is shakespeare still relevant today essay

Why Is Shakespeare Still Important?

14 May, 2024

Few people deny that he’s one of the most important writers to have ever lived – but why?

In a world in which ‘everyone is writing a book’ (Cicero said that all the way back in around 100 BC, and it’s still true today, two thousand years later), why is Shakespeare one of the few names that continues to resonate through the centuries?

Before we launch into his work and legacy, here’s a quick biography of the man behind the plays.

Table of Contents

Who was William Shakespeare?

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, all the way back in 1564. The Shakespeares weren’t a noble family, but his father did hold positions in local government and William was probably sent to the local grammar school as a child. At eighteen, he married a woman called Anne Hathaway (not that one!), and later moved to London. He made a name for himself as an actor and then as a playwright in the capital. He lived between London and his hometown, while his wife and kids stayed in Stratford.

4 reasons why Shakespeare is still relevant today

1. shakespeare’s themes.

A lot of Shakespeare’s plays deal with really big, universal themes. Things like life, love, death and betrayal. He might write about them in slightly funny language and in the context of an England that existed 400 years ago, but they’re topics that we can still relate to today.

One of the best-known speeches in the world begins ‘To be or not to be.’ It sees a young man struggle with questions of death and the afterlife in the face of crippling grief. You can set the monologue in any context, at any time and in any place; the emotion and rawness of the words will still resonate deeply with the audience. Similarly, Romeo and Juliet’s professions of love are amongst the most beautiful in the English canon. And their story of a forbidden relationship is one with which many modern audience members can still sympathise. The topics that Shakespeare explores in his plays, then, are things that everyone throughout history can relate to. The fact we continue to identify with situations he writes about is one of the biggest reasons we still read him so widely today.

2. Shakespeare’s characters

The themes covered in the plays are universal, but the relatability of the characters is even more impressive. It’s not difficult for modern audiences to see themselves reflected in at least one character in any given Shakespeare production, even though they were written around the turn of the 17th century. How remarkable is that!

Viola, Sebastian and Duke from She’s the Man are all believable high schoolers in the mid-2000s, but they’re actually based on characters from Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night . Creating men and women who are able to slot into modern American football teams, or wield pistols instead of swords is no mean feat, but Shakespeare achieved it over and over again. His characters are beloved, despised, laughed at and most importantly remembered for their relatability. 

3. Shakespeare’s impact on linguistics

For those with an interest in learning the English language more than reading its literature, Shakespeare is still important. This is because of his contributions to the development of words and phrases that are now used on a daily basis. Shakespeare played a really important part in molding the language we speak today. If you’ve ever said ‘all of a sudden’, or spoken about jealousy as ‘the green-eyed monster’, then you have Shakespeare to thank. He even came up with whole new words – 422 of them , in fact, including bump, lonely and upstairs. That’s not to say we’d still be without words for these things if Shakespeare had never written. But the sheer number of new words and phrases he coined makes him a core figure in the development of our language.

4. Shakespeare’s impact on theatre

For many modern actors, acting in the main role in a Shakespeare production is a career-defining and impressive achievement. The Globe Theatre, the Elizabethan playhouse for which he produced his plays, is still an icon of London’s rich cultural history. 

Watching a Shakespeare play live on stage is an experience like no other. You’re sure to find productions of his plays nearby, wherever you live, but there’s nothing quite like an open-air production to really capture the original magic. If you enrol in our Oxford summer course , you’ll get to watch a play performed live in the ruins of the ancient Oxford Castle and Prison , or you could watch a play in the reconstruction of Shakespeare’s own Globe Theatre on the Southbank.

What can we learn from Shakespeare’s plays?

Shakespeare’s plays offer timeless insights into human nature, society, and the complexities of relationships.

Through his masterful storytelling, we learn about the enduring themes of love, power, jealousy, betrayal, and the human condition. His characters, from the tragic hero to the comic fool, provide a mirror to our own lives, teaching us about empathy, understanding different perspectives, and the consequences of our actions.

Shakespeare also enriches our understanding of language and its power, showing how words can convey deep emotions, create vivid imagery, and express complex ideas.

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April 2019 marked the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. (Illustration/ WikiImages vis Pixabay)

Six reasons Shakespeare remains relevant 400 years after his death

USC professor helps to put the Bard’s influence into perspective on the upcoming anniversary of his passing

‘To be or not to be?”

That is the question that has passed over the lips of countless actors playing Hamlet in the last four centuries on stage and screen. It’s also a question that people in almost every country and in any language know quite well. We can thank playwright William Shakespeare, whose reach is extensive.

In April, people around the world will celebrate the Bard’s timeless works on the 400th anniversary of his death. There will be performances of his plays, readings of his poetry and new publications dedicated to analyzing his prolific and time-honored text.

So why does Shakespeare’s work continue to resonate with each generation?

“Shakespeare reveals a different face to different cultures and different people at different times,” explained Bruce Smith , Dean’s Professor of English and professor of theater at USC.

“When the First Folio of Shakespeare’s work was published in 1623, seven years after his death, Ben Johnson, who was a fellow writer, noted that Shakespeare was ‘not of an age, but for all time.’ That statement can be taken two ways: that the meaning of Shakespeare’s work is always the same or that it is always different. The second interpretation is the one that has been borne out.”

Smith is editor of The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare , which will be published Feb. 11 by Cambridge University Press. Written for general and academic audiences by an international roster of almost 300 contributors, the guide boasts more than 2,000 pages exploring both Shakespeare’s world and the influence of his works on the world.

Topics range from the language and initial reception of Shakespeare’s plays and poems to studies of his works in popular culture, new media and advertising, as well as their influence on film, religion and fine arts.

Here are six reasons (among countless others) explored in the guide why Shakespeare remains an icon 400 years after his death.

1. You quote Shakespeare on a regular basis and don’t even know it.

Shakespeare’s influence on the English language runs deep. For instance, if you search the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) — the definitive record of the English language — Shakespeare is often identified as the sole user or first user of a word or phrase, according to Charlotte Brewer who authored the guide’s chapter on “Shakespeare and the OED.”

“The more of Shakespeare’s words you look up, the more you discover that, time after time, according to the OED, he turns out to have used language in wholly individual ways or [more often] to have originated usages that subsequently became established in the language,” Brewer wrote.

If you have ever said “It’s Greek to me,” suffered from “green-eyed jealousy,” “stood on ceremony,” been “tongue-tied,” “hoodwinked” or “in a pickle,” you are quoting Shakespeare.

2. The Bard’s reach is cosmic.

The planet Uranus has 27 moons, the majority of which are named for Shakespearean characters: Titania, Oberon, Puck ( A Midsummer Night’s Dream ); Ariel, Miranda, Caliban, Sycorax, Prospero, Setebos, Stephano, Trinculo, Francisco, Ferdinand ( The Tempest ); Cordelia ( King Lear ); Ophelia ( Hamlet ); Bianca ( The Taming of the Shrew ); Cressida ( Troilus and Cressida); Desdemona ( Othello ); Juliet, Mab ( Romeo and Juliet ); Portia ( The Merchant of Venice ); Rosalind ( As You Like It ); Margaret ( Much Ado About Nothing ); Perdita ( The Winter’s Tale ); and Cupid ( Timon of Athens ). (The two remaining moons, Umbriel and Belinda, are named for characters in Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock .

3. Some people don’t believe Shakespeare wrote the plays and poems that bear his name.

What cements a writer’s legacy more than when a segment of his or her audience contests their work? The great Shakespeare authorship controversy was sparked in the 1850s — more than 200 years after his death — when American writer Delia Bacon and British bookseller William Henry Smith each published their arguments on the topic. Among other potential authors of the plays credited to Shakespeare, they suggested philosopher Francis Bacon and poet Walter Raleigh were more likely the “real” writers of Romeo and Juliet , etc. In the subsequent century, more than 50 alternative writers were proposed.

However, David Kathman, who wrote the “Authorship Controversy” chapter in The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare , is confident that Shakespeare’s works are his own.

“Despite the claims of anti-Stratfordians,” he explains, “the evidence that William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the works of William Shakespeare is abundant and wide-ranging for the time, more abundant than the comparable evidence for most other of his contemporary playwrights.”

Kathman is one of several independent scholars without an academic appointment recognized as authorities on Shakespeare who contributed to the guide. Smith noted that their inclusion “is yet another sign of Shakespeare’s universal appeal.

4. Shakespeare has been a profitable brand for hundreds of years.

In 1710, publisher Jacob Tonson started a trend when he adopted Shakespeare’s likeness as his corporate logo, using the Bard’s portrait on his bookshop sign, in advertisements and on the editions of Shakespeare’s works that he published. In the past four centuries, Shakespeare’s strength as a brand has not faltered. In fact, it’s ubiquitous. His likeness and his works have been used to sell soap, chocolate, cigarettes, computers, beer, soda and almost anything else you can think of

5. His likeness remains a mystery.

Although Shakespeare’s image has been reproduced time and again, we don’t actually know what he looks like. None of the printed portraits that accompanied his work date back to his lifetime. The image that most people are familiar with is an engraving by Martin Droeshout, which debuted in 1623 on the title page of the first edition of Shakespeare’s collected plays called the First Folio.

However, Erin C. Blake explained in the guide’s chapter on “Likenesses: Prints and Portraits,” that the editors of the First Folio were friends and colleagues of the Bard’s. She wrote: “They knew what he looked like and would not have accepted a portrait that differed wildly from the man they remembered.

6. His works are universal and enduring, as are his characters.

Shakespeare’s works are emotional, hilarious, pithy. But above all, he was masterful at imbuing his stories and his characters with qualities that audiences and readers identify with — Hamlet’s anguish, Ophelia’s distress, the enduring love between Romeo and Juliet.

In Samuel Johnson’s preface to The Plays of Shakespeare (1765), he wrote, “His characters … are the genuine progeny of common humanity, such as the world will always supply, and observation will always find.”

For those who would like to explore Shakespeare’s legacy more extensively, the print version of The Cambridge Guide will be available at the Doheny Memorial Library. The online version of the guide will be accessible through USC Libraries in the coming months.

Smith also will celebrate the anniversary of Shakespeare’s passing with the publication of his seventh book in June with Shakespeare | Cut: Rethinking Cutwork in an Age of Distraction (Oxford University Press). Shakespeare | Cut , which looks at the creative ways snippets of the Bard’s work have appeared on stage, in video games or on YouTube, is an elaboration of the Oxford Wells Shakespeare Lectures that he delivered at Oxford University in 2014.

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Why is Shakespeare still important today?

Shakespeare remains vital because his plays present people and situations that we recognize today. His characters have an emotional reality that transcends time, and his plays depict familiar experiences, ranging from family squabbles to falling in love to war. The fact that his plays are performed and adapted around the world underscores the universal appeal of his storytelling.

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Why Is Shakespeare Still So Popular In The 21st Century?

Even 400 years after his passing, Shakespeare remains relevant in the 21 st  century. The reach of the playwright is extensive, and people from all over the globe and all walks of life have read him, watched his plays, or have at least watched  screen adaptations of his work .

Who amongst us doesn’t know the famed question from  Hamlet “To be or not to be?” . Every day, we see readings of his poetry, performances of his plays, and see publications that analyze his time-honored and prolific texts.

We have all read or written an essay on William Shakespeare or his works in our English Literature classes.

The million-dollar question is: Why does the work of  William Shakespeare  continue to resonate with generation after generation and why he remains so popular in the 21 st  century?

Different people from different cultures at different times see a different face of Shakespeare. Every time we read Shakespeare, we see a different perspective come into focus.  Who hasn’t read or seen a performance of Hamlet or  Shakespeare’s Macbeth ?

Let’s take a look at a few reasons why Shakespeare still remains relevant after all these years:

1. Influence on the English Language

The  influence that Shakespeare has on the English language  had very deep roots. We use several words daily that was first used by Shakespeare. Surprised? Don’t be. If you look up roots of words in the Oxford English Dictionary, you’d see that Shakespeare is identified several times as the first user of a phrase or a word.

Several phrases that have become subsequently established in the English language have been used in individual ways by Shakespeare. If you have used words like “ green-eyed jealousy ,” “It’s Greek to me,” “tongue-tied,” “ in a pickle ,” “hoodwinked,” etc. you are inadvertently quoting Shakespeare.

2. Moons of Uranus

There are 27 moons of the planet Uranus. Most of them have been named after famous characters from Shakespeare’s plays such as Puck , Oberon , Titania , Miranda, Ariel, Caliban , etc. Anyone learning the names of these moons will definitely look up Shakespeare, and thus, his influence and reach become cosmic!

3. Controversies around Shakespeare

Like every other good thing and person, Shakespeare is also surrounded by controversies that keep his name circulating in the news. There are several people who  believe that Shakespeare didn’t write the poems and plays that bear his name today .

The controversy over Shakespeare’s authorship arose in the 1850s, almost 200 years after his death. William Henry Smith, a British bookseller, and Delia bacon, an American author, published their arguments as they contested his works. Many folks ask why Shakespeare is still relevant.

They suggested that the poet Walter Raleigh and the philosopher Francis Bacon are more likely to be the real writers of Shakespearean works like Romeo and Juliet, etc. On the other hand, there are various people who believe that the works of Shakespeare are entirely his own.

4. Shakespeare – A profitable brand

Shakespeare’s likeness was first used in 1710 by Jacob Tonson as the corporate logo for his bookshop. Since then, the strength of  Shakespeare as a brand  has continued to grow, and his influence is ubiquitous. His work and likeness have been used to sell everything from cigarettes to computers and from chocolates to beers!

5. Shakespeare’s Likeness – A mystery

To this day, we don’t know how Shakespeare actually looks like.  His image has been reproduced several times . However, all the printed portraits of Shakespeare that we see along with his works don’t date back to his lifetime.

The image that most of us know and are familiar with is was engraved by Martin Droeshout. It was printed for the first time in 1623 on the 1 st  edition of  the First Folio, a collection of Shakespeare’s plays . However, several people are of the belief that the editors of the First Folio were colleagues and friends of Shakespeare; thus, they knew how he looked like, and the portrait is really of Shakespeare himself.

However, it still remains a historical mystery!

6. Universal and enduring characters

The works of Shakespeare are hilarious, pithy, and emotional. He was a master when it came to imbuing his characters and stories with qualities and traits that the readers and audiences definitely identify with.  You can see various Macbeth essay examples online and see for yourself how relatable his character of Macbeth is.

The love between Juliet and Romeo, the anguish that hamlet felt, Macbeth’s craziness, the distress of Ophelia; we can relate with all of these at some points in our lives. His characters depict the emotions of common humanity.

The Final Word

The relevance of Shakespeare is timeless, and his relevance in the 21 st  century can’t be denied. He is popular today for all of the above reasons, and because he understands how a human mind works as well as – or better than – any other writer.

He portrays the most complex themes of human life with such ease and prowess; the way Shakespeare depicts murder,  ambition , love,  revenge ,  betrayal , and  hatred , flames the fire within our own souls.

Our beliefs, assumptions, and prejudices are constantly challenged by Shakespeare. He created profound and complex characters that are extraordinarily heroic, irredeemably villainous, gut-wrenchingly tragic, and immediately identifiable.

After reading this article, it is easy to see how William Shakespeare is still relevant. With a fusion of prose, blank verse, and poetry, Shakespeare remains woven into the fabric of the English language, and will continue to be popular as long as time exists.

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Is Shakespearean Literature Still Relatable Today? Essay

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Shakespeare’s writing is still relevant today because it portrays many timeless themes and emotions of the human condition that appeal to people across centuries. His works often explore these aspects of humanity, and his characters can be seen as avatars for modern audiences who find parallels between their lives and those of Shakespeare’s creation. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, audiences have been drawn for centuries by the enduring theme of young love amidst a background of family feuding. This continues to resonate with viewers today, as does the range of other powerful emotions such as ambition (Macbeth), revenge (Hamlet), and betrayal (Othello).

In addition, Shakespearean language has become so embedded in everyday speech that it is often used without realizing its origin. Even though some of the words that Shakespeare used are outdated, his use of figurative language and clever wordplay still resonates with readers today. Many everyday phrases originated from Shakespeare, such as “it’s all Greek to me” and “in a pickle.” Even his metaphors are still in use today: for example, they call tragedies “Bard-fests” (alluding to the Bard himself), and even some jokes take their roots from puns made by the great playwright.

Finally, the characters that Shakespeare created have been immortalized in popular culture. His plays have been translated into countless languages and adapted for all sorts of media—from television series to Bollywood movies—and continue to attract audiences of all ages (Vuille 136). Through movies and television shows, modern audiences can relate to these characters as if they were their friends and family. Undoubtedly, many people are drawn to his works; everyone enjoys a good classic.

In conclusion, it is evident that William Shakespeare’s works still matter today. His writing can speak to different generations through its timeless themes and poetic language. His characters are beloved by many and continue to capture the hearts of modern audiences. He has left us with an enduring legacy that will continue to be appreciated for generations. Therefore, one can easily comprehend why Shakespeare is still relevant and enjoyed today.

Vuille, Rosine-Alice. “Haider, A Bollywood Hamlet: narrating contemporary conflicts through classical theatre.” Haider, A Bollywood Hamlet: narrating contemporary conflicts through classical theatre (2022): 135-146.

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Why Is Shakespeare Still Relevant Today: Exploring His Timeless Impact

Table of contents, universal themes transcending time, insights into human nature, influence on literature, theater, and culture, reflection of societal issues, conclusion: the eternal bard.

• Greenblatt, S. (2015). Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Bloom, H. (1998). Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. Riverhead Books.
• Wells, S., & Orlin, L. (Eds.). (2003). Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide. Oxford University Press.
• Garber, M. (2010). Shakespeare After All. Anchor.
• Shakespeare, W. (1623). First Folio.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — William Shakespeare — How William Shakespeare Is Still Relevant Today

How William Shakespeare is Still Relevant Today

• Categories: Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare

About this sample

Words: 486 |

Published: Feb 8, 2022

Words: 486 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Works Cited

• Greenblatt, S. (2004). Will in the world: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Kastan, D. S. (2019). Shakespeare and the nature of man. Macmillan International Higher Education.
• Loomba, A. (2013). Shakespeare, race, and colonialism. Oxford University Press.
• Marowitz, C. (2002). The Marowitz Shakespeare: Adaptions and collages of Hamlet , Macbeth, the Taming of the Shrew, Measure for measure, and the Merchant of Venice. Marion Boyars.
• Montrose, L. A. (2009). The purpose of playing: Shakespeare and the cultural politics of the Elizabethan theatre. University of Chicago Press.
• Muir, K. (2005). Shakespeare's originality. Routledge.
• Shakespeare, W. (2016). Romeo and Juliet. Simon & Schuster.
• Taylor, G. (2013). Reinventing Shakespeare: A cultural history , from the Restoration to the present. Oxford University Press.
• Wells, S., & Orlin, L. C. (Eds.). (2003). Shakespeare: An Oxford guide. Oxford University Press.
• Wilson, J. (2010). Shakespeare and the culture of romanticism. Ashgate Publishing.

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Why Shakespeare Is Still Relevant Today

Have you have ever used sayings such as “tongue-tied”, “in a pickle” and “cruel to be kind”? If so, you have quoted Shakespeare. In fact, it’s likely we each cite him every day without even realising it.

Shakespeare also crafted unique words like “hoodwinked” and “bedazzle”, and even created common words by changing nouns to verbs, verbs to adjectives, and so on. But, aside from his immense contribution to the English language, there are many more reasons why his work is still studied today.

The Works Of Shakespeare Are Timeless

Think about some of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, such as  Romeo and Juliet . It is a classic and tragic love story that we see time and time again. Or how about Macbeth , a good man consumed by ambition, ultimately leading to his downfall – a story of good conquering evil. Shakespeare’s plays have formed a template for many books and movies produced today.

His Characters

Shakespeare was a master in creating characters rich in personality and traits. They never go out of date, with their various qualities of jealousy, ambition, naivety, power, kindness, nobility – the list goes on.

His Themes Still Resonate

Shakespeare’s works have strong themes that run through each piece. And again, these themes are still relevant today – love, death, ambition, power, fate, free will, just to name a few.

So Shakespeare’s works are timeless and universal. That also makes them  relatable. His plays were written a long time ago, true, but they are based on his view of life as a whole. They are not just reflections of his own life within the confines of his own times.

Of course, social factors did have some influence. The Elizabethan audience, for example, believing in witches, would have gained a lot from Macbeth . These factors were never the main focus of his works, though.

You may question why we study the works of a writer who died over 400 years ago. But if you take into consideration that we quote him everyday and can still relate to his characters, stories and themes, the answer becomes a lot clearer.

Visit our related subject course(s): English Literature IGCSE , English Literature GCSE

See more by Sumantha McMahon

Sumantha is an education and training specialist with over ten years' experience in developing and delivering adult and secondary level education. Her professional journey includes a six-year stint as a secondary school teacher. She is currently a freelance content writer and learning and development consultant. Sumantha also has a portfolio of private students who she teaches up to GCSE level.

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