Why is Shakespeare NOT Overrated?

[ardy123]

Hello,

I am doing a debate in English class about why Shakespeare is or is not overrated.

I have been assigned to argue that Shakespeare is not overrated.

HEEELLLPPP MEEEE PLEASE with some arguments.

Thanks

[tonywalt]

I think primarily because of this:


Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

and

Twelfth Night
“Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.”

and

Henry IV, Part II
"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown

[YesNo]

Tony's examples would work as reasons why he is not overrated. Why do they work? Shakespeare wrote things that we seem to remember and if forgetting them or never having heard them we still find them interesting when reading them again. Also people who have never read Shakespeare know some of his phrases like "To be or not to be, that is the question."

Here's a site with Shakespeare's quotes: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/william_shakespeare Ask yourself if they are interesting or if you ever heard them before especially without knowing the source.

[kev67]

He was good at coining memorable phrases. Some of which became titles of books, e.g. Brave New World. You might hear his phrases in everyday speech without knowing they are his, e.g. dead as a door nail. Some of his poems are pretty good. Let Me to the Marriage of True Minds Admit No Impediments is sometimes read out at weddings. It strikes me as more apt for 2nd marriages if you married the first time around for the wrong reasons. I liked another of his sonnets turned into song here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrZPw5Sh0aQ). All the same, I am not a great fan. For one thing I have difficulty understanding him. For another, plays like Taming of the Shrew do not seem particularly enlightened. However, I heard a clergyman on the radio say the speech in The Merchant in Venice about mercy being twice blessed was better than St Paul expressed similar sentiments in the New Testament. I had to study Macbeth at school and I can still remember the first few lines, which I doubt I could if they had not been as well written.

[Dreamwoven]

I got interested in Shakespeare from a teacher we had in secondary school. She read out parts of his plays and I was transfixed by that.

[Sherry_Edwards]

Shakspeare is not overrated because he made so much to all English literature, he wrote in such a original way, that nobody have tried before. He wrote about the things that are still important and will be in future.

[Yaakov001]

Shakespeare, the Book of Common Prayer (which itself influenced Shakespeare!), and the King James Bible have all had more influence on the development of Modern English than any other written works. I don't think you can possibly over-rate Shakespeare, any more than you can over-rate the King James Bible. It simply isn't an argument that can be had.

[Dreamwoven]

We read Macbeth when I was in gymnasium. We had an excellent teacher who brought it all home when she read it out at class.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth

[Dreamwoven]

What I meant to say was the spoken word is better than the written word, when appreciating Shakespeare.