Shakespeare Modernized

As a high school student, I very much understand the effect an English teacher handing out a stack of books can have on a classroom. The dramatic increase in the amount of groans is as evident as the people who will straight out skip every class where there is a discussion just to avoid even hearing about such a thing. Shakespeare, as it was written a couple centuries back, is especially hard to interpret without help. I've spent hours of my life trying to interpret classics assigned to my English class such as The Odyssey and The Merchant of Venice, and actually need up enjoying them once I gained an understanding.

Recently, I picked up a book written by Jeannette Winterson meant to be a modernized version of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale called The Gap of Time. I picked up this book upon an interest point to read more classics, and while this wouldn't technically be categorized as a classic and I have never read A Winter's Tale, I really found this to be a great re-telling.

The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s “late plays.” It tells the story of a king whose jealousy results in the banishment of his baby daughter and the death of his beautiful wife. His daughter is found and brought up by a shepherd on the Bohemian coast, but through a series of extraordinary events, father and daughter, and eventually mother too, are reunited. (Source: Goodreads)

Throughout the book, I was able to see the points that were both modernized and re-told. The names, for one, were very obvious. King Leontes of Sicilla is now Leo, the owner of famous gaming company Sicilla. His friend, Polixenes, is now Xeno, and his wife, Hermione, is now MiMi, the famous singer. The story-line is especially the same as paranoid Leo is convinced is wife has cheated on him with his friend Xeno, so when the child is born he rejects her and sends her off to Bohemia, where she is found and raised by a Shepherd.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone, not just all you Shakespeareans out there. It's an enriching tale, as it has been for centuries, and I urge anyone looking for something refreshing to read to pick up The Gap of Time. The characters are flawed and relatable. The story-line reflects both modern day and past times, and don't get me started on the angel metaphors (I fell in love with them).