I, for one, don't go to a Shakespeare play with the same sensibility that I would give to a play by, say, Tennessee Williams or Eugene Oneill. To me, Shakespeare's plays take on the aspect of ritual. I believe that Shakespeare plays a role in our society today akin to that of the morality plays of the medieval period. Each character is a kind of archetype, having meaning not just within the play's context, but in the broader human drama. The plots vibrate with a significance beyond the production. Attending a recent production of The Tempest, I was again struck by the ritualistic, nearly religious, aspect that Shakespeare has taken on. One even might say that the archaic and arcane segments of language merely enhance the effect, like the latinate prayers of a priest.