What Earthly Us Is It Forcing Kids To Study Shakespeare?

[Theland]

At a guess, what percentage of the population actually read Shakespeare for pleasure, or attend one of his plays?
It's not something one ever hears discussed with affection or enthusiasm.

[ummmm]

Read Macbeth at school and really enjoyed it.

[Theland]

Me too. And Julius Caesar. Actually did read him for pleasure, but not now for years. I consider myself in the minority, a bit quirky, and don't see the point of such an imposition on our kids. Let them read it if they want to, like Harry Potter, but not mandatory.

[Cloverjo]

I enjoyed Taming of the Shrew. That was a later in life one for me. I studied Hamlet at school and found it quite tedious at the time.
I went to see another Shakespeare play while at school which seemed to go on forever. I can't remember which one it was. I wouldn't choose to go to see one now.

[Jackdaw33]

You might say the same about Chaucer, apart from the dirty bits.

[Kidas]

Went to a performance of Midsummer Night's Dream a few years ago - was rolling in the aisles with laughter. Funniest thing for years.

The rather po-faced Americans in the adjacent seats were taking it much more seriously.. Coz it's Shakespeare, right . Has to be serious and intellectual...

Your mileage may vary.

[Tilly2]

She should have died hereafter.
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time.
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.


Rather apt at the moment.

[Cloverjo]

Lol at the dirty bits of Chaucer. I had a teacher who blushed furiously when talking about them :)) We were good kids though. We didn't laugh at her or anything :)

[Theland]

Must get a Chaucer then.

[webbo3]

Saw Macbeth at the Minack theatre many years ago.

[woofgang]

Because its a part of the heritage of our language.

[MWG14]

I did Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Hamlet at school. Went with the school to Stratford to see Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet on stage. Both plays had very well known actors performing including Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Harvey, & Paul Robeson. Wonderful.

[Tilly2]

I do read some of the sonnets quite often. Beautiful language.

[woofgang]

Tilly did you know that many of the sonnets make sense if you start at the bottom and read upwards?

[maggiebee]

Wasn't the least bit interested in Shakespeare until I was in 4th year. I then met a wonderful English teacher called Jim Campbell from Glasgow. He brought Hamlet and Macbeth alive for me and I loved them. Also watched a comedy show called Betty and Bobby's Macbeth years later which was just so funny. Don't think I would have understood all the references if I hadn't studied the play at school.

[Islay]

But you could say that about a lot of things- I can't remember the last time after I left school that I used Algebra.

[Tilly2]

Does this one work backwards, Woof? It's one of my favourites.

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancelled woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanished sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restor'd and sorrows end.

[gness]

Like Maggie I was introduced to Shakespeare by a wonderful teacher....but I guess a poor teacher could put a pupil off Shakespeare for life....

I love The Minack, Webbo but have never seen Shakespeare performed there, though I have at Stamford open air during a storm and it was fantastic...

I never miss a National Theatre Live performance and have seen so many wonderful plays.....give NTL a try next time they're showing a Shakespeare.....you won't be disappointed....x

[woofgang]

Gness, its a bit a matter of opinion....One most obvious one that works is "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

[aelmpvw]

every time i look at a pencil i think '2b or not 2b'

[Tilly2]

That's a daft question!