Reflections on Shakespeare Research

  To be honest, at first I was not very eager to research on the topic. Everybody has roughly heard of Shakespeare before, but who actually goes deeper to understand more about him? I thought that he was just a plain, boring old man that wrote plays in the Elizabethan Age, but as I began my research on Shakespeare's life, I realised that his life and works are very unique and interesting. As I researched in depth of his life's works, I started to have different view points towards him as I realised he was a gifted man with great imagination and vocabulary, and that he built the foundation of modern plays. Many of the plays today are similar to Shakespeare's works, themes such as romance and tragedies, he also inspired many playwrights of today and many people also gained interests in plays because of him. However, youths today are failing to appreciate his works, mainly because of the complexity of Old English used in his works.
  The Elizabethan era is much different from today. In those times, people were divided into many social classes, and usually no matter how hard they worked, they usually remained in that social class. However in modern societies, no matter how rich or poor someone is, if they are hardworking and receive good education, they are able to rise up the social levels. Furthermore, the healthcare services have also improved. During the Elizabethan era in London, there were 3 epidemics of plague that caused a huge death toll, however today, with so many available healthcare services nearby, one can just walk a stone's throw away to the nearest polyclinic for their body checkups. With the huge technological and medical advancements, we can detect any viruses in our bodies and kill them before they become serious and spread to others.
  Shakespeare's works can be applied to modern day context, as much can be learnt from his plays, such as Merchant of Venice and Romeo & Juliet. Values such as unwavering love can be seen in Shakespeare's plays and also in our modern day society, where people's lifes are not as different from Shakespeare's works. Also, things such as greed and gratitude can also be seen in today's societies.