He's Bigger Than the Beatles!

Ah, Shakespeare!   The mere mention of the name compels me to don a British accent and commence making grand flourishes and gesticulations with my hands, in flagrant violation of Hamlet's directorial admonition.  What is our fascination with the bard?  I do not think it is because we were force-fed a diet of “Romeo and Juliet”, “Hamlet”, and “Macbeth” with a side of “The Tempest” in junior/high school.  I had to read many things that I promptly forgot.  Somehow or another, Shakespeare manages to connect with his audience on a level that I dare say might be metaphysical.  He taps into the universal or as Jung might say, the collective unconscious. Perhaps it's because he belonged to the theater.  A writer for theater has to be more concerned about the audience than other types of writers.  Bawdy and raucous lower classes patronized the theater too.  Maybe that's why he is so beloved.  We feel like he is an eloquent yet slightly inappropriate one of us.  Maybe that's also why we feel free to use his works and parody his dialogue with impunity.  Isn't that how westerners show their affection?  Do we lampoon because we love or love to lampoon?  It's a query worthy of Hamlet, himself.  Personally, I confess to having used either direct Shakespearean quotes or bastardizations thereof in no fewer than 3 writing assignments last semester.  Roll over Beethoven; Billy boy is bigger than the Beatles.  So, in honor of his immense star power, I give you the following pop culture nods to the literary main dude offered up by Gilligan's Island, the movie Clueless, and the Animaniacs. Prepare to be entertained, after all...

The play's the thing!