Why Read Shakespeare

1. According to the article, what are some reasons that students find Shakespeare difficult to understand? What does Mack present as an answer to this?

Many students find Shakespeare difficult to read because of the language he uses in his works. Not much of his pieces are straight forward and written in a context similar to today’s writing style with the old English turning many students away from Shakespeare. The best way to understand Shakespeare and enjoy what you are reading is by reading it over and over again. You will pick up on new things with each go through and learn to appreciate the work more and more and find what it has to offer.


2. According to Mack, when you finally “get” Shakespeare, what do you actually get?

When you finally get Shakespeare, you understand yourself and the world you in live in.

3. List and summarize five convincing arguments in answer to the question “Why read Shakespeare?”

A Time for Developing Interests
 By reading these works you will learn of new things such as language or history or even the human mind to further pursue. 
A Time for Exploring
Shakespeare gives the chance to branch out from the everyday fiction and read something with much more passion and excitement and a type of piece you would not normally read. 

A Time for Self‐Knowledge
Reading Shakespeare is like looking in a mirror it is supposed to mirror the world around you no matter what time period you are in. This makes the reader look deeper into their own self and see how the characters show signs of different mental and personality traits. 

A Different Take on Skills
 Reading and understanding Shakespeare is very difficult but once learned you have a whole new skill set that includes new language and grammar as well as storytelling. 

There is Knowledge and there is Knowledge



4. Which one of these arguments do you find most convincing? Why?

The most convincing of these arguments is A Time for Self-Knowledge. I think it is the most convincing because it talks of human nature and how it truly hasn’t changed over the hundreds of years, so we are still able to study ourselves through works that were made so long ago. Every one of Shakespeare’s characters gives the reader a chance to relate to the modern world and still see that type of person today so it is like a glimpse at yourself in the mirror.



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