Shakespeare's Impact On Theatre

Shakespeare was a famous author and poet that wrote extremely well-known texts, such as “Romeo and Juliet” and “Hamlet.” Shakespeare lived during the Renaissance when art and science advanced and he was one of the major contributors to this historical period. “Shakespeare Influences the way we speak now” by Hephzibah Anderson, “William Shakespeare’s Impact on Theatre” by Octane, and “How Outrage Built Over a Shakespearean Depiction of Trump” by Sara Krulwich suggest that Shakespeare had a great influence on many aspects of society, such as the phrases we use, style of theater, and is a figure of inspiration to many people. Shakespeare has contributed to many well-known phrases that are still used to this day, showing his significance in history.

“William Shakespeare’s Impact on Theater” says that “Theater, in particular, has experienced many changes due to his influence,” and without any major influence like Shakespeare to guide the changes of theater, it would be extremely different (Octane 1). Shakespeare introduced many new elements to theater because of how his writing was unique in his time period. Despite this, his writing appealed to many different audiences. For instance, Octane says that “The way in which Shakespeare’s plots move forward has helped define modern play-writing. Similarly, Shakespeare’s complex characterizations have brought forth a new type of storytelling in which characters’ choices drive plots forward” and “His plays were often imbued with universal truths of human existence, rather than acting as mirrors of the privileged life. As a result, the experience of Shakespeare’s plays in the theater took a populist turn” (Octane 1). This shows that Shakespeare brought many new elements to playwriting, which seemingly improved plays because “Audience members engaged with the events taking place on stage, becoming vocal and often raucous” (Octane 1). This suggests that the new elements in Shakespeare’s writing sparked emotion in audience members as if the events were real. If an author can spark emotion in so many audience members, it shows that their writing style is extremely effective. Additionally, “Shakespeare is also credited as having invented genres that mixed both tragedy and comedy. His genre-bending work contributed to brand-new experiences of both story-telling and theater” (Octane 1). Since he has introduced new genres, playwrights would now have more genres and may be inspired to create a different variety of plays. “Also, Source C says that “He would direct a production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, with the title character a provocative