The Bard Today: Why We Still Read Shakespeare and How a Writing Coach Can Help
More than four hundred years after his death, William Shakespeare remains one of the most widely studied and performed writers in the world. His plays are regularly staged across continents, his sonnets quoted in wedding vows and political speeches, his characters invoked in pop culture from The Simpsons to Succession. And yet, for many students, their first encounter with Shakespeare can feel like stumbling into a foreign country without a map. The language is archaic, the references obscure, and the plots—twisting through mistaken identities, gender-swapping disguises, and ghostly vengeance—can seem bewildering at best. So why do we still read Shakespeare today? What makes his writing endure?
The answer lies both in the continued relevance of his themes, the unparalleled richness of his language, and the psychological depth of his characters. And for those who find the first steps into Shakespeare’s world daunting, writing coach services can provide essential support, helping readers unpack the complexity of his work and discover its resonance in their own lives.
At the heart of Shakespeare’s longevity is his grasp of universal human concerns: love, jealousy, ambition, betrayal, grief, identity, and power. The dilemmas his characters face—Should I avenge my father’s murder? Should I follow my conscience or my desire? Can I trust those closest to me?—are the same questions we ask ourselves today, albeit in different contexts.
Consider Macbeth, a play that explores how unchecked ambition corrodes the human spirit. Or Othello, in which the destructive force of jealousy is laid bare in a military general undone not by his enemies, but by his own insecurities. In Twelfth Night, mistaken identity becomes a framework for thinking about gender, performance, and the longing for connection. These stories transcend their historical moment because they dramatize emotional truths that remain constant, even as societies evolve.
Students who engage with Shakespeare often find themselves surprised by how modern the plays can feel once the language barrier begins to fall away. A teenager reading Romeo and Juliet may first balk at the ornate diction, but soon recognizes the urgency of youthful love and the tragic consequences of hypocrisy. In King Lear, the deterioration of a once-powerful father into confusion and isolation resonates with contemporary concerns about aging, authority, and the complexities of family loyalty.
While Shakespeare’s themes are eternal, it is his language that makes them unforgettable. He coined words, twisted syntax into poetry, and used metaphor to peel back the layers of human thought and feeling. Phrases like “to thine own self be true,” “the world’s mine oyster,” or “brevity is the soul of wit” have embedded themselves in everyday speech, a testament to how deeply his writing has seeped into the cultural imagination.
But that same language can present a steep challenge to modern students. The Elizabethan vocabulary and grammar require patience, and often a great deal of contextual guidance. A writing coach trained in literary analysis can help demystify the text, showing students how to unpack difficult passages, identify rhetorical devices, and follow the movement of a soliloquy.
For instance, Hamlet’s iconic soliloquy “To be or not to be” is a fascinating study in ambiguity, rhythm, and suppressed emotion. With the right support, students can begin to hear the heartbeat of the verse and recognize how form and content interact to deepen meaning. Writing coaching provides the space to ask questions, test interpretations, and build confidence in analyzing complex material. Instead of glossing over the “hard parts,” students learn to sit with difficulty, which can lead to genuine insight.
Shakespeare’s characters do not operate in the neat moral binaries of many classical stories. Instead, they are flawed, contradictory, and often painfully self-aware. Macbeth is both a ruthless murderer and a haunted man grasping at his vanishing humanity. Juliet is a romantic idealist but also a quick-witted strategist who takes control of her fate. Iago is evil, yes, but disturbingly persuasive. Even minor characters often carry their own internal tensions and arcs.
Shakespeare’s plays demand empathy. They ask readers to enter the minds of people whose values may differ from their own and consider the pressures, hopes, and fears that shape their decisions. This process of imaginative identification is central to critical thinking and emotional literacy—skills as relevant in life as in literature.
Writing coaches can help students move beyond plot summary and surface-level analysis to consider these deeper questions of motivation, conflict, and transformation. Rather than asking, “What happens next?” a coach might ask, “Why does this character make this choice at this moment, and how does Shakespeare show us what’s at stake?” Through guided analysis, students begin to develop their own interpretations and support them with textual evidence, cultivating both analytical rigor and creative insight.
Perhaps one of the most exciting things about Shakespeare is how open his work is to interpretation. The plays are constantly being reimagined—set in modern dress, transplanted to new settings, performed by diverse casts with fresh perspectives. This openness allows each generation to make the plays speak to their own concerns.
Students working with a writing coach can explore this dynamism by developing arguments that reflect their own experiences and cultural lenses. A student might write about The Merchant of Venice in the context of contemporary debates around religious tolerance, or explore how Much Ado About Nothing navigates gender expectations. Whether composing a character analysis, crafting a comparative essay, or even writing a modern adaptation of a scene, students benefit from having someone to challenge their ideas and support the development of their voice.
We read Shakespeare today because his work continues to illuminate the human experience in all its contradictions. His plays are still living texts—demanding, yes, but also generous in what they offer. With the right guidance, especially from skilled writing coaches, students can learn to hear his rhythms, his ironies, and his hopes for what language can do.
