n anniversary is a good time to review and re-evaluate the worth of past achievements.
This Saturday is Shakespeare's 400th death anniversary (and also what is commonly accepted as his 452nd birthday). Ben Jonson, Shakespeare's contemporary and friend, foretold his perennial appeal in his eulogy: "He (Shakespeare) was not of an age, but for all time!" But the question remains: Is Shakespeare relevant in today's fast-paced, turbulent world of multimedia distractions?
Some reasons for reading Shakespeare are common knowledge, such as the fact that although his tales are woven around the events of the time, essentially they are about human beings and their conditions and therefore have a universal appeal which transcends barriers of time and geography. Then again, his characters are not just memorable, they are real and fallible and very much like people anywhere, any time.
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