Because of ChatGPT, I can now enjoy Shakespeare

Have you ever felt intimidated by the classics, like Shakespeare, Homer, or even The Bible, due to their archaic language and the deep background knowledge required?? Well, here’s a story for you.?

In 1990, my mom took me to see Hamlet in the theater. Maybe you know which one I’m talking about? The one with Mel Gibson as Hamlet and Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia. My mom warned me it might be boring. I scoffed, being a little full of myself, and then silently prayed I wouldn’t disappoint her. Or myself.?

I left the movie theater wide-eyed. It spoke to me. I felt Hamlet’s sorrow. I begged my mom to buy me a copy of the play. We got home, I opened up to the first page and saw this:

Ugh. I tried so hard to get into it. But by Act 2, I was lost. The language was archaic. The verse indecipherable. On that day, I vowed to study hard, and become a student of life, so I could read all 38 Shakespeare plays.?

I majored in literature. My professors explained Twelfth Night, King Lear, The Tempest. I listened carefully, too afraid to ask “stupid questions.” I graduated and became a university teacher myself. Every couple of years over the last 25 years, I would try to get through a play. Macbeth. I got a Master’s degree in applied linguistics. Richard III. I moved to Japan. The Winter’s Tale. I got a black belt in martial arts. Titus Andronicus. Then, 2 months ago, I tried again. Antony and Cleopatra. I read the preface. Ugh. I started the first act. Ugh.

And then I wondered, maybe ChatGPT could help….

If you are already a fan of ChatGPT, you can probably guess how the rest of my story goes. For those who are still discovering this amazing product, let me share.

Over the past 2 months, I’ve read 4 Shakespeare plays. With a copy of the play in hand, and my ChatGPT app open with the voice feature enabled, I’m spending an hour almost every night talking with it.

My colleagues say, “As a communications coach, aren’t you afraid you’ll be out of a job?” To this I say, “In the age of AI, the skill of connecting with others will give us the competitive edge.”

It’s answering all my longwinded, super nuanced questions about the layers of text, the motivations of the characters, the historical backdrops, and the profound themes embedded within Shakespeare's words. And with all these explanations, I see no reason why I will stop any time soon.?

Let me share with you three ways you can use ChatGPT to help you read Shakespeare:?

1. Clarifying Complex Scenes: Who the hell are these people and why do they exist?

One significant challenge I face every time I choose to read a new Shakespeare play is learning the basics: what is this story, who are these people, and what are they doing? Now, I know Julius Caesar is a play about an assassination. Who is Flauvius? Who is Marullus? Why are they talking to a Cobbler and a Carpenter? Look at the play’s first scene:

Without any context, you have no way to answer questions that pop into your mind. And I go back to being 12 years old, completely lost. Yes, I could find a book, a Wikipedia page, or a scene summary guide, but now I have to read about what I'm trying to read. Ta-Dum, I turn on Netflix.?

With ChatGPT, I get to ask all my stupid questions as many times as I want. I can ask, What is the point of this scene? How does this scene move the plot forward? Why is Flavius so rude to the carpenter? What gives him the power to treat someone like that? It’s like I have my university professor on speed dial and they are forever patient with me until I get it.?And, by the way, Flavius is implicitly done away with by the end of the act.

2. Unraveling Character Motivations: Why did Cleopatra commit a taboo?

What makes Anthony and Cleopatra a tragedy? It’s the double suicide. But how is that different from Romeo & Juliet? One thing that makes Shakespeare’s characters so amazing is that there is a psychological depth that makes Oprah seem shallow. Realizing the power of ChatGPT, I became determined to understand exactly how Shakespeare would provide his audience with a clear rationale for Cleopatra’s suicide.

My questions included: Cleopatra is a smart person. How did she convince herself that suicide was the only option? How accurate to historical records is Shakespeare’s depiction of her suicide? How exactly did she figure out that Octavius was lying to her? Is suicide ever justified? Why is the topic of suicide so taboo? Has the topic of suicide always been taboo? What makes something taboo? Does the fact that Cleopatra committed a taboo make her story not only tragic but also memorable? How did the Roman Empire not spin the story of Cleopatra’s suicide?

I asked ChatGPT to compare Shakespeare's works to AI technology. It said, “AI technologies serve as a profound reflection of our human experience, shaped by the ways we choose to interpret and engage with them.”

As you can see, my questions go on tangents as my brain tries to understand. If a human was answering my questions, they would soon peter out. And I don’t have the resources to pay for a personal tutor to come sit with me every evening. ChatGPT is there for me to truly fathom the complex choices people face and the consequences of their actions.?

3. Deciphering Shakespearean Language: Can you explain that to me again in a simpler way?

Shakespeare's language is rich and eloquent but most of the time incompressible.?

Troilus and Cressida is a Shakespearean play that most people have never heard of. It takes place during the Trojan War, and I’ve never even read Homer’s Iliad or Odyssey dare I say never Virgil’s Aeneid.

So, when I picked up Troilus and Cressida, I said to myself, “Oh Shit.” This will be a test to see if I can break ChatGPT.

I spent hours talking with ChatGPT just to understand the plot, and how Shakespeare’s play is a commentary on stories that most people back in the 1600s knew backward and forwards.

I asked it if there was a contemporary movie that parallels Troilus and Cressida, and it said it was kin to The Watchmen, a satire on superheroes. And that without ever seeing a superhero movie, some could enjoy the movie but the complexity and nuance would make it more difficult to appreciate. Helpful but not.?

Then, you get a speech like this:

Ugh.? I took a picture of the text with my phone, put it into the chat, and said: Please explain line by line Ulysses’s speech in Act 1, Scene 3 in Troilus and Cressida that starts with “ Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down…”

ChatGPT was instrumental in deconstructing this speech on the importance of social hierarchy and its cosmic parallels, aka The Great Chain of Being. Which lead me down another rabbit hole of questions.

Things got really interesting when I asked ChatGPT critical thinking questions: What is the overarching logical structure of his speech? Can you compare and contrast Ulysses' speech with Marc Anthony’s famous speech from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar? What logical fallacies does Ulysses make in this speech? How would modern audiences critique his arguments?

Like Prospero in The Tempest, I was seeing the depth of human experience.

Conclusion

Once again I am wide-eyed.

When I tell people about how I am spending my evenings, they seem bewildered, and I pull out my phone and ask them to ask ChatGPT a question you would only ask yourself in the middle of the night when you are contemplating the deeper meanings of life. They are amazed.

When people balk, “Yeah, but doesn’t AI just make stuff up?” I remind them how literature is subjective in the first place. And then tell them, “And ChatGPT tells me how its interpretation is one of many.”?

My colleagues say, “As a communications coach, aren’t you afraid you’ll be out of a job?” To this I say, “In the age of AI, the skill of connecting with others will give us the competitive edge. AI is helping me more deeply understand the diverse subjective experiences that make up our world.”

Ultimately, ChatGPT has helped me understand at the core the underlying theme of moral ambiguity in all of Shakespeare’s plays. His works help us see our reality. I am in continual awe of these plays.?

Of course, I asked ChatGPT to compare Shakespeare's works to AI technology. It said, “AI technologies serve as a profound reflection of our human experience, shaped by the ways we choose to interpret and engage with them. Just as Shakespeare invites us to explore the multifaceted natures of his characters, AI technologies offer a mirror to our intentions and purposes.”

A brave new world!?