Shakespeare and the Western Tradition of Liberty

William Shakespeare has fallen on hard times. Studies of top universities’ curricula reveal that few still require English majors to take courses on the Bard. Many consider his “old-fashioned language” to be “too difficult” for Gen Z students’ social media-addled attention spans. Others are ditching Shakespeare to “make room for modern, diverse, and inclusive voices.”

Two books published late last year, however, take a different, more appreciative approach to exploring two different facets of Shakespeare’s character. R. V. Young’s Shakespeare and the Idea of Western Civilization gives readers a sense of Shakespeare as a poet of tradition, whereas the late Nalin Ranasinghe’s Shakespeare’s Reformation: Christian Humanism and the Death of God gives readers a sense of Shakespeare as a poet of liberty.

Although a definite tension exists between Young and Ranasinghe’s interpretations, they both capture essential elements of Shakespeare’s writing. He was a poet of both tradition and liberty—and that is why his poetry forms the foundation of the modern Western mind.

Read more at Law & Liberty.