Saturday, November 23, 2013
Credit Or No Credit
Different situations and events influence the stories that authors write. Our lives play the most influence on the way we act and what we do. Movies are often based on real events and stories. We often say that many of our stories are derived from Shakespeare's plays. Shakespeare based his plays on the outside world just like other authors. Do you think that Shakespeare deserves the credit for these great stories considering they were derived from other stories and myths? What did Shakespeare do to gain the amount of fame he has today? What sets Shakespeare apart? Should any one person be responsible for so many of these great works such as Romeo & Juliet and The Tragedy of Julius Caesar?
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I think that Shakespeare does deserve the credit for the plays he wrote. Even if the stories were told before, he was the person that collected them and made a complex writing about them. He took regular human emotions and replicated on stage by just using words. His plays captured people's attention. Shakespeare became famous because he was the person that was able to create a a storyline with more than one main plot. He made the audience care because the characters and situations were relatable. I also think that it is important to remember where Shakespeare got his ideas from, though. The stories that his plays are based on also deserve credit. Shakespeare is a great and influential author that become that way because previous writers showed him ideas.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you have said here. Shakespeare does truly deserve the credit of all of his works as he wrote them. However his popularity is due to the actors and his willingness to have his works acted out. His words were replicated, as you said, but by actors, not him. He was the director, but the solid human figure reciting those words were what gave them power.
DeleteShakespeare should be credited with writing all of his plays and other works. However, he should not be credited fully with making them famous. He may have brought them to directors and theaters, but the actors were and still are a major part of the success of his plays. They brought his words to life, giving them meaning, adding a touch of human emotion to the words, causing the audience to become entranced with his works. The willingness of the actors to act out his plays do attest to the greatness of his works and the way he wrote. He did get ideas from other writers but he expanded on those works and he created his own worlds, creating his own stories and characters. He included parts of other great works to make his works noticed. Shakespeare is still one of the most quoted and studied playwrights of his time, crediting him with all of his works.
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting to think that those who acted out the words of the great playwright are mostly what gives him his credit. It is much easier to understand when it is being displayed in front of the eyes. The actors are not the only ones who helped Shakespeare gain so much fame, though. We learned just the other day that there were not even official copies of his play until after his death. This was because of the hard work of many of his colleagues and friends. They were committed to giving his work to future generations and I believe that they should gain much credit for making his fame. Shakespeare probably never imagined his plays living longer than him. How would anyone imagine such success for themselves hundreds of years later? It would have been a silly notion for him and so he would have never attempted to make solid work. Shakespeare deserves credit for his actual work, but it is also important to realize that he receives no credit for the preservation of his plays. That is a very interesting thought and it is safe to say that many people along the way have given Shakespeare the immense popularity he has held until this day. He did not gain that on his own, he had other people working hard behind him.
DeleteAndrew, you are right. The actors of plays are what make the plays so spectacular. I think that the way in which actors interpret a play's character will influence heavily how great a play will be. Shakespeare's plays most definitely give actors the ability to create a spectacular play with his content. It is up to the actors to deliver those characters and personalities in a way that will create an entertaining and memorable piece of work.
DeleteAndrew, I did not even think about the actors having a part in making the plays famous! You are absolutely correct. Plays cannot come to life if there is no one there to act them out. But, without the written script, the actors would have nothing to preform. It is a cycle that cannot be broken. Neither the writer nor the actors are more important. Without each other, the play would cease to exist.
DeleteShakespeare created his own stories. He simply took historical events, myths, and current events to be so creative. In fiction, it is very easy to make one's story their own. A fiction author has a huge creative license to morph the story into whatever they please. Even in Shakespeare's predicament, where he takes real life events, he was able to make his stories completely original. He didn't even have to stick to everything that was historically accurate. He had the freedom to make an event what he wanted or how he perceived it or thought it up. Even today authors that chose to use a piece of history in a fiction novel do not stick the complete truth. They make it their own. Shakespeare definitely deserves to have the credit for is works because he created the drama and only used the other circumstances as a small background.
ReplyDeleteThe influential plays that made Shakespeare famous come from a wide collection of previously written stories. When Shakespeare wrote these plays, he incorporated other stories into them. He used other stories in his own just as many writers do. The plays that Shakespeare wrote are still his. Creators of today's movies, plays, and novels often allude to Shakespeare's plays and use his story bases as parts to their own pieces of work. Even though they use Shakespeare's stories, their works are still their own because they make them unique with specific characters, settings, conflicts, and morals to the story. This concept also goes for Shakespeare's writing. One reason that Shakespeare's plays became so world renowned is the fact that in the time that Shakespeare created them and started publicizing them, the creativity, intimacy, detail, and entertainment that came from Shakespeare's plays was not very common at the time.
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