Cai Qi, Class 6, Senior 2, Shenzhen Foreign Languages School Instructed by Liu Xin

William Shakespeare, as we all know, was the greatest Western playwright in history. He is widely known for his plays and sonnets. But how on earth could Shakespeare be Shakespeare? This documentary really gave me some answers.

“Shakespeare Uncovered” introduces Shakespeare in six actors’ perspectives to us viewers. Via vivid introductions, I shaped my views on this question. The primary reason why Shakespeare could be Shakespeare is that he could search for materials from his personal life and from history, and make use of both. For example, in “Henry IV,” Hotspur and Hal were at the same age, even though in real history the former was almost 30 years older than the latter. Shakespeare adapted it so as to contrast their different qualities. Take “Hamlet” as another example. Not long before Shakespeare composed this play, his own son Hamlet had died. It was plotted in this play that Hamlet saw and talked with his father’s spirit, which perhaps implied Shakespeare’s own mourning for his son.

Moreover, the special plots of his plays are another factor that makes Shakespeare be Shakespeare. In “Twelfth Night” and “As You Like It,” the two female roles of each play disguised themselves as males, which brought about some funny scenes, made the two females lively and adorable, and inspired the audiences to think about love.

Fundamentally, Shakespeare was a humanistic philosopher. In his late years, he finished his play “The Tempest.” The main role Prospero ended up giving up his revenge and forgiving his enemies. He got rid of all his magic power and calmly led the rest of his life. Ultimately, he turned himself from a god into an ordinary man. When the society then desired magic power, Shakespeare unprecedentedly thought about the theme of humanity. He just told us how to think of humanity, instead of humanity itself. In fact, no matter what kind of plays he wrote, they all show Shakespeare’s sense of humanity.

By the documentary’s end, it becomes apparent that skillful employment of the history and his life experience, special plots of his plays and his deep observation in humanity contribute to making Shakespeare be Shakespeare.