Faculty of Letters & Human Sciences

Department of English Studies

Course: Reading Comprehension & Précis
Professor: Dr. Abderrahim El Ouahabi

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shakespeare 400 Years on
1. The works of Shakespeare have been translated into all of the major languages in the
world – over 80 languages. 400 years after he died, Shakespeare is studied in schools
and universities worldwide, and throughout the world he is still considered by many as the
greatest writer of all time.Shakespeare's plays have been made into over 420 films, and
each year there are hundreds of Shakespeare festivals worldwide, including many in non-
English-speaking countries like Poland, Germany, France, Spain, Japan or Argentina. For
a writer who died 400 years ago, this volume of attention and respect is incredible, almost
unbelievable. So how has Shakespeare managed to establish such an immense
reputation?

2. In short, Shakespeare is seen as the world's greatest writer because he was an incredibly
good writer. Even in his lifetime, Shakespeare was a star. He was the most
popular playwright of his age, at a time when the theatre was very popular indeed in
England. In fact, Shakespeare was very lucky to be born at just the right time in history,
when the theatre was becoming a very popular art for the first time, and - in England at
least - writers were exploring all sorts of new ideas and techniques.

3. Shakespeare distinguished himself from other writers of his time in that while many
other writers mastered one side of dramatic art, Shakespeare mastered them all. He
could write amazing poetry, but he was also a master of ordinary prose dialogue; he could
write lines of the most tragic sincerity, but he was also a master of comedy;and he could
even mix comedy and tragedy in the same play, inventing the dramatic technique known
as "comic relief". He wrote some very funny comedies such as A Midsummer Night's
Dream, the world's most famous romantic tragedy in Romeo and Juliet, some of the
darkest tragedies ever written in King Lear or Othello, and a number of the greatest
historic dramas ever written.

4. One surprising thing about Shakespeare's plays is that few of the stories were original.
Most frequently, Shakespeare took well-known stories or stories from history and even
classic plots of situational comedy and retold the stories in his own words. Even Romeo
and Juliet was not "invented" by Shakespeare. Several versions of the story were
published in Italy and England from 1530 onwards, but Shakespeare took the story,
reworked it, and transformed it into a masterpiece that is now known worldwide. As for his
history plays, Shakespeare took the details mostly from Holinshed's Chronicles of
England, Scotland, and Ireland published in 1577. Even the famous "three witches"
in Macbeth were not invented by Shakespearebut borrowed from Holinshed.While
Holinshed called them "nymphs or fairies", which sounds nice and attractive,
Shakespeare transformed them into "secret, black, and midnight hags".

5. On the other hand, one area in which Shakespeare was amazingly original was in his use
of the English language. Literally, hundreds of words and expressions that are still in
common use today were invented by Shakespeare. In a recent and very readable study
of the life of Shakespeare, Bill Bryson picks out a selection of well-known idioms that can
be attributed to Shakespeare, even if few people today actually realize this.These
include vanish into thin air, the milk of human kindness, foul play, a tower of strength, the
wish is father to the thought, pomp and circumstance, and a foregone conclusion. Many
of these expressions have since been translated into other languages too, showing just
 how universal the influence of the bard from Stratford upon Avon has been in the four
hundred years since his death.

6. Indeed, universality is Shakespeare's greatest strength, and the reason for his
enduringsuccess. His tragedies are not just about the characters in them; they are
about humanity. Romeo and Juliet is not just a story about impossible love in sixteenth-
century Italy. Remodeled as West Side Story, it became a story about impossible love in
twentieth-century New York, or in the 1949 film Les Amants de Vérone impossible love
in postwar Italy. Hamlet is not just a play about the troubles of a Danish prince, but a
tragedy about revenge and being true to oneself. Shakespeare's history plays are not just
stories; in them he explores the universal themes of loyalty and treachery, power and the
abuse of power, strategy and choices. And in Othello and The Merchant of Venice and
other plays too, he even highlighted the questions of race and culture which, in the
sixteenth century Age of Discovery, were becoming increasingly pertinent and
intriguing topics of interest.

7. In 2016, a worldwide survey by the British Council, marking the 400th anniversary of
Shakespeare's death, found that Shakespeare is actually more popular today outside
Britain than in Britain itself. This is surely due to the fact that in many parts of the world,
Shakespeare's plays are read in modern translations which are understandable by all. In
Britain, Shakespeare is usually studied and presented in the original 16th/17th century
English in which it was written, which is not always easy to understand, especially for
teenagers in school.

8. In 400 years, the English language has changed quite a lot, but it is probably true to say
that without the continuing influence of Shakespeare, it would have changed even more.

I- Choose the option that best matches the meaning of the underlined words
A. distinguished: 1. changed 2. Differentiated 3. moved 4. distanced

B. literally: 1. without exaggeration 2. in literature 3. nearly 4. surprisingly

C. enduring: 1. hard 2. lasting 3. big 4. worldwide

D. pertinent: 1. Amazing 2. Intelligent 3. new 4. relevant

II- Answer the following questions in your own words

1. How does Shakespeare stand out among his contemporaries?

2. What is the least and what is the most original aspect of Shakespeare’s writing?

3. “Universality is Shakespeare’s greatest strength.” Explain.

4. Why is Shakespeare today more appreciated outside Britain than inside it?

III- Paraphrase the following sentences

1. So how has Shakespeare managed to establish such an immense reputation?

2. Literally, hundreds of words and expressions that are still in common use today were invented by
Shakespeare.

3. His tragedies are not just about the characters in them; they are about humanity.

IV- Summarize paragraph 3 in about 40 words.