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“Love goes towards love as schoolboys from their books, / But love from love, towards school with heavy looks, “ laments Romeo as he leaves Juliet’s courtyard.

Oddly enough, this is one of my favorite Shakespearean lines, even though on a fame scale of 1 to “To be or not to be,” it ranks in popularity just ahead of Romeo’s later noteworthy exclamation: “Good morrow, Father!”

But outside of the Bard’s meditations of love in this quote, I’m tickled by Shakespeare’s assumption of the weary rallying cry of every grey-haired curmudgeon from now since the first infant was born: “I tell you…kids these days!”

Somehow, in an era that finds children bored in schools that must test-monger and struggling for funding, I take comfort in the fact that, even in Willy Shakes’s own time, kids still dreaded going to school.

Regardless of how privileged children are to have an education—in Elizabethan England or present-day United States—students always would rather spend their time doing something else…like playing video games or sneaking into their girlfriend’s courtyard.

I don’t bring up this point to lambast students’ priorities myself, but rather to observe just how little the world seems to change. Perhaps, in a modern era of interconnectedness and instant access, we have more tools at our disposal to get into more trouble even quicker, but trouble itself is nothing new.

I love studying Shakespeare because he reminds me that these timeless stories—of grief, power, love, lust, betrayal, and war—have been playing out for centuries…yet, with all the mistakes and gambles people have taken, fiery Armageddon hasn’t struck! Humanity has ebbed and flowed and rose and sunk, but we haven’t stopped living.

Not all of life ends as happily as The Two Gentlemen of Verona, where infidelity and attempted rape are reconciled and forgiven in a neat little happy ending.

Sometimes, forbidden love like Sylvia and Valentine’s isn’t honored in the end, but rather turns out more like Romeo and Juliet’s, where the lovers are grievously punished for their passion.

Sometimes, feuds aren’t resolved, but rather papered over and again ignored, surfacing later in another form.

Sometimes, our stars are misadventurous, and god feels more like a Nurse or Friar: well intentioned and caring, but also meddlesome and irresponsible with the fate of its charges.

Shakespeare’s canon is large, and though even he couldn’t capture every experience of every person, he does a damn good job at stretching himself towards universal truths.

Not all of Shakespeare’s stories end with a clear-cut message of hope.

In a play like Hamlet—which, true to Shakespearean form, ends with one living character who, presumably, will restore future balance—it’s hard to believe that poor Horatio will suck it up, move on from the pile of dead bodies at Elsinore’s court, and fix the government when he’d probably rather flee the country, change his name, and sob for the rest of his natural-born life.

In plays like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida, and numerous others, hope—let alone happiness—seems like a long shot, but Shakespeare’s most comforting message is one of continuance. The world does not explode and people (or, at least, one person) survive.

And next time, maybe, the characters will get it right.