William Shakespeare's Influence On Modern Life

William Shakespeare is arguably one of the most significant figures in the history of the western world. This is inherently due to his tremendous works in the field of English literature. Son of alderman Jon Shakespeare and land owning gentry Mary Arden, William Shakespeare was born around the date of April 26th 1564 in the town of Stratford-Upon-Avon, United Kingdom. Shakespeare was the eldest of 8 sons in a wealthy family and was likely educated at King’s New School in his home town of Stratford. At the age of 18 Shakespeare married a women 10 years his senior by the name of Anne Hathaway. Shortly after, the couple gave birth to a girl whom they named Susanna and her baptismal records of the time indicate she was baptised on the 26th of May
In short, the impact of Shakespeare can be seen in various aspects of modern life. Shakespeare notably standardized the English language and created over 2,000 words that are currently in use today, as well as a multitude of phrases such as the popular, “be all and end all” and “forever and a day”. As arguably the best playwright in history, Shakespeare completely re-vitalized the work of plays into multi-dimensional masterpieces. To explain, with regards to plays, the playwright was the first to merge genres, which is demonstrated by the Shakespearian tragedy Romeo and Juliet, which noticeably exhibits comedic undertones. Also, Shakespeare instituted the literary device known as a soliloquy, which allows the audience to gain insights into the minds of the character on stage revealing plans and thoughts not known by others in the play. Shakespeare greatly influenced many talented writers following him such as Herman Melville and Charles Dickens. For example, when one thoroughly reads a work of Dickens, the tremendous influence of Shakespeare can be seen through the plot and undertones of his novels. With regards to poetry, he introduced “verbal