English has always been one of my favorite subjects. From whimsical fantasy novels such as “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” to dystopian classics such as “The Girl Who Owned a City,” I have always been drawn to fictional stories.
As such, I enjoy many of the books that I’ve read so far in high school. “Lord of the Flies,” “The Great Gatsby” and other novels are all compelling works of fiction I made sure to read in-depth. However, among all the interesting and complex works in my typical English-class curriculum, there was one that I was never particularly fond of: Shakespeare’s plays.
As a book lover, I pride myself in having the patience to decipher confusing stories like George Orwell’s “1984.” However, no matter how many hours I spent reading “Hamlet” in junior year, I couldn’t make sense of the archaic and confusing language.
Shakespeare’s plays also all seem to lack clarity for modern readers, both in plot and in characters. With his language so hard to grasp, you’d think that Shakespeare would compensate with distinct and memorable characters. Wrong! Not only are the characters sometimes practically identical in personality, but their names are also confusingly similar. Naming three characters in the same story Macbeth, Malcolm and Macduff is a questionable choice that must have been done out of intention to confuse play-goers. Additionally, the plot of “Macbeth” is so convoluted that I was only able to grasp the context by reading the summaries at the beginning of each chapter.
Another aspect Shakespeare’s plays sometimes lack is a clear moral. Every time I finish reading one of his works, I’m always confused as to what I’m supposed to take away. For instance, in “Macbeth,” the protagonist decides to kill his cousin so that he can take his place as king. This can be seen as somewhat understandable, but then he decides to kill one of his closest friends Banquo, because of a prophecy that said Banquo’s sons were a threat to the throne. The pointless murder adds nothing to the plot of the story and makes the protagonist even more unlikeable.
While I see many flaws in Shakespeare’s works, one of the most prominent pitfalls is the pacing. Most of his works cram in huge twists right at the end: In both “Hamlet” and “Macbeth,” the protagonists’ wives die suddenly, either from poison or a sudden illness. While events like these aren’t necessarily out-of-place, it is almost always rushed and doesn’t give the intended “shock effect” that are usually expected in good stories.
While I acknowledge that every piece of literature is written with purpose and meaning, Shakespeare’s works take up too much time in literature classes and that is what I wish I could change. Maybe one day, I will learn to appreciate the beauty in Shakespeare that my English teachers see — but for now, I’ll stick to literature that actually makes more sense to me.
