The legacy of William Shakespeare and his plays, characters and words have not only survived for 400 years, but have thrived. They continue to be adapted, retold and studied as they have so many connections and immense relevance to the modern world still, as well as to English literature as a whole.
While the ideas and society of Elizabethan England are very different to England and the UK in 2024, women are still confined and controlled by the patriarchy, life is defined by your social class, and love and hate and betrayal are an inevitable part of life, and they’re messy with it. All of these issues are regularly brought up in Shakespeare’s plays, and in novels, media and pop culture today.
The language may be different, but the thoughts and feelings are the same.
