Shaw v Shakespear

Marlowe was very important too and might have rivaled Shakespeare, had his life not been so very short (he was murdered under mysterious circumstances at age 29). his version of "Faust" even influenced Goethe. and how about Beckett?
and of course there are important playwrights in other languages than English. Goethe, Schiller and Lessing in German, for example, also Büchner (after whom the most important German literary prize is named). Calderon in Spain. Dante Alighieri and Goldoni in Italy, also Dario Fo. some ancient Greeks, like Sophokles or Euripides. Moliere, Sartre and Camus in France. and that's just naming a few


Edited by BaldJean - August 07 2006 at 16:03

condor wrote: In my opinion, the two most important playrights by a long stretch. Who's better? Also, for those in Britain (I don't know about abroad), is forcing children to learn Shakespear a form of cultural authoritarianis?.

Edited by Peter Rideout - September 21 2006 at 15:56

I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament

I don't know that there's a valid point of comparison here. Shaw was both a tremendous admirer of Shakespeare and an outspoken critic, although more of poor interpretations of the Bard's work than the plays themselves. Shaw is not so widely performed now, but neither was Shakespeare half a century or so after his death. I believe that plays like Arms and the Man or Man and Superman will enjoy a revival in years to come, and that possibly in the 23rd century he will be held in even higher esteem than Shakespeare is today.

condor wrote: In my opinion, the two most important playrights by a long stretch. Who's better? Also, for those in Britain (I don't know about abroad), is forcing children to learn Shakespear a form of cultural authoritarianis?.

Its only a few years since I was tougt Shakey so I think I can give this one a go. The experiance was bloody awful! We had to dissect several sections of Macbeth into such away that all fun that may have been had from the play was eliminated with ruthless efficiancy. I absolutely hated it and as a result I haveabsolutely no drive to go and disscover what else he has done, though I suspect that I might like a fair bit of his work I just remember how much I hated being force fed Macbeth.

Mybe if schools got students to read the plays and then discuss the effects he as had on the English language, rather than dissecting indavidual sections of plays to find out why he gave charecters 1 word sentences (), a lot more kids/teenagers would be interested in discovering him further.


Edited by sleeper - September 21 2006 at 20:59

condor wrote: In my opinion, the two most important playrights by a long stretch. Who's better? Also, for those in Britain (I don't know about abroad), is forcing children to learn Shakespear a form of cultural authoritarianis?.

Edited by mystic fred - September 26 2006 at 17:00