William Shakespeare could only attend school till he was thirteen years old as his father couldn’t afford his studies.
The lack of schooling made several historians wonder if his work was his own and not shared, creating sustainable interest in his career.
Reason 2: Several words in contemporary English are said to have been invented by him, as they first appeared in his writing.
No one knows the exact count, but experts believe he invented over one thousand words/phrases that appear in modern-day English. Some of the most popular of these expressions & words are:
Tongue-tied.
No rhyme or reason.
Laughing stock.
Give the devil his due.
Unaware.
Undress.
Gloomy.
Lonely.
Majestic.
Reason 3: His writing is considered insightful in human behaviour.
Most fiction at that time stereotyped characters in black & white.
For example, knights were brave, dragons were evil, and princesses were pretty & docile and had to be rescued by charming princes.
However, most of Shakespeare’s characters were complex and experienced good & bad emotions.
And because he put his characters in situations where there were no easy solutions, he helped people empathise with the pain of others rather than judging them for being good or bad.
Reason 4: His use of stress on certain words or parts of words (syllables).
Shakespeare, though famous for his plays, was first & foremost a poet.
And poetry relies heavily on stressing certain words and ‘unstressing’ others.
This is done to achieve the right rhythm and impact—try reading a poem of your choice with stresses on different words, and you will understand the difference it makes.
Because of this background, he had a great understanding of high & low stress.
While most lines in Shakespeare’s plays are written in regular prose, his characters turn to poetry when he has to express passion, introspection, or important moments.
He uses his expertise with stress to make these moments & characters unforgettable (“to be or not to be“).
Reason 5: Timelessness, and therefore his work’s ability to survive translations and different eras.
Because Shakespeare’s stories are about people, their struggles with fate, and their mixed emotions or conflicting sides, they are relevant across generations and geographies.
