Quote:
Originally Posted by biznatch
There's a difference between Shakespeare's brain and Shakespeare's brainchild.
His mind is definitely lost forever. What he wrote is merely something tailored to entertain the masses. Granted, the fact that his pieces were brilliant shows that he had a great mind, but the only person who had those great thoughts, and really understood where his work comes from is dead.
His mind is no longer lively. The fact that his work is still relevant to this day is because human nature changes little, and their interpersonal relationships still take place in the same way, for the most part.
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Shakespeare's works are like an elaborate set of imprints of his mind and how it worked. To this day we still pour a great amount of time and energy into reflecting on and arguing about what he believed, commented on, and may have thought otherwise. We are enraptured by his mode of presenting this to us.
In many ways, we try to pick up what we have and actively try to "get into his mind." If it were obliterated upon his death....why would we even attempt this?
This goes against what Lasereth said about our minds simply vanishing upon death as though they never were. The works of Shakespeare act as a testament to the fact that we often exist in some form beyond the grave. Some of these forms are more permanent than others, but they are there nonetheless. I'm not saying that there is any actual spiritual or supernatural existence of the man, but Shakespeare is not dead in the way Lasereth describes. Not by a long shot.