How did Shakespeare's plays and poems become thought of for only highbrow intellectuals?

Question

Shakespeare wrote for the masses and was popular throughout all classes of people. What changed?

Answer 1

Shakespeare is still being observed by the masses, it is just cleverly disguised as new stories.
If you watch Underworld you will see similarities to Romeo and Juliet.
A lot of his work is being re-worked and told in different ways.

Answer 2

Views of art in general have changed to fit that description. Think of art that used to be on display in churches, parks, etc. Now they are gathered into museums with high ticket prices. Think of the cost of tickets to plays, Shakespeare or otherwise. 15-30 dollars would be considered cheap for a production not from a high school, but this is much more than the pennies it once cost. So it isn't so much that Shakespeare is now only for intellectuals, but that all art is only affordable to the wealthy or atleast not lower class citizens.

Answer 3

The Puritans came along and decided that plays were immoral because the theatre was immoral. After recovering from that blow in the Restoration, people were in the mood for topical comedies that satirized the high and mighty. Gradually spoken English drifted further and further from Shakespearean English. English has lost a great many of the prepositional phrases in use during Shakespeare's life, as well as the use of reflexive verbs. Words like 'nosegay' became replaced by more current words like 'bouquet', and there were a lot of these. In short unless you see the play being performed, the vocabulary is a stretch.

Answer 4

Originally they were for the common man, many commoners would attend. I believe what happened is that the English language changed (evolved?) which causes problems for some simply not being able to understand it.Also now people seem to need to have things spelled out for them rather than read between the lines as you do with Shakepeare. He was sly in his writing with most things having a double entendre.It also helps to know the political and social climate and structure of that period, which most do not study before reading his work. Lastly, most people's taste these days tends to lean toward the crude rather than the witty, look at Jackass.

Answer 5

People changed. You ask someone if they're cultured and they're like, " Wha? Dawg wha 'choo talk'n 'bout?" I don't know, Shakespeare's still as good, but people don't appreciate it.