By Bolatito Adebayo
During his time, Williams Shakespeare wasn’t taken as a serious writer. The aristocrats questioned how someone who had a modest education could stage a play and they didn’t give him the required chance. Shakespeare wasn’t eloquent, he could barely speak Latin. He changed the conventions about art and he was jeered at as an unserious playwright.
Despite all odds, Shakespeare became deaf to all the criticism and he did what he loved.
How he was ridiculed meant nothing to him. What the rules stated then didn’t matter to him. He didn’t care about how people in power looked down on his art.
He ignored all.
William Shakespeare concentrated on what mattered most to him; his art.
However, nearly 400 years later, William Shakespeare is considered to be the world’s greatest playwright.
His plays are the most staged plays in the world.
His plays are read, studied, performed and greatly admired.
A man who was seen as illiterate because he only spoke smattering Latin invented over 1700 words and phrases to the English language.
The norms he changed on stage were adapted as the required standards for stage plays.
So, let’s all flip back our minds in time to the 15th century and ask ourselves these questions.
What would have happened if he had listened to all the naysayers?
What would have been his fate if had adhered strictly to the norms?
What if he got discouraged and he had stopped writing?
Well, the answer is simple, his intellectual perceptiveness and poetic powers we all enjoyed in his works would have been missing.
His name would have been forgotten like others who threw in towel when they were told they couldn’t do it.
We would have missed all the great characters, beautiful plots and eloquent prose.
But you are reading his story now because he didn’t listen to the people who gave him a million and one reasons he shouldn’t do what he loved.
If you want your name inscribed in the sand of times, stop listening to voices telling you why you can’t achieve your dreams.
Stay focused and keep doing what you do best.
Do have a great day!
