We all struggle with personal transformations and face changes beyond our control. Shakespeare's characters do this on a grand scale. In many ways they're just like us, men and women struggling to live according to the rules and expectations of their society – only in iambic pentameter. Shakespeare based the limitations of his characters on his observations of human frailty.
Change is inevitable. Sometimes I welcome it, but not often. In fact, my default reaction to life's inevitable and difficult transitions has always been to run away, play it safe. Mine is a normal, even universal reaction to change and conflict. Shakespeare understood this, and while I've never had to face the life and death circumstances of Ophelia and Desdemona, or the romantic and economic conflicts of Beatrice and Portia, I relate to their predicaments on many levels. The choices each character makes in dealing with her conflicts and obstacles separate the comedies from the tragedies. Beatrice changed and fell in love; Ophelia refused to change and lost her mind.
Conflicts are the stuff of compelling drama and timeless comedy. They're also a basic fact of life. Studying Shakespeare has taught me about emotional flexibility; in the face of inevitable change and conflict I can either bend like Beatrice, or break like Ophelia.
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