Why are kids force-fed Shakespeare at school?

Question

My two kids think Shakespeare sucks. Why can't kids be allowed to study contemporary authors, like I did, instead of someone who wrote over 400 years ago?
How are the kids supposed to connect?
I find Shakespeare unreadable.

Answer 1

It is sad to hear people berate the work of an actor and playwright such as William Shakespeare. As a student, it is an honour to say that you have been exposed to any one of his plays. The idea that this may be taken out of the curriculum due to ignorance and a lack of enthusiasm will be a bleak day for literature studies. There are so many modern versions available today and so many great movies have been made depicting the plays in a more modern setting. View them and allow Shakespeare to enrich your literary lives.

I found more info that may help:
Shakespeare: What on earth's the point? Sue Shearman
I have huge problems with Shakespeare. You see, people don't like the stuff. They think he's boring. They find the plays and poetry really hard to understand. 'Shakespeare is rubbish' is something I heard from an adult two days ago and I'm used to hearing it from pupils. Teachers don't like teaching Shakespeare - just look at the staffroom if you don't believe me.

Why?

1. He's boring.
All those l-o-n-g speeches- in poetry, for goodness' sake. No-one talks in poetry! Of course, a lot of people in Shakespeare don't speak poetry, either. Even Hamlet sometimes abandons it. Iago does it all the time.

2. And the plays are too long.
Actually, they aren't. No Shakespeare play runs for more than 2 ½ hours (without an interval). This two hours' traffic of our stage' is not dramatic licence; it's Shakespeare telling his audience how long they were going to be there. And don't say 'What about Hamlet?. There is no copy of Shakespeare's Hamlet as performed by The Chamberlain's Men in existence.

3. The language.
Thou, thy, hast - oh, sorry if you come from Yorkshire. And I'm not sure where we'd be without words like assassination, puke, moonbeam, generous and the other 1700 or so words Shakespeare gave to the language: then there's 'dead as a doornail', 'in one fell swoop', bloody minded', 'fair play'. It's OK, I've stopped now.

4. He's irrelevant.
It's the 21st century. We don't want stuff that was written 400 years ago. Unless you're East Enders, of course - and lift the story of Romeo and Juliet practically wholesale for Leo and Demi's plot line. (Warring families, secret meetings, suicide through misunderstanding.) Or in real life, you are Saddam Hussein or one of his ministers and refuse to believe that Americans are in charge of your main airport:

'I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought,
The wood began to move.

MACBETH
Liar and slave!

and you think that the best way to dispose of those who don't support you is to kill them:
'Hang them that talk of fear!'

Anyone seen 10 Things I Hate About You? It's Taming of the Shrew and kids love it.

5. Anyway, the comedies aren't funny.
Well, there you have me - except that they aren't meant to be funny. They are just meant to be plays with a happy ending. Merchant of Venice is a comedy after all. Oh, yes it is! All the plays have comedy in them and I can't think of one without a 'clown' at the moment.

Romeo and Juliet is very funny. Especially the balcony scene.

Sure, some of the jokes don't work any more. The very beginning of Romeo and Juliet is singularly unfunny, but half a dozen lines in and Samson and Gregory's puns on 'heads' and 'maidens' is as fresh as it was when it was written and try 'my naked weapon is out' on any adolescent boy!

The satire which would have been immediately clear to Shakespeare's audiences is lost on us without a bit of research. Richard III is a hunchback, not because there is any historical evidence, (there isn't), but because the character is a satire on Robert Cecil and Achilles in 'Troilus and Cressida' is a very unflattering portrait of the Earl of Essex.

6. So, why don't we like Shakespeare?
Ask Hamlet - he's got the answer. The trouble is that we don't listen to him - or, rather, we don't listen to Shakespeare's words in his mouth:
'Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue. But if you mouth it, as some of your players do, I'd as lief the town crier spoke my lines.'
Most productions, nearly all teachers and all examining bodies ignore Shakespeare's advice.

Shakespeare wrote his plays to be performed 'trippingly on the tongue', not to be studied, anaysed or 'mouthed' - it means to 'pronounce all the words very, very carefully and s-l-o-w-l-y'.

We look at them - and teach them - as 'Literature'. They aren't.

But that's a whole other debate!

Answer 2

Pupils in schools today study quite a lot of contemporary writing, actually.

The reason why they still study Shakespeare, and should continue to do so, is because Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers ever to have written in the English language. He can teach everyone an immeasurable amount about style and language; and, if I'm allowed to get on my soap box for a moment ... when I think of the linguistic poverty of so many of the children I teach (even those who are "gifted and talented"), then believe me, the more Shakespeare they read the better.

Answer 3

Shakespeare is cool!!! I did my GCSE's 4 years ago now and i liked it. We did Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest. Shakespeare is an important literary figure and as he is one of the best and most well known writers.............all over the world i think he should be recognised and admired by all.
The view that all kids hate Shakespeare is a generalisation and is not correct.
Shakespeare is a part of everyone's national heritage. Studying Shakespeare alongside contemporary authors would be great though.

Answer 4

At school I enjoyed Shakespeare far more than alot of the more modern stuff we studied. I'm trying to avoid sounding like a Shakespeare fanatic but I think study of his work is important. Yes, it can be challenging. But we should not be trying to discard it because of that. In terms of the language (shakespeare's numerous additions to the english vocabulary), strongly written characters and emotive plotlines, he does have value. His portrayals of war and the darkness of humanity, to me, cannot be faulted. In addition there is the cultural and historical understanding that comes as a result of reading him - e.g. by looking at racism in Othello we can make parallels with the way things are today.

I don't know any other author who has inspired so many translations, film adaptations and theatre performances as Shakespeare, and i suppose this is one of the key reasons why his importance should be recognised. While i'm not trying to bully you into liking him, perhaps your kids might enjoy it more by seeing an actual performance (after all, the plays were written to be performed). The RSC does some £5 tickets for young people. I've been a couple of times and it was amazing. Or they might want to watch one of the numerous movie adaptations ('O', the recent BBC series of short films, etc).

Answer 5

I once started to fall asleep while reading Shakespeare in class...

...Drool does NOT help Shakespeare become more interesting.

This may be the Generation Y speaking in me, but Shakespeare, unless you intend to become an author of great classic-esque works, is NOT relevant to language arts studies, above studying how people wrote a long time ago. But nothing anybody reads anymore, nor are several of today's authors, directly inspired by Shakespeare.

Instead, Shakespeare should be part of a "Classical Works" class for upperclassmen. Oh, and put Poe in with him!

Answer 6

Children get to study many contemporary as well as classic writers during their school years. Curriculum tend to focus on certain genres at certain ages (for example, one year is British literature, next year is American literature).

Shakespearean English is challenging to read, you're right, but that sort of mental challenge is exactly what helps kids learn. Many of his themes are universal and timeless, so once you "translate" the words, it is easy to relate to the actual story and characters. Shakespeare is meant to be acted, so seeing the plays acted out can help you and your kids get a better sense of it than by just reading the words.

Check your local bookstore for a "plain English" version of Shakespeare... I picked up one just a few days ago that had each line "translated" to plain modern English on the opposing page, so you could see what the gist of each line is. Encourage your children to rise to the challenge and learn to see the beauty in this poetic form of speech. It can be wonderfully rewarding!

Answer 7

By showing that life's great themes- betrayal, unrequited love, prejudice etc. were just as central to Elizabethan society as contemporary western society, Shakespeare also teaches children the universality of the human condition.

Answer 8

Shakespeare is unreadable because it's not supposed to be read it's supposed to be acted out. Reading one of his plays and seeing one performed on stage is a totally different experience. I agree that maybe it's not the best example because it gives people a bad perception of it. Maybe after they read it they should be taken to see it performed as well. I suppose it's because there's a lot of things in it that make for writing good essays and it makes you think about it as you're reading because the language isn't as straightforward.

Answer 9

The problem is you can't sit in a classroom and just read Shakespeare. His plays were written to be performed and because they deal with human behaviour and emotions are relevant today. The language is difficult but I find it poetic and often poignant. You just need to be able to tap into the dramatic element of his plays - some are very compelling.

Answer 10

Because Shakespeare is the greatest author who ever lived, his plays still have meaning today, he wrote phrases which we now use just as common language and he understood the human psyche and described it.

If your kids are struggling it may be that their teachers aren't inspiring them and you don't seem to be helping! Why not watch Baz Lurman's Romeo + Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes or the BBC modern Shakespeare that was on last year (you can get the DVD on Play). They might see how the stories translate into modern life and get something out of them.

Personally, I was taken to see Shakespeare when I was really young and it was just funny and silly and I loved it. Then I had really passionate teachers who taught it to me and we watched movie versions which really helped. Its difficult to read, much better to see it performed, then you get it I think.