[Glenn Wright]

Most countries claiming a national character have adopted one writer as being emblematic of that character. Italy has Dante, Germany has Goethe, America has Twain, and England has Shakespeare. I think the most telling proof of Shakespeare’s greatness is the fact that his pre-eminence as a dramatist has been acknowledged by every generation in the last 450 years. His ability to remain relevant and fresh makes him unique among authors writing in English. He would have been surprised to discover that his plays were what established his unparalleled fame. As a theater owner, he had to write plays that would make money. Thus he followed the trends and fads of his day, often stealing plots from other authors and “ripping them from the headlines,” producing Macbeth to flatter the family tree of the new king, James I, and to pander to his interest in the occult, producing Shylock in The Merchant of Venice to capitalize on the wave of anti-Semitism that followed the trial of Dr. Rodrigo Lopez, Queen Elizabeth’s Portuguese Jewish physician, for treason by attempting to poison her. Marlowe’s Jew of Malta was occasioned by this scandal as well. But Shakespeare showed a fearlessness in bending the rules. He took a risk by giving Shylock his “Hath not a Jew eyes?” speech and by portraying him with sympathy and his Christian adversaries as shallow fools. It is interesting that Shakespeare was never, to my knowledge, accused of infidelity to his Queen or faith for his sympathetic portrayal of Shylock. In both Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice, he starts his play as a comedy and ends it as a tragedy. In The Tempest he throws out the rules altogether. Of course, being a risk taker means being willing to face failures. Shakespeare gave us Hamlet, but also Pericles. This passionate originality, I think, is largely what has has enabled every generation to find new interpretations of his plays.