What I learned from Shakespeare this semester

Below is part of a paper that I wrote for another class. I talked about what theorists have impacted my life through my Literary Criticism class with Lisa Eckert. For my secondary reading this semester, I chose to read Northrop Frye's Shakespeare book. He is so amazingly insightful and intelligent. He pointed out so many aspects of every play that I would not have even thought about without him. I love how he thinks of archetypes and puts them into terms of heroes and cycles. At the beginning of this semester (when I had free time) I started to read Anatomy of Criticism, which is amazing! He truly makes reading not only his books but Shakespeare, the Bible, and mythology enjoyable because he sees connections that are obscure but very pertainable to the material. I am looking forward to this summer when I have more free time to devote to reading more of his work.

The last theorist/theory that has influenced me beyond any other is Northrup Frye and his exploration of archetypes. I feel that these archetypes are indisputably relevant as they explain not only the archetypes that we find in literature but the ones that are found in each and every one of us. We are each a hero with a thousand faces. We all go through our own quests to find our happy ending. This has been an important lesson for me this semester that I have not only learned through this class but also through Professor Sexson’s Studies in Shakespeare. Shakespeare has taught me about the relationship between literature and life while Frye taught me how to apply this relationship to my education. Through my understanding of Frye’s work, I have been able to pull connections from all literature and see that it does have value even if it does not fall into the Cannon or is critically acclaimed. For example, we have often talked about the Twilight series and many students have mocked and scoffed at it being considered literature. I have to fervently disagree with the mockers and the scoffers. These books might not be the most elegantly written but that does not mean they do not have intrinsic value. The value lies within the mythology the books draw upon, the emotions the series evokes, and the archetypes it incorporates into its pages.