Why Shakespeare Is Still So Great (Even If You Don’t Get It Yet)
I’ll be real with you — I didn’t always get Shakespeare. The old words, the strange phrasing, the metaphors stacked on metaphors… it felt like reading a foreign language. I used to wonder why we still talk about this guy hundreds of years later. But the more I stuck with it, the more I started to see what all the hype was about.
What makes Shakespeare great isn’t just the fancy language or the poetry (though once you slow down, the poetry is next-level). It’s that he wrote about people — messy, dramatic, hilarious, ambitious people who feel exactly like us. Love, jealousy, heartbreak, betrayal, big dreams, huge mistakes — it’s all there. He wasn’t writing for scholars; he was writing for everyone sitting in the audience, people who wanted to feel all the things and be entertained while doing it.
And then there are those lines that just hit you in the chest. “What’s done cannot be undone.” “To thine own self be true.” “The course of true love never did run smooth.” Somehow, he manages to say in one sentence what we struggle to explain in paragraphs.
The key for me? Stop trying to understand every word. Instead, feel the rhythm, listen to the emotion, and let the story carry you. Imagine it on a stage — the drama, the laughter, the heartbreak — and suddenly, it’s not old or stiff. It’s alive.
If Shakespeare feels impossible, start with something fun and relatable: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (chaotic love triangles and magic), Much Ado About Nothing (sharp banter and romance), or Macbeth (power, ambition, and regret — basically an intense Netflix drama). Read a few lines out loud, laugh at the ridiculous parts, and let yourself enjoy it.
At the end of the day, Shakespeare’s greatness isn’t about making you feel smart — it’s about making you feel human.