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ECE 102

In his statement, “We speak of the Shakespeare’s works as if they were stable reflections

of his initial interactions, but they continue to circulate precisely because they are so amenable to

metamorphosis. They have left his world, passed into ours, and become part of us,” Stephen

Greenblatt implies that though the works of Shakespeare might have been as a result of his

interactions with his environment by then, they are still relevant in the now world. If they are

worked on, they can bring about change and impact the society. He alludes that Shakespeare’s

works have transcended many periods of time, but they never become obsolete. They constantly

have a way of finding their meaning in the current society by influencing the trajectory of many

happenings in the contemporary set-up. Thus, this paper seeks to analyze keenly the theme of

conflict in his works. Furthermore, the paper will give a view of how this theme, as used by

Shakespeare in his works, keeps on living even in the contemporary world.

In Shakespeare’s plays, conflicts take innumerable forms. There are several plays that are

built around the rivals in war, love, quarrels in families, or between families et cetera. Some of

the plays are entrenched in international conflicts and others in domestic conflicts. Further, in

other plays, Shakespeare depicts conflicts existing between generations. Other plays tell of the

conflicts existing between ideologies and philosophies. In addition, there are plays that depict
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racial conflicts, class conflicts, conflicts between darkness and light, and the conflicts between

evil and good.

Shakespeare goes ahead to depict the conflict as not just an external happening but also a

process that happens within an individual. The perfect examples that he uses to depict this

assertion include Hamlet and Macbeth. There occurred an internal drama that took place within

the minds of the two characters. The conflict occurred between and among the choices that the

two characters had to make. The internal conflict in these two characters became more intense

with the progress of the play.

In King Lear, Shakespeare unleashed all his prowess in writing play. This play is

arguably the greatest work of Shakespeare. It is largely winner poetically and intellectually as

opposed to being performance oriented. In the mix of all these, Shakespeare manages to depict

the conflict as at the core of the drama.

He brings out several conflicts in a unified and multi-layered manner. The main conflict

in this play occurs between generations. It pits the older generation against the younger

generation. Lear is in conflict with her daughters, and on the other hand, Gloucester is also in

conflict with his sons. However, beyond the conflict existing between the younger and the older

generation, King Lear is itself a renaissance. Its writing took place at the period when there

existed political, artistic, religious, and cultural conflicts between the humanism and medieval

worlds. The old world was becoming non-fashionable while the new spirit was at work

throughout Europe.

Beyond mentioning and reflecting the conflict in the play King Lear, Shakespeare goes

ahead to illustrate the same. For instance, Gloucester has two sons. One son is legitimate (Edgar)
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while the other is illegitimate (Edmund). While Edgar is set to inherit the properties of his father,

Edmund stands to benefit nothing from his father other than his natural love. The relationship

between Gloucester and the mothers of these two boys leads to the emergence of two hostile

worlds. While Edgar’s birth took place under the environment of an arranged marriage, his

parents having tired and obligatory sex, the conception of Edmund was done outside wedlock.

Through these plays, Shakespeare is still of relevance in the modern world. His voice

through the plays still speaks even in the current context of the social, cultural, political,

economic, and technological make-up. Most of the imageries that Shakespeare employs in the

plays can be said to be natural in the contemporary meaning of the word “natural” which implies

animals, plants, and weather. His work is full of the imagery of the plants, animals, and weather.

These imageries can still be related to in the current composition of the society. The most

relevant imagery of the animals concerns the predatory animals with their sharp hunting animals.

These imageries are used in the contemporary world are used to relate to the personalities of

people that are characterized by their determination beyond all inconveniences to achieve their

dreams and goals in life.

Lastly, Shakespeare draws attention to the kind of behavior that currently we regard as

natural after many centuries after its emergence of the notion. Consequently, Edmund’s attitude

as it regards the nature of his family is natural. Therefore, his monologue is relevant to the

modern ear as many people in the contemporary world are still fighting for equality in various

spheres of existence.