William Shakespeare was a 15th century play writer, who was influential and relevant to his time period and for many years since, to the modern era. However, there is a strong argument to be made that his antiquated form of our language is no longer appropriate in the twenty-first century; his language is out-dated, whilst many of the themes are timeless, other aspects of his plays are old-fashioned and his reputation now exceeds his relevance. Shakespeare simply is not as important for this generation, or for any to come.
Shakespeare lived nearly 500 years ago, and this is reflected in his writing. He worked with (and created) words that are no longer used, and talks about things that aren’t necessarily relevant to our time. Just 60 years after his death, reviewers were quoted on their opinions of the language: "... his language seemed dated." is what John Dryden said as long ago as 1679 . If Shakespeare’s language was seen as tired over 400 years ago, it’s obviously too old for this century. His writing is hard to understand since his puns, words and environments all relate
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His language is hard to understand and it is not worth the effort involved in trying to translate it. There are other more modern - and more relevant - plays and other texts that have morals and plots that are just as meaningful, with writing styles that do not confuse people.
His themes are dated, and do not support the modern mindset of equality. In 2001, a committee of teachers in South Africa described Shakespeare’s plays as ''unhappy endings, lacked cultural diversity and failed to promote the rejection of racism and sexism''. These teachers wanted to ban Shakespeare from state schools’ curriculum for this, to focus on more appropriate subjects.
While it is true that Shakespeare is one of the only play-writers still taught and easily recognized today, I question why that must be regarded as something that cannot