My grade 6 students are writing a speech drawing on our analysis of some of Shakespeare’s famous speeches.
Here is my example:
Is Shakespeare relevant in the world today? I might just as well ask if you prick Shylock, doth he not bleed? Doth a bear not poop in the woods? In short, you do not need a doctor degree in language and literacy to understand that… [dramatic pause]
Shakespeare is relevant today.
The themes of family relations, political power struggles, and warring conflict are as familiar to a modern audience as they were in Shakespeare’s time. We desire justice. We may seek revenge. We hope for mercy. These themes continue to resonate with us today. Juliet’s plea to ‘Deny thy father and refuse thy name’ remains an issue today for millions of women whose love lives and marriage are still being dictated by their families. The theme of love and one’s choice in love remains a heated topic within communities, the news and modern social media platforms.
Do you doubt?
Shakespeare is relevant today.
The theme of death is universal. You will die. It is the inevitable, inescapable [can anybody think of another adjective for me here?] truth of human existence. We will all one day ‘shuffle off this mortal coil’ and venture forth into Hamlet’s ‘undiscover’d country’ which remains just as mysterious and undiscovered as in Shakespeare’s time.
Shakespeare is relevant today.
His plays influence and inspire many modern performances, TV shows and movies. The Lion King is Hamlet with a happy ending. Return to the Forbidden Planet is The Tempest in space. Indeed, we need look no further than the local supermarket to see that Shakespeare is relevant today – there he is on a chocolate bar wrapper as a marketing ploy in China, comfortably transcending space and time and culture!
So, is Shakespeare relevant today? [dramatic pause to allow the rhetorical question to work its magic]
Thank you for lending me your ears!