Introduction
Shakespeare is often referred to as The Bard although most people prefer to use his real name to refer to him. Many hail him although some don’t think he deserves the acclaim he receives. But one thing that is irrefutable is that William Shakespeare has shaped and influenced the arts to a very great degree. The bard goes down in history as one of the largest contributors to the literary world with over thirty plays and hundreds of poems (Rubinstein 28).
Shakespeare is remembered for the voluminous contribution that he made on the arts through his literary works. The impact of his work is sometimes direct although in most cases, the impact is indirect but whichever the case; the impact of his work is felt in the arts all around us. Shakespeare’s impact is so significant that there is a concerted effort to recapture the original theater in London where his plays were staged for the very first time (The Shakespeare Globe Trust).
Influence on Music
The influence that Shakespeare has had on music is undisputable. It would not be possible to know just how many musicians and song writes Shakespeare has directly influenced but it would probably span to the thousands. There are at least twenty thousand songs that can be linked to the works of The Bard. The year 1999 saw the most impressive amalgamation of Shakespearean nights dream with some disco music. The idea was to capture Shakespeare’s fanciful play in the music themes reminiscent of the 1970s. This made it possible to have contemporary music which had the rich themes that were characteristic of Shakespeare’s works. This modernization of the classical themes of Shakespeare through youthful music has attracted an even larger following from the young generation who would otherwise have found Shakespeare’s work a bit boring.
Influence on Painting
Many of the painters today have been inspired by the work of Shakespeare in different ways. One of the best examples of an artist whose work was influenced by Shakespeare is Tuner. His most famous painting was the painting captioned, “Juliet and her nurse.” The theme comes from one of Shakespeare’s work entitled Verona to Venice. Tuner also painted one of Shakespeare’s Characters, “Jessica.” It was a painting that proved to be controversial due to his choice of the theme colors to use. Newton Stuart developed Tuner’s idea further when he later on painted a contemporary version of “Jessica” which he chose to title “Shylock and Jessica” (Wilton 14).
Freud Sigmund was a painter that focused on human psychology as the main theme for his works of arts. It is widely accepted that Freud used the concepts of Shakespearean Psychology for his painting. Many of the themes that are reflected in Shakespeare’s Hamlet have been recaptured by the artist in his painting.
Influence on Films
William Shakespeare’s works has not just remained in the theaters but they have found their way to the movie industry as well. In fact the film industry is one of the industries that have helped in the dissemination of the ideas that were developed by Shakespeare in his poetry and plays. The challenge of taking the play to the movie is that many a movie producer will be torn between modernizing the play to make it appealing to the target audience and capturing the play in the original setting to make it more authentic. Needless to say, the producer will often choose to make the play modern and this affects the authenticity of the message that is put across.
An example of a film based on Shakespeare’s work is the “Juliet And Romeo” movie which was produced by Luhrmann Baz. The movie’s emphasis is on violence although the theme of passion is also captured. The film may easily be deceiving. Reading the play and watching the movie might leave one wondering if the two movies and the play were the same thing. Holly wood’s goal is to entertain rather than to educate unlike Shakespeare’s goal which was to educate. As Combs and Durgnat (56) explain, The film is based on Shakespeare’s works usually do a good job of entertaining but may not entirely educate the audience.
Another movie that is based on Shakespeare’s work is the movie tilted “Ten Things I hate about you” The movie is based on Shakespeare’s play titled “taming of the shrew” The movie was however too keen on political correctness that the original message of “taming” was not captured well through the females as was put in the Shakespearean play. Shakespeare had a romantic comedy in mind but the movie toned it down to a high school love affair. The movie is indeed entertaining and enlightening as well but again, the significance of the play by Shakespeare is lost (Combs and Durgnat, 56).
Shakespeare’s plays have been very instrumental in translating important themes like love, romance and conflict through the movies. There are many movies that are based on the more than thirty plays of The Bard. Hamlet is one play that is loved by many movie directors since it is not only dramatic but it also captures many themes like love, deception, conflict and revenge. Hawke Ethan produces the movie based on Hamlet and he chooses the title, “Dane.” It is one of the movies that manage to do an impressive job of reflecting the emotions that were reflected in the original play.
Influence on Theater and poetry
William Shakespeare is probably one of the play writes that has the largest number of plays and poems that continue to be performed in theaters the world over through out the generations. The works of Shakespeare have left a lasting impression on the plot, genre and characterization of other plays. Shakespeare is reputed to be the first ever literary artist to use romance to portray tragedy. When Rome and Juliet was released, it paved way for many other works that now reflected tragedy in romance just like The bard had done (About the Globe 14).
Shakespeare also introduced a new concept in soliloquy. Whereas the concept had previously been used solely for the passing of information on characters and events, Shakespeare became the first person to use the concept to examine the minds of his characters. he paved thus paved way to a new technique in literature in which soliloquy was used in flashback and day dreams to reveal some important thoughts in the minds of the protagonist of the play as well as the minds of the other actors.
The bard’s voluminous contribution to poetry though his hundreds of poems has helped shape the poetry of the world to a great extent. many other poets have come up with sonnets that are based on Shakespeare’s works. Shakespeare introduced the verse drama to the field of poetry a concept that has continued to be used by modern day romantic poets. The standards of poetry that Shakespeare set are so high that experts believe that the attempt of the modern day poet is at best feeble (Wells 34).
Influence on literature and Language
Many novelists have been mentored by Shakespeare’s works. Some good examples of the novelist that have directly been influenced by Shakespeare are Melville Herman, Hardy Thomas and Dickens Charles. Melville’s use of soliloquy in his writings is a skill that he most definitely borrowed from Shakespeare. The other novelists have used different styles and themes that have been borrowed from the works of Shakespeare. Lear is a play that has inspired many books today. The play is about a tragic hero something that has been a good source for many other pieces by the contemporary novelist (Wells 30).
Shakespeare made a significant contribution to the standardization of the English language of today. The first English dictionary which was compiled Johnson Samuel quotes Shakespeare a lot. There are many expressions that were coined by Shakespeare which have found their way to the day to day communication that we use today. An example is the phrase “bated breath” which Shakespeare used for the every first time in the Merchant of Venice and which has become a common phrase in English. Another Phrase that was used in the same work (Merchant of Venice) that has become a common phrase today is the phrase “foregone conclusion.”
Conclusion
Shakespeare has indeed made a significant contribution on many areas of life. May people consider him a father of literature and it is perhaps the reason that he is sometimes referred to as the official poet of England. His work has influenced architecture, the music industry, theatre, the film industry, the painting industry as well as the standardization of the English language. William Shakespeare has without doubt made a contribution to the arts that will remain embedded in the sands of time for generations to come.
Works Cited
About the Globe. Shakespeare’s Globe. 2008.
Combs, Richard and Raymond, Durgnat. “Shakespeare: A Chaos Story.” Film Comment, 37.4 (2001): 56.
Rubinstein, William. “Who Was Shakespeare?” History Today, 51.8 (2001): 28.
Wells, Stanley. Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Wilton, Andrew. “Turner and Shakespeare’s Jessica.” History Today, 44.4 (1994): 14.