The Real Reason We Don't Understand Shakespeare By Sarah West

Our recent study of the play Macbeth in english class has been a challenge at best. The characters were confusing, the Shakespearean language might as well have been foreign, and the long soliloquies seemed to last forever. As it came time to work on our final project (a performance) I decided to reread a specific scene in the play.

Frustrated for the second time, I decided it would be best to look at a translation (though I always intended to perform the original lines) to make sure I completely understood what I was saying and how I should be acting. So, as one does, I googled the act and scene and clicked on the first link I saw. Immediately, as I read the first lines I was pleased with what I found. The play was translated, I could understand it, but key Shakespearean words like "'tis" and "doth" and "hath" still remained, making it feel more authentic. I happily scrolled through the scene, only encountering a few larger words that I could not decipher, yet I completely understood what was happening. I then decided to compare this version on my computer screen to my playbook, so I could connect what I understood to what I didn't.

But to my surprise and complete and utter shock, I found no difference between the two. I had literally just read the same exact scene I had struggled to read and didn't understand twice before, and I didn't even think twice. I'd be lying if I said this did not completely baffle me, and I haven't spent most days since trying to figure out what happened. Did the fact that is was on a computer screen appeal to my technology focussed mind?

This may be true, but I feel the real reason this strange phenomena occurred was because I was under the impression the text was a translation. I was definitely more relaxed, focussed,  and confident going into reading that text. Often when I picked up the playbook that I knew contained confusing language I could feel the stress spread to my whole body, dreading what I was about to do. In that moment of mistaken identity, I was free from all of the stereotypes that surround that book that, I have now found out, psyche me out of actually being able to understand what's written in it.

This had lead me to believe the negative perception of Shakespeare among high school students may be the reason his work seems to be so hard to understand. Maybe it is not the language, but the source it is from that is affecting our perceptions of his plays and poems. Though that is an increasing difficult philosophy to prove since those stereotypes, that date back decades, are not likely to dissipate any time soon. I just know I am forever more calm about, and open to the idea of Shakespeare's writing.