Writer's Choice- Letter to Shakespeare- Jordan Zapp 7/17/15

William Shakespeare

1234 Literary Lane

Stratford-upon-Avon, England

Dear Shakespeare,

            You’re kind of a genius.  When you consider all of your accomplishments as a writer, the variety in your work, it’s a wonder it all comes from one person.  The Renaissance, being a time of rebirth and a wave of new culture, showcased numerous up-and-coming writers, artists, and thinkers.  You are one of the ones who managed to embody that rebirth and introduction of new ideas.    Your work has been studied for centuries, picked apart and put back together so many times you’d think they were puzzles.  I guess in some ways, they actually are.   Your poetry and drama is still important today because is has influenced so many other poets and writers.  We still put on your plays and look for new meanings between the lines.  So congratulations, you are famous.

I think what gives your plays their lasting significance is that we can still relate to so many of the characters and themes presented within them.  In your most famous play, Hamlet, we find the main character endlessly fascinating because his innermost struggles are present because he is human.  Being human is something we can all identify with (obviously).  The joys and trials of being a human are demonstrated throughout your piece; love, betrayal, madness, anger, revenge, mortality, and inner conflict.   It exemplifies humanism, a huge cultural movement in the Renaissance.   

            Not only is the poetry beautiful in itself, but the characters are the most incredible; they are well-developed and thought out.  I like how in Hamlet, each character is a foil to Hamlet.  For example, Fortinbras is a man of action while Hamlet is a man of thought.  Ultimately the question becomes, is Hamlet still a hero even though he does not take much action?  Anther interesting character comparison is that of Hamlet and Ophelia; emotional strength to emotional weakness.  I think Ophelia’s best moments come when she loses Hamlet and her father.  When she starts to sing and hand out flowers to Claudius and Gertrude, it is her first real demonstration of independent action.  There is no influence from her father or from Hamlet.   This first show of independence relates to anyone trying to break from overbearing influence. 

            Hamlet is also relatable because he has so many dimensions to his personality.   He is somber and reflective, clever, brutally honest, enraged, depressed and then despondent; in other words, he is constantly changing.  He learns things, comes to terms with hardship, and seems to have changed.  Relating back to being human, he ultimately becomes enraged again.  Were you trying to say that, despite our best efforts, we cannot change enough to avoid submitting to our human desires?  Hamlet chides his mother and Ophelia for being “weak” and always succumbing to human desires, and he ultimately does too.  Are some human desires more honorable than others?  Why?  Aren’t they all acts of passion?

I wish you could answer all of these questions.  Don’t pull an old King Hamlet on me and show up outside my window though, that would be weird.  Anyway, your work has inspired writers for centuries, exemplifying an era and influencing others. 

Sincerely,

Jordan Zapp

Student writer