In dual credit British literature, I learned about the differences that society has made between the times of old English to a more modern time period. William Shakespeare was a man of tragedy and romance, and because of this he is a well-known poet and playwright. Shakespeare had a way of using words to set a scene and describe characters that made him unique to his and our society at large. It is in this way that he will continue to be remembered, but he is not the only storyteller of old English times. Whether it is Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, or the Canterbury tales, whether it is a story, an epic, or a poem, or whether it is romantic or a tragedy, society has changed from its barbaric root and literature has played a big part in doing it. As William Shakespeare quoted in in his play As You Like It, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts”. People in modern society have the ability to achieve much more than Shakespeare ever could; making the possibilities of the life we choose to live a very broad spectrum. Literature has shaped society by informing people of how life had been and making others think about how to change for the better. Information and choices have helped make our …show more content…
The fact that words have taken different meanings and connotations since they were originally used by Shakespeare and Chaucer is what makes Old and Middle English so confusing to read for modern readers. A great example of this is the definition of the word nimrod. This word was originally defined to mean “a hunter”, but due to a common misuse of the word causes it to be used to describe a dim-witted person. However, it is through literature that this original meaning, used by William Shakespeare and other poets of his time, was not