the best that could be written. He easily creates likable and hated characters with a few lines from a single act. His characters are the way they are based on the few lines and settings that he puts them in. It would be very useful for seniors to learn how a character's personality can be formed in a few lines instead of paragraphs. Less is more with Shakespeare's style of writing. That saying alone is more than enough advice for the seniors.
Darrington 7 Shakespeare’s old style of writing and unorthodox word choice makes his plays extremely hard to understand. A majority of the character development and dialogue uses immense word choice and placement of these words. Not only does this further our understanding of the time period in which Shakespeare flourished, but it furthers our intellect when understanding deeper means in tougher discourse. His advanced English is nothing short of exemplary for the time period and it shows how genius he was with words. The 2019 seniors can grasp Shakespeare's literary fluency and combine it with small-scale furthering of the history of the time period. Shakespeare was a playwright, one whose job was to entertain, and although his plays lack compromising characters, they are still entertaining people today. Today, the stereotype of his writings are “boring and hard to read,” or “not a good story.” It is interesting to understand that in the 1500s, Shakespeare was the public’s “popular show.” Overall, William provides an interesting scope into the past, using old but useful tendencies of English to create undeniable entertainment.
Students should learn about Shakespeare because it gives us an insight into the way not only literature but entertainment in general has evolved but also remained consistent. Yes, the language and settings are quite different from those of today, but the plotlines and characters are stereotypes that we see in literature and entertainment all around us. Movies dealing with betrayal and love are shown in almost every movie. Shakespeare gave us an insight into how theatre and its plots evolved. The stereotypes of the damsel in distress, the betrayal of a friend, and the male hero can all be traced back to Shakespeare and his works. I believe Shakespeare started a trend of theatre and movies for generations to come. He was the one who brought theatre into the forefront of entertainment and kept it alive for us to enjoy today. The impact he has alone on what we watch today is something that everyone needs to remember.
Seniors now can actually make Shakespeare very useful. Many highschoolers, when they hear they will be studying Shakespeare in class they think about really old, unrelatable writing. However, his plays can actually be a very useful and relatable to highschoolers now day. Being written in the 1500s, his plays are written in old English with words and sentence structures are not that familiar to us. Reading his plays can help us high schoolers become familiar with how people back then use to talk. We can become to appreciate Shakespeare writing more when you “translate” his plays and understand what he is saying. One's vocab could also broaden when studying his writing. Highschoolers can also relate somewhat to his plays. In Othello for example, the entire play shows how jealousy comes out in everyone and how bad people can be when consumed by jealousy. I think many high schoolers could learn some lessons from Shakespeare.
1 Rau The work of Shakespeare can still be considered relevant in the lives of 2019's seniors. Despite being written centuries ago, the beauty that continually shines within Shakespeare's literature is the timeless lessons it brings to its readers. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, the classic lesson to love in moderation remains to be one that anyone can learn from amongst any generation and time period. Furthermore, the ancient use of Shakespearean wording amongst Shakespeare's poems does give an old-timely element to these lessons, showing how anyone, even characters such as Othello, Romeo, Cassio, Juliet, Lago, and more can make similar mistakes in their lives— whether the consequences are better or worse in the present. Not to mention, it would be a shame for this unique kind of literature to be forgotten, when past revolutionary influences like Shakespeare could be used to lead our world in the enlightenment of past mistakes.
5 Van Hulzen Shakespeare can be very useful to seniors in the year of 2019 and beyond. Shakespeare plays show examples of lessons that need to be learned, complex language that needs to be analyzed, and drama that can be entertaining. Shakespeare's play "Othello", tells the lesson of how deadly rumors can become. Iago, the villain, exploits every opportunity to use rumors and false information to grow jealousy inside Othello and falsely build his trust. In the end Othello, his wife, and his maiden die due to this corrupt talk. The dangers of these rumors can be seen as exaggerated, but still apply to today. As with many older plays, the language in Shakespeare can be hard to understand, this requires students to analyze and make assumptions based on what they know. This analyzing greatly increases literary skills in comprehending novels. These plays can also be entertaining. Shakespeare was a master, and his play "Othello" is no exception to his work. By seeing and acting out this play we can build social skills working with others, and it could also be fun to relief some stress from school.
5 Van Hulzen Shakespeare can be very useful to seniors in the year of 2019 and beyond. Shakespeare plays show examples of lessons that need to be learned, complex language that needs to be analyzed, and drama that can be entertaining. Shakespeare's play "Othello", tells the lesson of how deadly rumors can become. Iago, the villain, exploits every opportunity to use rumors and false information to grow jealousy inside Othello and falsely build his trust. In the end Othello, his wife, and his maiden die due to this corrupt talk. The dangers of these rumors can be seen as exaggerated, but still apply to today. As with many older plays, the language in Shakespeare can be hard to understand, this requires students to analyze and make assumptions based on what they know. This analyzing greatly increases literary skills in comprehending novels. These plays can also be entertaining. Shakespeare was a master, and his play "Othello" is no exception to his work. By seeing and acting out this play we can build social skills working with others, and it could also be fun to relief some stress from school.
Although Shakespeare is confusing to understand at first, I think it is important to read in class. We can learn a lot from the text if we just interpret it. Shakespeare was a genius of his time and although he wasn't Isaac Newton nor Albert Einstien, he is still just as talented and accomplished. If we take the time to learn about such geniuses mentioned by not Shakespeare, we are excluding certain areas of learning. Most of these geniuses come from the science field, but don't think that literature isn't important to how we learn today. Literature is a way of expressing ourselves. By looking at different texts during different time periods we can see how people of that age felt. People of the past had literary trends that could describe what the people were feeling about events during that time period. In this way, I think we should learn about Shakespeare because although he may not directly show how the people of the time period felt, he shows us what was popular back then and how people lived and learned through Shakespeare's works.
Although his texts may be vintage, seniors in 2019 can still learn from the works of Shakespeare. At first glance, Shakespeare's plays may seem incredibly unnecessary and unrelated to anything a modern-day senior would need to know. However, Shakespeare's plays hold more than just old speech and tragic endings. The works of Shakespeare teach lessons about life, even if they seem to be the furthest thing from what you may be encountering. Shakespeare covers an extensive amount of topics including but not limited to excessive pride, self-control, patience, and jealousy. Shakespeare teaches about these topics in circumstances that are drastically over dramatized making it more interesting for the reader whilst clearly displaying the message. I believe that most of these topics are issues that still exist in the world today and Shakespeare is still helping to remove their presence. This is why I believe that seniors in 2019 can still learn something from Shakespeare.
2019 seniors can make Shakespeare useful in many different ways. Seniors can most importantly read and study Shakespeare's novels and poem, for the most part, to gain a better understanding of how Shakespeare can write his literature and how he expresses it. Us seniors can even watch movies and videos to see how his movies can play out and how they are important to literature. Us seniors can even do various projects to understand how his plays and movies are planned out. We could do acting scenes and perform acts in front of our classmates. We can even make a powerpoint and share it with the class so our classmates can learn better from us. We could even do other projects to help us and our classmates better understand what literature is especially when dealing with Shakespeare. There are various things that us 2019 seniors can do to make Shakespeare's works useful.
I think seniors of 2019 can make Shakespeare useful by simply learning from the past. It is critical to understand what is going on in the world now, as well as what has gone on before. When we study books or plays, we do it for a reason. We do it so that we can see what is happening around us and learn from it. We do it in order to make us more well-rounded individuals. Overall I would say it is essential to do this so we can see how far we have come in literature, as well as understanding how far we continue to advance throughout time. I also think it is important for us to continue to study Shakespeare to see how far we can push these limits of writing for years to come. For these reasons, I would say that it is still very important to make sure we study Shakespeare's works. That way we can continue to advance overall and pursue the best works we can.
Shakespeare can be useful to seniors because it helps us to understand old English a little better, and to see old arts. We learn to interpret it through the movie that we watched, reading it is much harder though so I think it is important to watch it before we read it. Shakespeare was one of the most intelligent and creative people of the time period in which he lived. He came up with amazing poetry, and plays. Shakespeare works was the first of great example of how we can express ourselves as human beings, and a way to show our passion and drama. It also shows the extreme emotions and passion that some people may experience when they do not think logically. There's tragedy, passion, and drama to the extreme to show different emotions that are not typically experienced.
Harvison 1 For high school seniors to make Shakespeare useful in their life, they would have to relate the stories and plays of Shakespeare directly to their personal lives. Shakespeare wrote stories that can encaptivate any type of audience member, drawing them into the drama that unfolds. Types of stories that people might relate to the most would be Shakespeare love stories. Most things from the time period with Shakespeare are outdated and never around in the present time. However, one thing that won't change as drastically is relationships and the struggles they sometimes bring. Shakespeare wrote about greed, deception, and jealousy in Othello, all relatable acts to everyday life for some people. Reading this and fully analyzing the text could lead to a better understanding of handling situations like this, even though the time difference is hundreds of years. Studying Shakespeare overall gives us a better perception of issues that one goes through and could help in handling them.
Seniors in 2019 can learn from shakespeare because of history in general. It can always help someone's learning experience if they look back in time to what people did before them. Everything can be seen as a learning experience if you look at it the right way. Not only will they learn new things that are technically old things, but they may also get a bit of inspiration from it and I believe that is what authors try and do with their work. They try to explain a story and perhaps inspire other people to do similar things. Some Seniors may just need some inspiration to accomplish great things. The things that they want to accomplish may not involve literature but it sure can be a learning experience. Shakespeare is legendary because a ton of people know his work. One of the most well known being Romeo and Juliet. That being said you could probably learn a thing or two from someone as successful as he.
There are many ways that seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare's work useful. Shakespeare is probably the best playwright of all time, and many things can be learned by studying his work. First off, we can learn how plays and theater works. Many of us are not well versed in theater and studying these plays can help us understand the many different aspects in theater. Another way that this is useful is the language that he used. While it is very hard to understand at some points, reading these plays and studying them can help us better understand old English. Also, because most of his works are tragedies, we can learn many life lessons from these, but the most important one is to not act quickly from emotion. Acting on emotions or passion almost never ends well in the plays, think Romeo and Juliet and Othello, and also usually do not work out in real life.
Shakespeare can prove to be beneficial for 2019 seniors by rounding out our culture. Reading and attempting to interpret the word usage and way of wording from that time period has the potential to expand our understanding of the literary and cultural worlds. Specifically, the wording is much more formal and prestigious whereas more modern day plays will have a more relaxed and less structured form of speech. Not only does Shakespeare's writing work to round out modern culture, but it also holds value through life lessons. There is always some form of a prominent dilemma whether it be through emotion and jealousy or physical issues. Although often Shakespeare's plays often show the negative ways of handling those said problems, it gives the reader an example of how not to handle similar situations, if one was ever to get into such a situation. 2019 seniors can benefit from Shakespeare because there is a broad range of learning opportunities through reading or watching Shakespearean plays.
2019 seniors can make learning Shakespeare very useful as they enter the college realm. There is a large chance most of us will have to again take a literature or English class during the next 4 years, and having learned Shakespeare in high school, it would be easier to approach learning it on a college level basis. Shakespeare works also include a large variety of vocabulary. This can be beneficial for 2019 seniors because as we enter college, we can have a better understanding of what the language in this time period was, and we can understand easier how to read and analyze the language that Shakespeare wrote his works with. The difficult wordings and phrases make it easy for students to become frustrated, but we learn patience and perseverance while reading Shakespeare. This prepares us for college, because we are learning that understanding some things takes time, and we can learn early on how to handle frustrating assignments.
Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful in multiple ways. It is very beneficial to read and learn about literature that was written long ago, rather than just reading text from current times. It will be useful for us to learn about how people from Shakespeare times talked and lived that long ago. Everyone can take something different from Shakespeare writing and that is why everyone, even seniors today can learn from it. Seniors today can also use the struggle of trying to understand Shakespeare. When something is hard, generally we learn more from it. Shakespeare forces us to truly pay attention and think about what we are reading. It requires us to think much harder than we would when we are reading just a normal book. Someone who has the patience and mindset to listen, analyze, and understand what is being said already takes away a great skill from studying his writing. Along with being able to understand what is being said one will take away a great expanse of vocabulary. Taking away a whole new set of sophisticated words to say in our speech is a great thing. This makes us look, talk, and act much smarter all because we took to the time to understand Shakespeare.
Seniors of 2019 can make use out of Shakespeare and his plays by looking at them as a mirror for themselves. In most literary works, you can find lessons that directly affect your life, lessons about relationships, selfishness, determination, etc if you look hard enough or the main message will be one big lesson. However, Shakespeare plays are filled with lessons for everyone and anyone. By reading, acting out, and studying these plays, students of 2019 can learn how to interact with others, find compassion, and simply see acts of determination and deceit for inspiration and warnings for their everyday life. Sometimes the best way to learn is from mistakes. Reading and studying Shakespeare allows you to learn from mistakes without making them yourself.
Learning Shakespeare can be very useful for Seniors in 2019. Shakespeare is almost a whole different kind of literature. The drama along with the differences in how the characters talk and act makes it a challenging task. I appreciate the stories because they are not only entertaining but so complex. Your brain has to work a little harder to analyze what is going on in the play. It is interesting to try and decipher the language from back then. At first, it is challenging but quite easy once you get the hang of it. Studying Shakespeare also helps seniors to understand and appreciate the Fine Arts.
For the last 400 years of human history, it is reasonable to assume that there has been no author more talked about and analyzed in educational settings than Shakespeare. While his stories don't change with the times and the language he uses continues to feel more and more outdated, there are still valuable lessons to be extracted from the confusion often associated with Shakespearian works. Between the "thou's", "art's", and "hath's", William Shakespeare was conveying plots so ahead of his time that is still being performed today. I believe that there is still value for seniors in 2019 to study Shakespeare but I do not think that they should be expected to read and interpret it alone. Asking a senior to study a work written 400 years ago is like asking a kindergartener to read a chapter book. While some will be able to do it, the quality of comprehension will be low and the majority of the readers wouldn't be able to take away anything of value.
Shakespeare is one of the most important authors there ever was. He put into his work tons of drama. I think high school seniors can make Shakespeare useful in 2019 by learning from this drama. Starting with Romeo and Juliet, for example, the difficult relationship between the two hits rock bottom once one tries to make their relationship permanent. However, there is a lot of misunderstanding and both kill themselves. I think what we can take from this is that your love life isn’t the most important of all. In Othello, there is an especially devilish man by the name of Iago who crumbles the lives of other characters in his hands. His antics from hatred and jealousy lead to the deaths of four major characters, including himself ironically. The childish and cruel actions of characters Shakespeare creates teach us to be better and more thoughtful people in our everyday lives.
High Schoolers can learn a lot about Shakespeare through his plays and lessons that he ingrained within his plays. Even if his words are outdated, it does not mean that the problems and tragedies that he is conveying are. He shows the good and bad in his plays and the ending does not always turn out all peachy. Teenagers can look at life this way and not always expect a happy ending. His plays also give us a history lesson to what things were really like during his era. Not only through language but societal norms as well. When we watch films about Shakespeare we also learn what kind of wardrobe they wore and how they carried themselves in the setting around them. I think that his plays sort of preserve that part of history and we can always refer back to the text whenever we wonder about that certain time period. We can learn a lot about the world just through Shakespeare’s plays.
Kirkeby 2 Shakespeare is possibly the most well-known author in human history. He was well before his time in the areas of theatre and writing. His work is unparalleled in the field of life lessons and the dark side of humanity. Perhaps Edgar Allen Poe is darker in context, but with Shakespeare, he shows the true evil in all of us. Teens nowadays can take lessons from his writing. While his words may be difficult to understand, as times and language have changed, the messages are still there. Greed, lust, anger, envy, all lead to the demise of a character in his plays and writings. This is still true to this day.
Shakespeare's writings, although difficult to understand, are arguably some of the most important pieces of literature in world history as it relates to English or otherwise. His writings, however, are not for immature minds. Most students have extreme difficulty getting past the archaic jargon. If one is able to interpret this old-style English, that is where Shakespeare's works become influential, famous, and important. Unlike popular stories of today, nearly all of his plays are tragedies, ending in death, depression, and misfortune. Stories with happy endings are easy to write; tragedies are exponentially more difficult. For seniors in 2019, most of us will (hopefully) not be experiencing any death and depression in the near future. However, through reading Shakespeare's plays, we can see a different perspective on stories that makes us think differently.
Those students who graduate in the year 2019 often wonder what the point is in reading Shakespeare. Many find it old, confusing, and too complex and boring to gain the reader's attention. While this may seem like the case, Shakespeare's writing offers a whole new perspective on what people write about and how they write about it. Using the complex language that is often associated with Shakespeare gives readers the opportunity to slow down and truly understand what he is writing about. The use of symbolism and metaphors may change the reader's opinion on a certain topic or character. Reading the same sentence structure can get boring, so Shakespeare is doing his part in keeping students in 2019 thinking differently.
Seniors in the class of 2019 can use Shakespeare as a relation to new perspectives on the journeys we will take in the next few years. It is incredible that throughout our education in K-12, we have studied Shakespeare more times than just one. With Romeo and Juliet to Othello, I have been able to enhance my understanding of other literature and modes of art from the knowledge of these great works. I think that with these stories, we can apply them to our lives and learn from the extreme dramas. I take from these plays that life can always and will always go on, no matter the heartbreak or death involved—you must go on. I hope that the class of 2019 continues to also keep the motto learned from Shakespearean plays: you must go on, instead of what many characters in these stories do to themselves in times of anguish.
99 comments:
Glen 2
Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful by understanding what he wrote in his plays/pieces, and then interpreting it to how it may pertain to their own life. Although, Shakespeare's plays are very stubborn to interpret into the “modern english,” they can carry life lessons. Such as, justice. Many people, even in today’s society, people are deceitful and untrustworthy. These themes can be shown in Shakespeare's play called “Macbeth.” In this play, the main character is drawn to power through materials; he has to test himself and see how he can control what he desires. By Shakespeare being able to predict that actions of what others may think, it can help other people in being cautious of the true intentions of others. What I like about Shakespeare, is that he writes dramatic stories that may or may not pertain to young teenagers. But, his writing requires his audience to think about the actions of others and the reason behind why the act why they do which I think is important in order to understanding others. Therefore, I think us seniors can make Shakespeare useful by using his lessons and teachings as a guideline for how individuals should or should not act towards one another.
Ask 7
There are multiple ways seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful, but it is up to the senior on what they do with his work. Seniors can either just read Shakespeare because they have to or read Shakespeare and learn from what he has to say in his plays. Every senior is different and can interpret Shakespeare's piece of work differently; that is what makes everyone unique. A senior can make Shakespeare useful by taking his pieces of work and understanding them so they can apply it in their everyday lives. A senior must want to get something out of his work to make Shakespeare useful. Shakespeare as a writer is difficult to understand in the present day and for that this makes it more complicating for a senior to understand and use Shakespeare. Othello, one of Shakespeare's pieces of work, is a play a senior can use in their everyday life. Othello is a piece of work that is based on tragedy and jealousy. Through this seniors can learn the dangers of jealousy so that disaster doesn’t happen to them. In all of Shakespeare's work, especially Othello, seniors can take Shakespeare's life lessons and use them, so they know what to do and what not to do.
It would be very easy for seniors in 2019 to think that studying Shakespeare is useless, when in fact it can be very beneficial. Since everything Shakespeare wrote is from a relatively long time ago, it makes his works harder to read and more interesting to study. Some words he used when writing back then may even have different meanings now which makes his writings even more interesting to study. Another reason why seniors in 2019 can benefit from Shakspeare is because of the effect he had on the English language. He is credited with being the first to use a lot of words that are in the dictionaries that we still use today. Shakespeare has many famous plays and some of them are still being performed today from simple high school plays all the way up to Broadway. There is a lot for seniors in 2019 to learn from the way Shakespeare wrote, and that is why his work is useful and relevant even still today.
Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful in many ways. I feel like our generation thinks that Shakespeare is often “too old” to be read and studied but if you apply yourself and focus it in you can find it very interesting in different kinds of ways and make it what you want of it. Some of the words he uses can be hard to understand but only because it is different than what we are used to and they challenge us to study different kinds of vocabulary words. His work also has types of lessons and teaching through them which is always helpful no matter how old you are. Everybody can benefit from a lesson no matter how old. Us seniors can take what we want from Shakespeare which is why I think he is useful. I am eager to study him more this next week and excited to watch my classmates act out scenes.
Graber 2
Studying Shakespeare will be very beneficial for 2019 students. It is beneficial to read and learn about the day and age when Shakespeare was around. He was around in the 1500s which was so long ago. We are so ingrained into our own day and age that it is beneficial to hear about the lifestyle of people back in that time period. The language in the plays are different too. They speak differently than we do today. They have different accents and use different words and word orders. It is interesting to hear these language differences and thus beneficial to us. I think in the end you get out of it what you make it. If you go into reading and watching with a good attitude, it will be interesting and you will learn a lot about the past. If you go in with a bad attitude, you won’t learn anything and it won’t be beneficial to your learning.
Reinschmidt 5
2019 seniors can benefit from Shakespeare in a multitude of ways. It is easy for seniors to think that Shakespeare is useless because it is so hard to read and understand. Even though his works are from a long time ago, the knowledge we can gain and interpret from them are essential. We can understand what he wrote by using literary theories and comparing it to our own lives. Although we have to be patient to understand what he is saying because it is so complicated. It is a good way to compare how writing was then and what it is now. We can take what Shakespeare said and convert it to our own lives and have our own meanings for it. Another reason Shakespeare is beneficial to us as young adults is because of the influence he had on the American language and the people. His plays and poetry are still very popular today, and that is why it is crucial that we keep Shakespeare around because of the positive influence he has had on the American people.
Studying Shakespeare can be useful to 2019 seniors in a couple different ways. Many of us seem to want to give up because of the difficult wordage and style of the writings. We see it as too challenging, and boring. Much of his work seems unrelatable and unimportant. However, studying this type of work can influence new and unique writing of our own. It challenges us to learn and study different words and time periods. Much of the literature we study is based in the time period we are currently in, but by studying the 1500s we are able to understand times we are not used to. Also even if we can not relate to the challenges the characters may face, we can use these themes and relate them to our own lives. For an author to remain relevant for this amount of time shows that his work is valued and important.
Huntimer 2
2019 Seniors can make Shakespeare useful if we apply it to modern day events. It may be difficult for people to assume the story Romeo and Juliet would happen current day; however, there are actions that Shakespeare wrote about that entwine with and current day events. For example, Juliet was pressured to marry someone who is socially more acceptable than Romeo. Current day youths are pressured to marry someone who is financially stable and socially acceptable leading to a stable life for a family. Jealousy, social status, discrimination, sexism, and prejudice still exist in the real world and are also present in all of Shakespeare’s plays. People studying Shakespeare’s literature often find it confusing with the puzzling language that they become distracted from the main lessons of the plot. Even though everyone in the world could read one of Shakespeare’s plays, the world wouldn’t become a better place if they didn’t understand the message behind it.
Shakespeare to many people can be very confusing. Although his works are from a long time ago one can learn a lot from them. Reading his works can help you better understand the lifestyle in the 1500’s. As noticed in his works they speak quite differently than we do today. This is how they talked in Shakespeare day and age. It is very interesting to see how much our language has evolved to today. You can also read his works using literary theories to understand them better. The 2019 seniors can make Shakespeare useful by understanding his work. If you are able to interpret the words of Shakespeare you are able to use your mind it a special way. The more likely you are open to learning about Shakespeares works the more likely you are able to get something out of them if you do not take time and read through them slowly you will never understand the wonderful works of Shakespeare.
Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful in multiple ways. It is very beneficial to read and learn about literature that was written long ago, rather than just reading text from current times. It will be useful for us to learn about how people from Shakespeare times talked and lived that long ago. From watching and listening to the movie, you can tell that the way they speak is very different. They use different wording, that for us is very hard to understand. From this, we will learn many things about that time period. It challenges us to try and read and interpret things in our own ways. Many of these ways may be different in what Shakespeare had originally intended, but we still can still discuss and try to apply it to our own lives as well. Because Shakespeare has been around since the 1500s, we know it is very important to study as well as learn from.
There are a few ways seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful. The best way is to interpret Shakespeare’s writing and apply his lessons to our own lives. While Shakespeare can be very hard to understand, the lessons he wrote can still be used today. He wrote many of justice and also many plays that deal with mistakes. People learn a lot from their mistakes, but we can also learn from those of others, even if they are fictional. Everyone can take something different from Shakespeare writing and that is why everyone, even seniors today can learn from it. Seniors today can also use the struggle of trying to understand Shakespeare. When something is hard, generally we learn more from it. Shakespeare forces us to truly pay attention and think about what we are reading. By the time we are seniors, we feel that we can read a pretty high level, but Shakespeare forces us not to just read the words. If we only skim or read without thought we will gain nothing from his writing. These are two ways seniors in 2019 can still learn lessons from Shakespeare.
Poncelet 2
I believe that there is lots of knowledge given by Shakespeare and his plays that can carry through to the seniors of 2019. The theme and the overall message of all of his works can be thought about and used as life lessons for the rest of our lives to be used and hopefully told, if not taught. The usefulness and the true mean and the crafting of his words and phrases are truly unbeatable when it comes to today's seniors. Seniors can get the most out of Shakespeare if they can just not only listen to his plays and sentences, but dig through them and find the real meaning behind the letters. Today’s seniors have learned so much in their careers here at Brandon Valley, but, it is just a stepping stone to where we all are going to go in the future. Shakespeare can see that in all of us by the way we study his works and admire what he has done for us and what we will do for the future.
mckellep 7
I think that seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare very useful. Throughout most of his plays and any of his writings really, there is one very prominent reoccurring theme. The characters use their emotions instead of rational thinking. It is very impulsive. I think that we can take a lot away from that. While there are a lot of situations that you should definitely use rational thinking over your emotions to avoid consequences, being in touch with your emotions is also a very good trait to possess. You don't want to go through life emotionless. He also shows people learning from their mistakes which is one of the best lessons anyone can learn. He doesn't necessarily teach us math or English but he teaches us real-world lessons. Then, because Shakespeare is written in hard to understand language, it helps today's senior use their resources to try and understand the meaning.
Shakespeare was a man who lived over 400 years ago and wrote some of the most well-known plays and poems in the western world. In 2019, people may be asking why we still study such old literature. They say that history repeats itself, so why would learning from a 400-year-old play be so far fetched in today’s society. These stories have been rewritten as parodies for years. We are also able to learn about the cultural differences between then and now. Phrases that we say would have been completely unheard of in the 1500s. Although this makes it harder to follow the plot, once you are able to decipher the lines, the themes are clear. Themes of love, loss, betrayal, war, humor, and tragedy are all still prevalent today, just in a different capacity. Through the examples of Shakespeare, we are able to learn the dos and don’ts when traversing our modern world.
2 Cushing
Seniors of 2019 can use Shakespeare in every aspect of their life. We have studied William Shakespeare since the beginning of our high school career and now till the very end. Shakespeare has written masterpieces of love and lust along with hate and defiance. In each of his plays, each student can find something to relate to. There is heartbreak, the loss of someone important, and parents who disagree with the actions of their children. Although they were written centuries ago we as teens still struggle with the same issues today. I think this is a great way to let our generation see into the eyes of people from centuries past. Although these exact events never occurred these plays were there Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars. William Shakespeare can bring the has brought us the past and the lessons and themes portrayed in his work is something we should use in our future.
Spencer 5
Seniors in 2019 can definitely make shakespeare useful. Shakespeare's writing/plays can be taken like any other book. Each person can read or watch the plays and interpret it in their own personal way. They can relate it to life today and apply it. They can also see the differences compared to today's writings/plays. Yes, the language may be a little difficult to understand, but it also makes you study the piece, just like the odyssey. He purposely used the language to make people slow down and study each word to get the true meaning. I believe it is important to have us study his words. Like I said earlier, the things he rights about are meant to apply to our lives and meant to have meaning. He makes people slow down to understand and have them really think about the meanings portrayed across his writings/plays. Seniors in 2019 can definitely make Shakespeare important in their lives just like I can.
Kocer 5
2019 seniors will be able to make Shakespeare useful in multiple ways. Reading and listening to the different style of English can be challenging to students but also beneficial. It forces students to really study and go deeper into what they are reading allowing them to get a better understanding of the stories. Behind that hard style of writing is still good stories with lessons to be learned. Although the character in his plays seems over emotional and dramatic, people can still relate to the struggles and emotions they are going through. Also, it is nice to have a different style of writing to read instead of just the normal we are used to. The plays allow readers to get a better understanding and knowing of each character better in the story. It also allows readers to put themselves in the characters’ shoes and think if that is how they would react.
Seniors in 2019 can learn from the mistakes of the main characters. For example, in Othello, we can learn to not always assume what is told us, and always talk to your partner to clarify that assumption. However, the lessons learned in Shakespeare need to be interpreted by the seniors. Each lesson is different, and one student may interpret that lesson differently than another student. Shakespeare shows that in society, including today’s, people are untrustworthy and deceitful and you should always watch your back. You can’t trust anyone more than you trust yourself. Othello also teaches the seniors a possibility of what can happen if their jealousy gets out of control. Also, in Romeo and Juliet, seniors can learn not to take love so drastically. In this play, the two kids of rival families fall in love, fake their deaths but actually die, and then their families die of broken hearts over the course of three days. We can take this lesson as to not be overdramatic with their love for someone.
Geringer 1
Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful by translating it to “our language”. We understand things a lot better when it is put into the terms/words we use every day. Like every other author in the world, Shakespeare has something he wants us to learn from each of his plays. For example, he is trying to teach us how much jealousy affects people and how other’s words can get inside our head and make us believe things that may not be true. In order to make Shakespeare useful, we have to be able to take something away from it. Shakespeare wrote his plays in a completely different time period, using a completely different way of speaking, therefore, people do not like to read his work because it is not written in a way that people would have written now. That is why it is extremely important to make it useful in your own life because if we do not, the reading of Shakespeare's work may die.
Knutson 2
Shakespeare’s works of literature have been a part of our world for as long as we can remember. The 2019 seniors have learned much through his successful pieces. His many different writings have proven to be useful to us as students in many ways. When reading his many different plays, you have to concentrate very hard to get the meaning of the story. The different style Shakespeare uses gives us seniors a new perspective on literature. Not only can we learn from many works, but we can also relate them to our own lives. Much of his writings include the emotions of excitement, love, and tragedy. Through the experiences of the characters’ emotions in Shakespeare's work, the seniors can learn from them when dealing with emotions of their own. We have just started reading Othello by William Shakespeare. This story is a helpful guide to showing the seniors what happens when you let jealousy get the best of you. Also, you should always make sure to know the whole truth before you do something you regret. This play exemplifies how Shakespeare’s works have and will continue to be useful to the seniors of 2019 to be able to learn and grow in this society.
In 2019 it is debatable that Shakespeare is as an important figure as he was back in 1564. Back then, his use of language seemed normal or otherwise a little extravagant. But compared to “modern-day English” this writing almost seems like a different language altogether. However, Shakespeare’s use of setting, characters, and morals are still intriguing to this day and high schoolers can still learn a thing or two from these amazing epics of storytelling. For example, throughout most of Shakespeare’s writings, there is always a theme of don’t trust everything/everyone. This lesson of always being alert could lead someone to avoid an untimely end. There is also the theme of loving out of personality, not class or wealth. This lesson is important because it’s what the true meaning of love is; loving someone for who they are rather than what they are. I would say that to this day Shakespeare is still an important figure in our society
Seniors in 2019 are able to use Shakespeare as basically a how not to do life. Shakespeare writes stories about tragedies that are meant to entertain, but would be very unlikely to happen in real life. The premise of Othello is that Othello does not think with reason and only trusts the words out of one person's mouth. Othello trusts Iago more than he trusts his actual wife. Seniors can take this as a lesson to have multiple people close to them to trust. They can also use it as a lesson to have some faith in a significant other. If Othello had just reasonably talked to his wife, Cassio, or Emilia, the story of Othello would not have been a tragedy. Seniors can also use Shakespeare as a way to help them find meaning in text. Shakespeare wrote in English, but in an English that is very foreign to people in the modern times, so learning to find meaning in Shakespeare's words is a good start to the world of Literary Theory.
Many seniors who have had to read Shakespeare's plays or work, believe they have no relevance to them or their life. They were written 400 years ago. This however is not true. Many of Shakespeare's ideas have been turned into movies or TV shows, such as Game of Thrones. This has been turned to fit modern pop culture, and since has become a huge hit. Game of Thrones and the modern Romeo and Juliet being played on screen in movie or TV show form is equivalent to us as what it would’ve been for them back then when they acted it on a stage. People often look to Shakespeare's work to make meaning of our experiences. I believe that every person today can understand and possibly even has a little of each of the characters within them. We understand Hamlet’s despondency; we recognize Othello’s envy; we feel Lear’s decline. I believe we can make Shakespeare useful today by relating to him and his texts, and be able to recognize this qualities and characteristics in ourselves. Shakespears plays are basically all worst case scenarios.
Kellogg 2
In 2019, seniors can make Shakespeare useful by taking time to decipher a basically all-new language. Because Shakespearean language has been developed over time and has become the English language that we know today, it is hard for students nowadays to understand what the plays were about and the symbolism involved in the wording. By having students read Shakespeare, they can begin to understand more of their own language and the ways it has developed over time. Also by reading Shakespeare, the students and other readers can learn about the differences between society 400 years ago and society today because there are many differences in how the general public works. Some of the issues that were dealt with in Shakespeare’s plays have continued to be around up until current time. There are still family problems and even a society who does not approve of interracial relationships, like with Desdemona and Othello.
Johnson 1
Shakespeare is quite relevant to today's world. Many of his ideas are turned into shows, such examples are Game of Thrones and movies like Romeo and Juliet. Also, Shakespeare's work tends to show all of us not what to do in life. We can take these lessons from these stories where it seems everyone dies and apply them to our life so we don't end up the same way. Othello really teaches us that gossip and rumors can turn a great situation into a dire one and everyone should take that lesson away from the movie. Othello is also a great example to show teenagers that getting jealous can really get the best of you and drive you to do terrible things. I think that by us reading Shakespeare's texts we can learn a lot from his writings that are so intricate and his stories teach us many valuable lessons that could be very helpful down the road.
I think seniors in 2019 can really benefit from Shakespeare. This famous author and playwright has left a legendary legacy for years to come. It is important we learn from him because we need to learn the literature they used. It is also important to have students interpret writing styles and analyze the different themes and plot structures. The stories Shakespeare wrote were very dramatic, and some stories could be predicted completely. The language we use today is very different than what it used to be. Learning Shakespeare now will be very beneficial to those who are furthering their education and will continue to take challenging English classes. Watching Othello in class with the closed captions on really helped us dig deeper into the story and understand their "language" easier. This story was very dramatic, but the 2019 seniors appreciated getting to see quite the masterpiece film from a Shakespeare book. I hope this type of writing stays around for many more years to come.
Bickley Pd.2
Seniors at Brandon Valley High School can make Shakespeare useful by focusing on the phrasing that is used in his literature. The phrasing the Shakespeare uses is more complex than the wording that is used in novels that we read in modern times. This challenges our understanding and forces us to dig deeper into the meaning of the phrases. The order of words in phrases written by Shakespeare appears backward to our understanding, so we must interpret them as we would today. Also, students who study Shakespeare are able to examine literature from an earlier time period. This helps us understand the changes literature has gone through over the years. We get the opportunity to study the words that the great Shakespeare had written for the entertainment of the people. The art of poetry/theatrical plays is able to be studied through Shakespeare by students who otherwise may not be exposed to it.
Shakespeare is useful because it gives us a sense of what time was like back in the Renaissance. Although super dramatic and sometimes over exaggerated, his plays and sonnets still have important messages. He covers tough subjects that other people at the time did not and he was not afraid to portray more risque situations. I think it is also important to study the type of English he uses. It can be difficult to understand sometimes, but it is how they talked and it helps us better understand the time period. It is also kind of a pretty way to talk. Everything they say sounds more pretty than how we talk today. It also shows us how times have changed over the years. It is overall really interesting and I think it is definitely beneficial for high schoolers to study Shakespeare. He was one of the greatest writers of all time and we should study and analyze his works.
Bunker 5
In 2019 we can make Shakespeare useful by examining the English language in a way we are not used to. His plays are very exaggerated and give us a sense of how things might have been back in the 1600s. While watching Othello I have learned not to get caught up in the hearsay and to also confront problems head-on. The character in his plays always gets too caught up in their emotions to the point they can not think straight. Shakespeare's plays can teach you all kinds of life lessons. The way people talk is very different from the way we talk. Their language makes us think and decipher what they mean. While learning his language, it helps us learn how the English language has changed over the years. Shakespeare has taught us lots of life lessons and has taught us to respect other forms of the English language.
High school seniors may make Shakespeare relevant in their lives as much or as little as they wish. I believe that the themes that Shakespeare's plays exhibit are as relevant in his day and age as they are now, even for seniors in 2019! For example, the subjects of Othello relate to feelings of jealousy, revenge, malice, and insecurity. Each one of these feelings has been experienced by modern-day teenagers in one way or another. It is because of this that I strongly believe studying this playwright is essential in understanding the depth of literature as well as its journey through time. I also believe that Shakespeare’s work could be made relevant in a teen’s life by remembering that they are normal to be feeling things such as jealousy, hate, and passionate love. These feelings have been around for ages, and I think studying plays such as Othello may aide a high school senior in feeling more secure in their fluctuating emotions.
Ziegeldorf 7
Senior of 2019 can make Shakespeare useful by reading his literary works and understanding english writing from his time. Shakespeare’s works can provide readers with entertainment in his writing. Once you are able to understand how he writes, his plays can be interesting. It is important for people to be aware of the man that produced many of the words in the dictionary we use today. We can also learn many lessons from Shakespeare’s plays. One lesson is that people often think with their heart and not their head, which can be a dangerous thing, as shown by Shakespeare. We also learn that not all stories end well, which is obvious in Romeo and Juliet. It is important to understand the differences between english writing today and writing of the 16th century, and to be aware of how significantly things have changed. We can also interpret his plays in our own way, which is a great aspect of all writing.
By reading and watching Shakespeare plays, seniors can make the stories useful while writing. Although the slang words used in this time are nonexistent now, the way the words are put together give students a better understanding of how to write. This way can be different from everyone else during an essay or scholarship essay, but it will also show peers that Shakespeare is still relevant today. It is no lie that almost everybody knows the famous Romeo & Juliet play along with Hamlet, and Disney even makes movies based on his plays. Shakespeare changed the future through his stories that were mostly considered immoral at the time with all the death and tragedy, but he had to take a risk to help students in the future.
The seniors of 2019 can indeed make studying Shakespeare useful. Shakespeare has been studied and taught for many years prior to our existence so obviously there are many things to take away from it. It is just up to us as individuals to have the mindset and motivation to do so. For starters we learn how to persevere through hard material. Shakespeare is hard to read and understand for it is entirely in old English. Someone who has the patience and mindset to listen, analyze, and understand what is being said already takes away a great skill from studying his writing. Along with being able to understand what is being said one will take away a great expanse of vocabulary. Taking away a whole new set of sophisticated words to say in our speech is a great thing. This makes us look, talk, and act much smarter all because we took to the time to understand Shakespeare.
Seniors in 2019 can do many things to make Shakespeare useful. They can use it as a lesson to be learned. In a lot of Shakespeare’s works conflicts are created by over exaggerating and ignorance. The lesson to be taken away from this is to know situations and both sides of stories before overreacting and creating problems that do not need to be created. Another way seniors can make Shakespeare useful is to learn about history. Understanding the way in which words are spoken is hard for most. When a person gets to looking into the words and figuring it out, it teaches about history and what Shakespeare is conveying in his stories. The way in which Shakespeare wrote can teach a lot about how stories were told back then. A lot of his works are plays, meaning that stories were meant to be performed and visualized. Lessons and history are to be learned when reading or watching Shakespeare.
There are many different ways seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful. Just by reading and watching Shakespeare you get the full experience of what that day and age was like. Shakespeare used a wide variety of vocabulary words and slang in the writing of his plays, some of the words he used are nonexistent now and probably still will be in the future. Students who understand the slang of Shakespeare are overall better writers because they understand some complex vocabulary and literary styles, that others may not. Everyone has heard of Shakespeare, especially when it comes to the play Romeo and Juliet that most movies recreate or use the romantic scenes in a TV show for example. But, not everyone really understands the underlying context of what actually is going on within the play or story, they think they know what's going on but in all reality they probably don’t. Overall, Shakespeare has helped our seniors become better writers and it will help the seniors in the future also.
Brown 2
The application of Shakespeare in today’s day age is much more difficult than in past generations. Modernity has forced Shakespeare’s lessons to become obsolete and difficult to comprehend due to the complexity of the language. However, students today can make Shakespeare useful by using the brilliance of his writing. Mirroring Shakespeare’s writing technique is not going to be the most useful way to write an essay, but occasionally shifting sentence structure to match his varies the writing thus making it more enjoyable to read. Another function of his writings that may be useful to high schools is the ability to write in complex structures like iambic pentameter. This style of writing is hard to copy, but when forced upon students, it forces them to think of structuring their writing in a much different manner. Shakespeare forces students in the modern era to think much differently than what is normally asked of them which can be useful for inspiring creativity. Using this creative inspiration is how seniors can make Shakespeare useful today.
Larson 5,
Shakespeare can often be seen as hard to understand. I think it depends on the senior on how they can make it useful. But, I think everyone can find it useful when applying it to their own lives. Everybody is different and has their own personalities that make them who they are. For each person, they can apply Shakespeare in a way that makes sense to them whether it be in a movie, a play, etc. Even when it comes to other subjects/materials, it is always easiest to understand when applying it to your own life because it allows you to connect to it easier. When you can finally understand the piece of art, you realize how intriguing and unique Shakespeare really is. Also after understanding what Shakespeare is writing about it gives the readers a sense of confidence knowing they have the ability to overcome something that is seen difficult.
Frantzen 1
Seniors in 2019 can 100% make Shakespeare useful in our lives. Shakespeare is a very challenging read because how long ago it was written but that is the fun of it. Since it was written so long ago we are able to interpret is in more ways than people were able to back when it was written. Once you get past the weird verbiage, you can really dig deep and use literary lenses to improve the way you look at it. Othello teaches us many lessons that we can take with us in life. It teaches us to not always listen to what others say especially if it goes against something you believe in. The biggest lesson I learned from it is to talk to someone if you have a problem. If Othello would have just talked it out and been rational he maybe would not have killed her. Shakespeare is still impacting our lives today.
Whenever a high school student hears Shakespeare it can be educated guess that they are not happy about reading his works. Trying to make sense of 400-year-old language is difficult. However, Shakespeare has greatly affected literature, authors, and readers. Shakespeare makes the reader question the plot, the characters, and one’s self. I believe seniors of 2019 could make Shakespeare useful by taking in the lesson learned by “Othello.” As most of us head of to college, a career, and what have it, trust is a valuable lesson we need to have a fresh reminder of. Trust is something that has to be earned and should never be taken advantage of. Shakespeare obviously has a dark way of showing his audience the truth, but nevertheless, he makes a great point. As seniors in high school, we can learn many lessons from literature as long as we chose to apply them. I believe Shakespeare is someone who should always be studied and learned from because his honest writing is exactly what this world needs.
Making Shakespeare useful, today would be a difficult task. As there is not much application of Shakespeare in the world other than in a literary sense. There is no need for Shakespeare to be studied directly, it is not a necessity in the working world. However, 2019 seniors can study Shakespeare to broaden their understanding and inculcate themselves with more diverse ways of thinking and writing. I've noticed while watching Othello, that I have to pay attention to the entire sentence in order to derive meaning from it. Shakespeare likes to use large signifying phrases, and I often find myself having to slow down and pay attention to understand the sentence as a whole. This could be applied in the lives of seniors as they go forward in life. Particularly, I find myself, while in the process of note-taking, copying everything down word for word, and not retaining any of the information myself—hoping that I will be able to decipher my notes at a later date, when necessary. Perhaps Shakespeare could help me in that regard.
Shakespeare can be useful to 2019 seniors in many different ways. Shakespeare was considered a literary genius, writing multiple poems and plays during his time. Today many people, such as teens, recreate his plays on their own stages with their own interpretation. When someone like a teen from this century attempts to "translate" one of Shakespeare's pieces, it can be very difficult and most of the time the interpretation can be incorrect. If someone with a young age would like to understand Shakespeare's writing, they should ask an expert who has studied these older writings. Shakespeare's writings can also be very interesting and can be filled with history and can inform us how people may have lived back then. When watching "Othello" I was very intrigued by it. Although the language was very hard to understand, it was very helpful when the plot was explained to us before we watched the movie. I thought the use of the fourth wall with Iago was super interesting and really drew me into the movie.
Poppenga 2
Shakespeare in 2019 has been somewhat forgotten along with many other classic poets because our generation lacks the focus and interest to understand them. The language we use today is very different than what it used to be. Learning Shakespeare now will be very beneficial to those who are furthering their education and will continue to make challenging English classes. Reading and watching Shakespeare’s poems and plays allows young viewers to understand the lost passion that was valued back in the 1500s. It is important for people to be aware of Shakespeare and his work because he produced a lot of the words in the dictionary used today. There are also many lessons that we can learn from Shakespeare’s plays such as self love, be wise, think with your heart, etc. We can make Shakespeare useful today by relating to him and his texts, and be able to recognize the lessons and passions within ourselves.
Reading Shakespeare is akin to speaking to someone with an accent thicker than molasses. It isn’t enjoyable. It isn’t easy. Many people claim that the lessons in Shakespearean plays are so powerful, profound, and relevant to life today. That’s a load of horse piss. The merit in reading Shakespeare is certainly not in the content. The characters are childish, dumber than a box of rocks, and more easily manipulated than a cat with a laser pointer. When your entire plot is driven forth by characters simply refusing to communicate as normal human beings would, the “remarkable innovation and intelligence” of your writing ought to be under fire. It's honestly pathetic. Although I have found Shakespeare's plays themselves to be an utter sack of garbage, the true value of them lies in their language. I related reading Shakespeare to having a conversation with someone that struggles to understand because therein lies the value. As we challenge ourselves to understand “what the heck this dude is saying,” we further our ability to interpret literature. The principle of specificity fully applies; doing something that is difficult will make everything leading up to it a walk in the park.
DeCurtins 5
Seniors of the 2019 class can make Shakespeare useful by not just reading his works because they have to but to retain his insightful teachings. Often times students put Shakespeare on the backburner and view is his as unimportant. However, each of his stories has a lesson behind it. Both Midsummer Nights Dream and Romeo and Juliet were both largely driven by love. Midsummer Night's Dream as a blind yet beautiful force that can be both grueling and amazing. Romeo and Juliet literally has the idea: til death do us part. The overall theme of this is that love conquers over the hate between the Montagues and Capulets, however, it sometimes comes with a price. These themes can teach students to be mindful, cautious, learn to be rational, yet be courageous and live your life to the fullest. Most of Shakespeare's characters act on passion before ration. Shakespeare allows his characters to make mistakes for viewers to learn from without having consequences on their actual life. 2019 seniors can take the initiative to allow Shakespeare to have an impact on them in how to live their life, especially since very soon they will be thrown into the world on their own.
Olivier 5
Seniors in 2019 can use Shakespeare's work in many ways. To my understanding, all of Shakespeare's work could be taken as a life lesson, or at least the tragedies can. Othello is a tragedy filled with greed and misfortune. Iago, the villain can be perceived as any deceptive person in a 2019 senior's life. People deceive for their own good or betterment. People should not always be trusted. Another great lesson in the play, Othello, is to never act upon greed or anger. Othello ends up killing his wife that he loves dearly because Iago has spread a rumor that she is a whore. Of course, Desdemona is not a whore, but Othello is so enraged that he ends up killing her. Students learning about Shakespeare should learn to transfer his ideas to present-day conflicts in order for them to make more sense. Shakespeare's lessons teach us to recognize certain traits within ourselves.
Although Shakespeare is a little hard to read since it is written in old time English, it still can provide value to seniors in 2019. One thing that studying Shakespeare shows us is that the English language has changed over time and will continue to change as time goes on. It shows us that not only the English language has changed, but times have also changed. Shakespeare writes about characters during his time period and how they talked, which shows us the change that has happened in our world over time. Even if this way of writing is harder for us to understand, there are many lessons that Shakespeare’s writing can teach us. His writing also tells of characters that face challenges and how they handle them. From this, readers can learn how to face challenges that arise in their own lives. All of his plays have a lesson that we can learn from.
Shakespeare can be extremely useful, but it is up to the students to make it so. Seniors can simply do what is asked of them, or they can think more critically and discover the true ideas of Shakespeare. His works are from long ago and can be extremely difficult to understand. However, that complexity is exactly what makes it so useful and the history is important to understand how we are at the current point in time. It forces the seniors to think harder about the meanings and create their own interpretations while discovering new ideas. Shakespeare is very influential in the lives of people today, and seniors in 2019 can benefit from learning the history of that influence. Many plays are still performed, vocabulary continues to be used, and cultural aspects can still be seen. When a student has a mindset of yearning to discover, they can find true meanings that directly apply to everyday life. The intent of some of his work may have been different during his time, but the beauty of literature and theater is that interpretations can change, and people learn what best helps them with their lives. Shakespeare’s work challenges students to a different level, but those works can be some of the best to learn from, if the student desires.
Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful by applying it to current day. Shakespeare is brilliant example on how to not react to certain things. If you suspect that your wife is cheating on you, instead of just talking to your friend you should talk to your wife. Shakespeare is a classic example of overreacting to things. When you suspect something is going on, just talk to the person that is affected by it instead of letting your anger boil over. Seniors can also show that Shakespeare can still be fun when you learn about it, and it shows that literature is still relevant.
Peyton 5
Highschoolers may not enjoy reading Shakespeare. They may even hate reading and studying Shakespeare. It is very hard to apply lessons from his work to our lives because it was a much older time and the events, in my opinion, are not very likely. I think that one of the only lessons you can get from it is to see both sides of a story before you assume something. You can see Othello that many of the characters are very ignorant and just believe everything they hear. This leads to a lot of dumb chaos and unnecessary conflict. Too many of these characters are not thinking things out and thinking with their hearts instead of their heads. They let their emotions take them over and it leads to their peril. This shows us to just calm down and look at things when a problem occurs. Sit back find all the facts and do not assume. I think this can also apply in politics. Too many people believe the first social media post about politics and won't check up on if it is completely true.
Seniors in 2019 can still make Shakespeare useful, even though his plays were written long ago. Although sometimes Shakespeare can be hard to understand, the lessons learned are still relevant. In Othello, a common theme was believing rumors and a lack of trust. Othello only believed Iago, not his wife. There was a lack of trust in their marriage. We can also learn that eventually, the truth will come out. Iago spent the entire play lying to get his way. At the end of the play, everyone knew he was lying and what the truth actually was. Emelia also stated that women were equal to men in every way, which shows feminism even though Shakespeare was before the feminist movement. We can also learn not to overreact. Every single character in the play overreacted and was very dramatic. This led to even more conflict, and eventually multiple deaths. If the senior is willing, a lot can be taken from Shakespeare.
Sonju 2
Shakespeare's plays and sonnets are still studied in English classes today for many reasons. Shakespeare's work takes us back to a different time—it is a history lesson inside of an English lesson. He teaches us about the culture of the 16th century. He also invented many popular words and phrases still used today. Most students seem to find reading Shakespeare boring and difficult, and for that reason do not see any value in reading his work. I was first introduced to Shakespeare in a classroom setting in 6th grade when we studied Romeo and Juliet in gifted ed. It taught me how to read closely and helped me become a better literary analyst. Being introduced to old English as a 6th grader has also helped me tremendously in understanding Othello while watching the movie. I think that students overlook the usefulness of Shakespeare because it is difficult to read his work and they can never truly become interested in it. I know that as a student I would not be as well-rounded if I had not read any Shakespeare in school. If students can realize that we read Shakespeare as a sort of "literature exercise", I think that we could find all sorts of reasons why Shakespeare is useful in 2019.
The stories that Shakespeare tells have lessons that everyone can relate to. Romeo and Juliet tell the love story of two teenagers whose rash decisions ended up ruining (and ending) their lives. Seniors today can learn many things from this story. One being, think before you act. Another might be that actions can have serious consequences. Making rash decisions hardly ever ends well, as can clearly be seen with Romeo and Juliet. One last lesson might be not to fall in love too quickly. If Romeo and Juliet knew each other better, they wouldn’t have believed that the other killed themselves. Othello teaches lessons about jealousy. If someone, like Othello, lets jealousy control their life, serious consequences can occur. Shakespeare is trying to show the importance of trust. If Othello would have simply trusted Desdemona, no one would have died. Trust is important to relationships, and Shakespeare is clearly trying to show this with Othello. While the stories Shakespeare told may seem dated, the basic lessons they teach will forever be relevant.
Talcott 2
Making Shakespeare useful today is very difficult since the time period Shakespeare lived in was very different from our current time period. The writing style was different making it hard to understand. Shakespeare is very difficult to understand, but it can be very useful when you understand it. When you read Shakespeare’s writing you can gain information about the time period he wrote in. His writings tell stories of customs that occurred in the late 1500s and early 1600s. Shakespeare also teaches some great lessons in his plays and novels that we can still use today. One of those lessons is taught in his story, Othello. The lesson learned in Othello is careful who you put your trust in. Meeting new people we need to be careful have much trust we give them until we really get to know them. There are people in the world that could scam you.
There are many ways that 2019 seniors can make Shakespeare useful. One major way Shakespeare can be applied to seniors lives is understanding his lessons. If we read Shakespeare and learn the lessons then we can apply those to our everyday lives. In stories like Romeo & Juliet and Othello, teenagers can learn not to trust the wrong people and love is not worth killing yourself for. Even when some of the lessons do not apply to use now, we can still learn from or be entertained by them. Another way Shakespeare can be useful to teenagers now is his writing style and process. We can learn many things from the way Shakespeare wrote his plays. He was able to entice many people to be interested in his plays. I think the more people read and learn from Shakespeare the more interesting today’s stories will become. I also feel that far into the future there are writers that will be studied the same way Shakespeare is studied now.
The information that Shakespeare has in his plays are can be very important. Many people our generation think that Shakespeare work is very difficult to comprehend. They are very great for learning how to comprehend sentences, although, that were created back then. He created plays around the years 1590 and 1613. This being made back in times way before this century, seniors today could use they information or advice it gives to us. America’s culture has evolved a drastic amount throughout many years. Seniors could apply this advice that was probably lost that Shakespeare plays are trying to convey. These could be lessons we can apply to our lives now. A lot of Shakespeare's plays are about love, drama, and jealousy. These can relate to any life of a high schooler. It is good to read and understand his work to compare it to our experiences.
Burchill 5
Shakespeare shows a lot of value when learning about truth, relationships, trust, recklessness, and other things. In this day and age, the facts become even more valuable than back then. We see Othello loses his wife, reputation, job, and life because he didn't get his facts right. He didn't look for the evidence. Although I might not die because I said something that wasn't true or believed something that was false, and especially for me as a political science major, I need to make sure that I'm getting all the evidence and seeing both sides of the issue. One of the most prominent lessons that I took from Shakespeare's tragedy is that I should always look for the good in people, not the bad. Be surprised by someone's unloyalty. Be surprised if they lied, cheated, stole, did something wrong. Unlike Othello, who rushed to find the truth in a rumor and was too passionate about someone's alleged wrongdoing than seeing if it was actually true, don't believe those things until you have to. See people in the best way possible.
Vogel 1
I believe that in 2019 Seniors can make Shakespeare useful. Shakespeare can help us in many ways. For one example, Shakespeare has a big influence on today’s culture. He is in songs, poems, movies, plays, musicals, novels… He is in almost everything and especially his play Romeo and Juliet are referenced to many times to count. So to understand references in life once you leave high school and go on and contribute to the world you will constantly get these references. They may also teach Shakespeare because it is a way to teach themes and morals to people like in Romeo and Juliet, it teaches how you should not be beguiled by love to the point that you are willing to kill yourself for one another. You also should not hate a family so much that it forces your children who are in love to run away and get married or like Othello’s lessons are to not be so gullible to believe in everything people say.
The only possible use I can think of for Shakespeare in this current year, especially pertaining to seniors, is as a form of entertainment. Everything that we study that William Shakespeare created is in the form of plays which are meant to be watched. Even if they were written so long ago, entertainment can still be derived from the scenes that he has concocted. The language that is used within the lines of his plays is somewhat complicated, especially for people who speak normally. Because of this, the ability to see actions performed on stage or on the movie screen makes the story a little more clear to those who intend to study his work.
So because of the easier access to more people, seeing the works of Shakespeare performed is the best way and most useful way to digest the plays of the past.
Christensen 5
Shakespeare is a very well-known figure in the literary world. He is known for his unique language and well-written plays. In today’s culture, we view Shakespeare as an old guy who has some pretty popular plays. However, his works are still taught in English classes today all over the world. So, the real question is, what can us, as teens today, learn from a man whose works have been taught for centuries? First of all, we can learn how to decipher the meaning of different words and phrases that are not very common in today’s world. Shakespeare uses his own type of phrasing that does not always make sense on the surface. However, if you analyze and read the text around it, you will be able to decipher what Shakespeare was trying to convey. We can also learn about how people viewed certain gender roles in society back in the late 1500s to the early 1600s.
Betanzo 5Looking back at all the stories the class of 2019 has read from Shakespeare, I can, wholeheartedly, say that I found most of them a waste of time. For me, it took a steady time for the plot to move along in most stories, and once it did, I started to lose interest in what the story was even about. For example in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, when Puck accidentally gave the “love juice” to Lysander instead of Demetrius, I lost interest and didn’t care if Helena and Demetrius would ever get together by the end of the play. In Romeo and Juliet, when Romeo was describing the way Juliet looked after she took the sleeping potion to make her seem lifeless, it made me feel irritated because it was clearly obvious that Juliet was still alive the way Romeo described how her rosy cheeks were still visible. By the end of the story, it didn’t matter to me that both characters died. In Othello, I was extremely dissatisfied when Othello strangled Desdemona for committing adultery, but it was clear to the reader/audience that, that did not occur at all. I was just thankful that Emila revealed the truth before Othello took his own life. Looking back at all these decisions made by Shakespeare’s characters, I can say that the seniors of 2019 should take Shakespeare’s work into mind and learn not to make such dumb and idiotic decisions. We all need to make decisions that we do not end up regretting and have a better outcome than making a decision that potentially has dire consequences.
As a student that is not a fan of Shakespeare's writing, it is sometimes hard to understand the value of studying his writing. After minutes of contemplating the benefits, I have decided that in order to understand English today we need to understand the history of English. If you know why English has evolved as it has you can better understand the rules and nuances of the language. If you can understand old-timey English you will have no problem understanding what is being written today. Old English uses symbols and imagery in almost every sentence, reading and understanding this can help you to search for symbols in modern English as well as the more limited use of imagery. Studying this literature also allows students to understand just how many references are made to writings from Shakespeare’s time and even before his time. With the references to Shakespeare and Ancient Greece increasing each year, or maybe we have just started to pick up on more of these references.
Law 2
Useful is a tough word. It is as much as you make out of it. To make the most out of Shakespeare we have to take the most out of this. Accomplishing this is tough since there is not a lot of time to do so but being able to break down the meanings and passion of different kinds of Shakespeare and understanding its meaning. I think it would be very beneficial to discuss it just as we do with our other novels, through a forum. This way we are all able to talk about our ideas and understandings of what went on throughout the play. Also, I feel talking about it and even having something to look at and refer to makes it easier to remember. I am also looking forward to being able to also possibly being able to act scenes out and really get into the play itself. To make it more useful to us I believe that we can try to relate it to different things and study it to get a better understanding of what it was and why it was such a popular thing.
Studying Shakespeare can be useful for seniors in many different ways. Since Shakespeare was written in the 1500s, we are able to get a better understanding of their lifestyle. In the movie, you can tell that the way they talked back then is very different from the way we talk today. This gives us insight into the early English language and how it has changed throughout time. Another reason Shakespeare has been beneficial to the class of 2019 because we have to use our literary lens when reading and watching his work. We have to dig deeper into the meaning of his work because it is not always easy to understand. This also leads to us focusing more on literature and having better class discussions over his work. For these reasons, studying Shakespeare's work has been beneficial to everyone, and is why it has stuck around for so long in history.
Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful in a variety of different ways. Reading Shakespeare offers us a unique learning experience. His style of writing causes us to break down his works of literature in order to understand it. It also forces us to read material that we would not normally be interested in. Both of these are valuable skills that we can take with us to college and beyond. Not everything we study in college is going to be easy or modern, so it helps that we are introduced to similar things in high school. Another way Shakespeare can be useful is by applying the lessons he is portraying in his literature to our own lives. Shakespeare's books often contain a common presence of love and hate. They show how our emotions can sometimes get the best of us. This causes us to think about how our actions affect other people and how we can be more aware of our actions.
Campbell 7
Seniors in 2019 could make Shakespeare useful by using the smallest of things we just learned about him to the real world. He was such a creative, unique, smart mastermind of plays that no one can live up too. He not only applied the times to his plays an incredible story that made you get caught up in it, no matter how old. It was really cool when he had Lago speak to the camera as if we were truly there, for background information on his thoughts. We can try and understand his learning process and masterworks he has created to use them in our future with college. By applying them to our English classes and or a profession one might be pursuing in. It can be hard to detect his true meaning behind his plays, but there is a lot that is kept hidden because a true master can't reveal his tricks. We could take away how incredibly smart he was. By thinking out so much stuff in ways where the plot and dialogue lined up perfectly with a twist in it that can throw either reader off, or the people watching the play. A true mastermind of pure trickery and perception upon his followers.
Runia 2
For seniors in 2019, Shakespeare is primarily useful in understanding the spectacular use of imagery. Shakespeare wrote his plays during a time where not many people could travel throughout the word. His plays must be made simple enough for the masses to understand but also descriptive enough to give viewers an idea of what he's trying to show. However, at the same time, Shakespeare uses such an odd form of English that was embellished for dramatic effect. For the most part, Englishmen of the time probably had no clue of what the actors were saying, as their speech is not reflective of how normal people spoke. Again, however, this is just another display of Shakespeare's ability to increase the dramatic experience. Shakespeare's literature is also helpful in understanding references and allusions within literature and film. From Shakespeare, we are given plays like "Macbeth" which can be implemented into films such as "The Lion King" or "West Side Story" which is almost a complete copy of "Romeo and Juliet" but set in more modern times.
Ellingson 5
Shakespeare can be useful only if you let it. I will admit if you are not totally engaged in the movie or play you will be so lost and confused. Reading Shakespeare and many other talented artists in his time period teaches you how to investigate further into the storyline. All of the books we have read make us think harder about the deeper meaning and Shakespeare makes us do just that. Without this class, I would not be reading Shakespeare. It makes us read plays and stories that we would normally not be interested in reading. One interesting aspect of the movie that we are watching now is that Iago talks to us like we are part of the story. That is really intriguing and makes you want to watch more. The only thing I am not real fond of in reading Shakespeare is the language. If it could be translated into our way of speaking now it would be much easier to understand. Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful by paying attention to the moral of every piece. There is always a meaning behind things. For example, in today's culture, you can take Romeo and Juliet's lifeline and understand that love is not always what it is pictured to be.
Unlike many responses to this prompt, I do believe there is value to be found in William Shakespeare's literature. However, I do not believe that the value of it is not found in the manifest material but the latent material. I find it that many people claim that the plays are meant to be read, pondered upon, and then implemented (the lesson) into our daily lives. Shakespeare, however, is romantic and therefore focuses on the emotions of human nature rather than the logic. What I interpret from his literature is that it purely for drama and entertainment, as well as showing the absolute lengths people will go. It is a warning. I also find value in his difficult writing style/language. It allows us to further our ability to understand literature and ultimately make us better literary theorists.
I believe that the 2019 seniors can use Shakespeare's plays as life lessons. Although Shakespeare is hard to interpret for some people the lessons that it does teach are very useful. The people that don’t think his work teaches a lesson are not trying hard enough to dig deep and think about what he is trying to say. Some things I can pick out from his work I can relate to with situations in today's world. Especially the dramas that he wrote about teenage love.
Erck 5
This is a topic that I have thought about, and am struggling to relate and bring back substance to. The writings of Shakespeare are such famous and common literary knowledge, that it seems as though most people can remember hearing the story of Romeo and Juliet as a young child; however, all though they are commonly known, it does not mean they are commonly enjoyed. Shakespeare's writing of poems, plays, etc. can often be confusing and misleading if one does not look into it enough. Personally, I believe that what seniors in the class of 2019 can get out of Shakespeare is whatever they put into it while reading, acting, or listening to it. If you only read the words for what they are, and not for what they are symbolizing, foreshadowing, or for the picture they are painting, they will simply stay words. If you dig into the novel to find meaning, symbols, foreshadowing, imagery, and dozens of other literary terms—you WILL reap the benefits of the lessons that Shakespeare is attempting to portray and get through to you. I am also aware and understand the complexity of the Shakespearian language in today's society and how complicated it can be to read and understand; however, there is always the option of two page translation, which allows you to still grasp what is going on in the story, but also experience the pretentious language that is also used.
There are several ways in which the seniors of 2019 can make Shakespeare useful, that is if they are intrigued enough with his work to do so. Shakespeare offers contemporary connections that open pathways to learning some of society's most marginalized such as high schoolers. That being said Shakespeare is useful to seniors because it has highly relatable characters and has consequential storylines that provide incite. We as people still experience love, loss, betrayal, war(disagreement), humor and tragedy which is why Shakespeare lives on in high school literature classes and anywhere else. Such dense material brings about incite to all aspects of life. He portrays themes of the human experience(Revenge, Love, Marriage, Power, Ambition, Murder, Obsession, Dreaming, Ambition, Loyalty, Death, Sin, Guilt) in a timeless way. Since his influence on literature and language has been so profound it is useful to have an understanding of Shakespeare to understand the modern world. Everyone can learn so much from studying the works of this famous bard including understanding the history behind his writings and learning from the messages he wished to convey.
Reading Shakespeare is not everyone's favorite past time. I feel that reading his stories and watching his plays come to life help readers understand what life was like back then. Through these stories, a reader gains insight on personalities and different cultures of the time. Romeo and Juliet taught us how important family and status was. Othello showed us that people of other nationalities and colors could along together. Both stories had their ups and downs and lessons that are still relevant today. One example would be that a person should not let irrational thinking take over your life. In Romeo and Juliet, both of them are killed because they fall in love and can not wait for another second to be with their love. In Othello, five different people ended up dead because of irrational thinking. Lago felt that he needed to manipulate everyone in order to better himself. Attempts and successful murders over nothing caused all of these deaths. Hopefully, people will not live to this extreme but it may help them understand to not freak out and overreact in every situation.
Kolbeck 7
Shakespeare has tons of literary material to draw from for inspiration. He made dozens of characters and plotlines that could be reinterpreted and reused. Many modern movies have already used many of plots because they are so brilliant and entertaining. Seniors can use the same technique with their writing career. There is no doubt that is a few aspiring writers that struggle with crafting a fully cohesive story. For many of them, it is their first time on a large scale. If using his storylines is too much, Shakespeare's characters are some of the best that could be written. He easily creates likable and hated characters with a few lines from a single act. His characters are the way they are based on the few lines and settings that he puts them in. It would be very useful for seniors to learn how a character's personality can be formed in a few lines instead of paragraphs. Less is more with Shakespeare's style of writing. That saying alone is more than enough advice for the seniors.
Darrington 7
Shakespeare’s old style of writing and unorthodox word choice makes his plays extremely hard to understand. A majority of the character development and dialogue uses immense word choice and placement of these words. Not only does this further our understanding of the time period in which Shakespeare flourished, but it furthers our intellect when understanding deeper means in tougher discourse. His advanced English is nothing short of exemplary for the time period and it shows how genius he was with words. The 2019 seniors can grasp Shakespeare's literary fluency and combine it with small-scale furthering of the history of the time period. Shakespeare was a playwright, one whose job was to entertain, and although his plays lack compromising characters, they are still entertaining people today. Today, the stereotype of his writings are “boring and hard to read,” or “not a good story.” It is interesting to understand that in the 1500s, Shakespeare was the public’s “popular show.” Overall, William provides an interesting scope into the past, using old but useful tendencies of English to create undeniable entertainment.
DeWitt 1
Students should learn about Shakespeare because it gives us an insight into the way not only literature but entertainment in general has evolved but also remained consistent. Yes, the language and settings are quite different from those of today, but the plotlines and characters are stereotypes that we see in literature and entertainment all around us. Movies dealing with betrayal and love are shown in almost every movie. Shakespeare gave us an insight into how theatre and its plots evolved. The stereotypes of the damsel in distress, the betrayal of a friend, and the male hero can all be traced back to Shakespeare and his works. I believe Shakespeare started a trend of theatre and movies for generations to come. He was the one who brought theatre into the forefront of entertainment and kept it alive for us to enjoy today. The impact he has alone on what we watch today is something that everyone needs to remember.
Seniors now can actually make Shakespeare very useful. Many highschoolers, when they hear they will be studying Shakespeare in class they think about really old, unrelatable writing. However, his plays can actually be a very useful and relatable to highschoolers now day. Being written in the 1500s, his plays are written in old English with words and sentence structures are not that familiar to us. Reading his plays can help us high schoolers become familiar with how people back then use to talk. We can become to appreciate Shakespeare writing more when you “translate” his plays and understand what he is saying. One's vocab could also broaden when studying his writing. Highschoolers can also relate somewhat to his plays. In Othello for example, the entire play shows how jealousy comes out in everyone and how bad people can be when consumed by jealousy. I think many high schoolers could learn some lessons from Shakespeare.
1 Rau
The work of Shakespeare can still be considered relevant in the lives of 2019's seniors. Despite being written centuries ago, the beauty that continually shines within Shakespeare's literature is the timeless lessons it brings to its readers. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, the classic lesson to love in moderation remains to be one that anyone can learn from amongst any generation and time period. Furthermore, the ancient use of Shakespearean wording amongst Shakespeare's poems does give an old-timely element to these lessons, showing how anyone, even characters such as Othello, Romeo, Cassio, Juliet, Lago, and more can make similar mistakes in their lives— whether the consequences are better or worse in the present. Not to mention, it would be a shame for this unique kind of literature to be forgotten, when past revolutionary influences like Shakespeare could be used to lead our world in the enlightenment of past mistakes.
5 Van Hulzen
Shakespeare can be very useful to seniors in the year of 2019 and beyond. Shakespeare plays show examples of lessons that need to be learned, complex language that needs to be analyzed, and drama that can be entertaining. Shakespeare's play "Othello", tells the lesson of how deadly rumors can become. Iago, the villain, exploits every opportunity to use rumors and false information to grow jealousy inside Othello and falsely build his trust. In the end Othello, his wife, and his maiden die due to this corrupt talk. The dangers of these rumors can be seen as exaggerated, but still apply to today. As with many older plays, the language in Shakespeare can be hard to understand, this requires students to analyze and make assumptions based on what they know. This analyzing greatly increases literary skills in comprehending novels. These plays can also be entertaining. Shakespeare was a master, and his play "Othello" is no exception to his work. By seeing and acting out this play we can build social skills working with others, and it could also be fun to relief some stress from school.
5 Van Hulzen
Shakespeare can be very useful to seniors in the year of 2019 and beyond. Shakespeare plays show examples of lessons that need to be learned, complex language that needs to be analyzed, and drama that can be entertaining. Shakespeare's play "Othello", tells the lesson of how deadly rumors can become. Iago, the villain, exploits every opportunity to use rumors and false information to grow jealousy inside Othello and falsely build his trust. In the end Othello, his wife, and his maiden die due to this corrupt talk. The dangers of these rumors can be seen as exaggerated, but still apply to today. As with many older plays, the language in Shakespeare can be hard to understand, this requires students to analyze and make assumptions based on what they know. This analyzing greatly increases literary skills in comprehending novels. These plays can also be entertaining. Shakespeare was a master, and his play "Othello" is no exception to his work. By seeing and acting out this play we can build social skills working with others, and it could also be fun to relief some stress from school.
Brummels 1
Although Shakespeare is confusing to understand at first, I think it is important to read in class. We can learn a lot from the text if we just interpret it. Shakespeare was a genius of his time and although he wasn't Isaac Newton nor Albert Einstien, he is still just as talented and accomplished. If we take the time to learn about such geniuses mentioned by not Shakespeare, we are excluding certain areas of learning. Most of these geniuses come from the science field, but don't think that literature isn't important to how we learn today. Literature is a way of expressing ourselves. By looking at different texts during different time periods we can see how people of that age felt. People of the past had literary trends that could describe what the people were feeling about events during that time period. In this way, I think we should learn about Shakespeare because although he may not directly show how the people of the time period felt, he shows us what was popular back then and how people lived and learned through Shakespeare's works.
Although his texts may be vintage, seniors in 2019 can still learn from the works of Shakespeare. At first glance, Shakespeare's plays may seem incredibly unnecessary and unrelated to anything a modern-day senior would need to know. However, Shakespeare's plays hold more than just old speech and tragic endings. The works of Shakespeare teach lessons about life, even if they seem to be the furthest thing from what you may be encountering. Shakespeare covers an extensive amount of topics including but not limited to excessive pride, self-control, patience, and jealousy. Shakespeare teaches about these topics in circumstances that are drastically over dramatized making it more interesting for the reader whilst clearly displaying the message. I believe that most of these topics are issues that still exist in the world today and Shakespeare is still helping to remove their presence. This is why I believe that seniors in 2019 can still learn something from Shakespeare.
2019 seniors can make Shakespeare useful in many different ways. Seniors can most importantly read and study Shakespeare's novels and poem, for the most part, to gain a better understanding of how Shakespeare can write his literature and how he expresses it. Us seniors can even watch movies and videos to see how his movies can play out and how they are important to literature. Us seniors can even do various projects to understand how his plays and movies are planned out. We could do acting scenes and perform acts in front of our classmates. We can even make a powerpoint and share it with the class so our classmates can learn better from us. We could even do other projects to help us and our classmates better understand what literature is especially when dealing with Shakespeare. There are various things that us 2019 seniors can do to make Shakespeare's works useful.
I think seniors of 2019 can make Shakespeare useful by simply learning from the past. It is critical to understand what is going on in the world now, as well as what has gone on before. When we study books or plays, we do it for a reason. We do it so that we can see what is happening around us and learn from it. We do it in order to make us more well-rounded individuals. Overall I would say it is essential to do this so we can see how far we have come in literature, as well as understanding how far we continue to advance throughout time. I also think it is important for us to continue to study Shakespeare to see how far we can push these limits of writing for years to come. For these reasons, I would say that it is still very important to make sure we study Shakespeare's works. That way we can continue to advance overall and pursue the best works we can.
Eifert 2
Shakespeare can be useful to seniors because it helps us to understand old English a little better, and to see old arts. We learn to interpret it through the movie that we watched, reading it is much harder though so I think it is important to watch it before we read it. Shakespeare was one of the most intelligent and creative people of the time period in which he lived. He came up with amazing poetry, and plays. Shakespeare works was the first of great example of how we can express ourselves as human beings, and a way to show our passion and drama. It also shows the extreme emotions and passion that some people may experience when they do not think logically. There's tragedy, passion, and drama to the extreme to show different emotions that are not typically experienced.
Harvison 1
For high school seniors to make Shakespeare useful in their life, they would have to relate the stories and plays of Shakespeare directly to their personal lives. Shakespeare wrote stories that can encaptivate any type of audience member, drawing them into the drama that unfolds. Types of stories that people might relate to the most would be Shakespeare love stories. Most things from the time period with Shakespeare are outdated and never around in the present time. However, one thing that won't change as drastically is relationships and the struggles they sometimes bring. Shakespeare wrote about greed, deception, and jealousy in Othello, all relatable acts to everyday life for some people. Reading this and fully analyzing the text could lead to a better understanding of handling situations like this, even though the time difference is hundreds of years. Studying Shakespeare overall gives us a better perception of issues that one goes through and could help in handling them.
Laabs 5
Seniors in 2019 can learn from shakespeare because of history in general. It can always help someone's learning experience if they look back in time to what people did before them. Everything can be seen as a learning experience if you look at it the right way. Not only will they learn new things that are technically old things, but they may also get a bit of inspiration from it and I believe that is what authors try and do with their work. They try to explain a story and perhaps inspire other people to do similar things. Some Seniors may just need some inspiration to accomplish great things. The things that they want to accomplish may not involve literature but it sure can be a learning experience. Shakespeare is legendary because a ton of people know his work. One of the most well known being Romeo and Juliet. That being said you could probably learn a thing or two from someone as successful as he.
Grode 2
There are many ways that seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare's work useful. Shakespeare is probably the best playwright of all time, and many things can be learned by studying his work. First off, we can learn how plays and theater works. Many of us are not well versed in theater and studying these plays can help us understand the many different aspects in theater. Another way that this is useful is the language that he used. While it is very hard to understand at some points, reading these plays and studying them can help us better understand old English. Also, because most of his works are tragedies, we can learn many life lessons from these, but the most important one is to not act quickly from emotion. Acting on emotions or passion almost never ends well in the plays, think Romeo and Juliet and Othello, and also usually do not work out in real life.
Shakespeare can prove to be beneficial for 2019 seniors by rounding out our culture. Reading and attempting to interpret the word usage and way of wording from that time period has the potential to expand our understanding of the literary and cultural worlds. Specifically, the wording is much more formal and prestigious whereas more modern day plays will have a more relaxed and less structured form of speech. Not only does Shakespeare's writing work to round out modern culture, but it also holds value through life lessons. There is always some form of a prominent dilemma whether it be through emotion and jealousy or physical issues. Although often Shakespeare's plays often show the negative ways of handling those said problems, it gives the reader an example of how not to handle similar situations, if one was ever to get into such a situation. 2019 seniors can benefit from Shakespeare because there is a broad range of learning opportunities through reading or watching Shakespearean plays.
Ackerman 5
2019 seniors can make learning Shakespeare very useful as they enter the college realm. There is a large chance most of us will have to again take a literature or English class during the next 4 years, and having learned Shakespeare in high school, it would be easier to approach learning it on a college level basis. Shakespeare works also include a large variety of vocabulary. This can be beneficial for 2019 seniors because as we enter college, we can have a better understanding of what the language in this time period was, and we can understand easier how to read and analyze the language that Shakespeare wrote his works with. The difficult wordings and phrases make it easy for students to become frustrated, but we learn patience and perseverance while reading Shakespeare. This prepares us for college, because we are learning that understanding some things takes time, and we can learn early on how to handle frustrating assignments.
Olthoff 5
Seniors in 2019 can make Shakespeare useful in multiple ways. It is very beneficial to read and learn about literature that was written long ago, rather than just reading text from current times. It will be useful for us to learn about how people from Shakespeare times talked and lived that long ago. Everyone can take something different from Shakespeare writing and that is why everyone, even seniors today can learn from it. Seniors today can also use the struggle of trying to understand Shakespeare. When something is hard, generally we learn more from it. Shakespeare forces us to truly pay attention and think about what we are reading. It requires us to think much harder than we would when we are reading just a normal book. Someone who has the patience and mindset to listen, analyze, and understand what is being said already takes away a great skill from studying his writing. Along with being able to understand what is being said one will take away a great expanse of vocabulary. Taking away a whole new set of sophisticated words to say in our speech is a great thing. This makes us look, talk, and act much smarter all because we took to the time to understand Shakespeare.
Seniors of 2019 can make use out of Shakespeare and his plays by looking at them as a mirror for themselves. In most literary works, you can find lessons that directly affect your life, lessons about relationships, selfishness, determination, etc if you look hard enough or the main message will be one big lesson. However, Shakespeare plays are filled with lessons for everyone and anyone. By reading, acting out, and studying these plays, students of 2019 can learn how to interact with others, find compassion, and simply see acts of determination and deceit for inspiration and warnings for their everyday life. Sometimes the best way to learn is from mistakes. Reading and studying Shakespeare allows you to learn from mistakes without making them yourself.
Learning Shakespeare can be very useful for Seniors in 2019. Shakespeare is almost a whole different kind of literature. The drama along with the differences in how the characters talk and act makes it a challenging task. I appreciate the stories because they are not only entertaining but so complex. Your brain has to work a little harder to analyze what is going on in the play. It is interesting to try and decipher the language from back then. At first, it is challenging but quite easy once you get the hang of it. Studying Shakespeare also helps seniors to understand and appreciate the Fine Arts.
Barton 7
For the last 400 years of human history, it is reasonable to assume that there has been no author more talked about and analyzed in educational settings than Shakespeare. While his stories don't change with the times and the language he uses continues to feel more and more outdated, there are still valuable lessons to be extracted from the confusion often associated with Shakespearian works. Between the "thou's", "art's", and "hath's", William Shakespeare was conveying plots so ahead of his time that is still being performed today. I believe that there is still value for seniors in 2019 to study Shakespeare but I do not think that they should be expected to read and interpret it alone. Asking a senior to study a work written 400 years ago is like asking a kindergartener to read a chapter book. While some will be able to do it, the quality of comprehension will be low and the majority of the readers wouldn't be able to take away anything of value.
Shakespeare is one of the most important authors there ever was. He put into his work tons of drama. I think high school seniors can make Shakespeare useful in 2019 by learning from this drama. Starting with Romeo and Juliet, for example, the difficult relationship between the two hits rock bottom once one tries to make their relationship permanent. However, there is a lot of misunderstanding and both kill themselves. I think what we can take from this is that your love life isn’t the most important of all. In Othello, there is an especially devilish man by the name of Iago who crumbles the lives of other characters in his hands. His antics from hatred and jealousy lead to the deaths of four major characters, including himself ironically. The childish and cruel actions of characters Shakespeare creates teach us to be better and more thoughtful people in our everyday lives.
High Schoolers can learn a lot about Shakespeare through his plays and lessons that he ingrained within his plays. Even if his words are outdated, it does not mean that the problems and tragedies that he is conveying are. He shows the good and bad in his plays and the ending does not always turn out all peachy. Teenagers can look at life this way and not always expect a happy ending. His plays also give us a history lesson to what things were really like during his era. Not only through language but societal norms as well. When we watch films about Shakespeare we also learn what kind of wardrobe they wore and how they carried themselves in the setting around them. I think that his plays sort of preserve that part of history and we can always refer back to the text whenever we wonder about that certain time period. We can learn a lot about the world just through Shakespeare’s plays.
Kirkeby 2
Shakespeare is possibly the most well-known author in human history. He was well before his time in the areas of theatre and writing. His work is unparalleled in the field of life lessons and the dark side of humanity. Perhaps Edgar Allen Poe is darker in context, but with Shakespeare, he shows the true evil in all of us. Teens nowadays can take lessons from his writing. While his words may be difficult to understand, as times and language have changed, the messages are still there. Greed, lust, anger, envy, all lead to the demise of a character in his plays and writings. This is still true to this day.
Shakespeare's writings, although difficult to understand, are arguably some of the most important pieces of literature in world history as it relates to English or otherwise. His writings, however, are not for immature minds. Most students have extreme difficulty getting past the archaic jargon. If one is able to interpret this old-style English, that is where Shakespeare's works become influential, famous, and important. Unlike popular stories of today, nearly all of his plays are tragedies, ending in death, depression, and misfortune. Stories with happy endings are easy to write; tragedies are exponentially more difficult. For seniors in 2019, most of us will (hopefully) not be experiencing any death and depression in the near future. However, through reading Shakespeare's plays, we can see a different perspective on stories that makes us think differently.
Those students who graduate in the year 2019 often wonder what the point is in reading Shakespeare. Many find it old, confusing, and too complex and boring to gain the reader's attention. While this may seem like the case, Shakespeare's writing offers a whole new perspective on what people write about and how they write about it. Using the complex language that is often associated with Shakespeare gives readers the opportunity to slow down and truly understand what he is writing about. The use of symbolism and metaphors may change the reader's opinion on a certain topic or character. Reading the same sentence structure can get boring, so Shakespeare is doing his part in keeping students in 2019 thinking differently.
Seniors in the class of 2019 can use Shakespeare as a relation to new perspectives on the journeys we will take in the next few years. It is incredible that throughout our education in K-12, we have studied Shakespeare more times than just one. With Romeo and Juliet to Othello, I have been able to enhance my understanding of other literature and modes of art from the knowledge of these great works. I think that with these stories, we can apply them to our lives and learn from the extreme dramas. I take from these plays that life can always and will always go on, no matter the heartbreak or death involved—you must go on. I hope that the class of 2019 continues to also keep the motto learned from Shakespearean plays: you must go on, instead of what many characters in these stories do to themselves in times of anguish.
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