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.

[woofgang]

sorry...my answer was not to gness but to tilly

[Tilly2]

Sorry, Ael. That should have been 'draft' question!

[Tilly2]

Yes, Woof it does work with that one but then it's not a sonnet because the structure's not correct.

[gness]

Ahhhh.....sometimes AB is more confusing than Shakespeare... ;-)

[Tilly2]

Yes, Gness. Much Ado About Nothing. ;-)

[atalanta]

If it weren't for Shakespeare, what would we do when we wanted a pithy quotation ?

[woofgang]

really tilly? gosh I had never noticed.

[andy-hughes]

I think teaching Shakespeare by reading it in class is not a good way to appreciate it - Shakespeare was written to be heard in context - in a theatre as a play.

His success and longevity are down to his ability to analyse and explain the human condition in all its variations.

I think that deriding his work is a cliché, and there are far more worthless subjects that were taught when I was at school.

I have never heard of a logarithm outside my maths class, never used a slide rule, never made a metal coat peg, never played rugby, never navigated the Nile ... the list of pointlessness goes on, but I did and still do like Shakespeare.

[dance2trance]

It is idiotic to teach school students Shakespeare. They are too young to understand the nuances of the language or the word play or the themes. More filling up school days with items of no value (music or sports etc) because there is not a lot of material to populate the school year. Only actors, theatre critics, and middle class know-it-alls attend the RSC or the Old Vic or NT. Real people do not like the boring old tripe that it is.

[kvalidir]

Crikey danbce2trance I feel genuinely sorry for you if you really believe that Shakespeare, art and sports are elitist. They are the very things that are accessible to, and bind, common man. We can all kick a ball about if we choose, we can all create art, we can all resonate with Shakespeare, why is that a hard thing for you to understand?

[Peter Pedant]

yeah did Macbeth for O level 1966

thou has it now, king cawdor glarmz
all that the weird women promised
and yet I fear thou playedst most foully for it
for it was said I should be root and farder of many kings to come.
Banquo - Act 111 - scene 1 line 1

It has been a hard days night
and I have been working like a dog
Its been a hard days night and
I should be sleeping like a log
( Richard III ) er somewhere, re written perhaps

who can fail to be swayed by the poetry of our greatest bard ?

[Peter Pedant]

yeah I agree that dance to trance has tripped up there !

[kvalidir]

I'd venture that anyone who 'dances to trance' has a few problems of a higher magnitude than being bored by Shakespeare anyway PP :)

[-Talbot-]

Gness, this is Shakespeare... Shakespeare, this is Gness


A great moment in our history.

[sunny-dave]

"Is that a quill in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me ... ?"

[sunny-dave]

To return to the OP - my school had an enlightened policy that avoided Shakepeare until the 6th Form (always picking more modern authors for standard 'O' Level study).

But everyone had to do an extra 'AO' Level in the lower sixth and that was heavy on Shakespeare and 'the classics' - I thoroughly enjoyed it (despite being in a science/maths stream for 'A' Level) - probably because I was 16 rather than 13 when first exposed to Prospero, Cleopatra et al. It awoke an interest in books/literature that I've had ever since.

If you think that the RSC at Stratford is elitist rubbish, then that's your prerogative - but don't tell the young people who packed out Hamlet a couple of years ago - they may have gone in to see David Tennant (who was indeed a true star), but they came out talking about the play and nothing else - and asking when they could come back for more.

[anthro-nerd]

Mum used to read shakespeare to us and explain the stories, we loved it, it's all so magical. I've been to watch Taming of the Shrew (hilarious) and A Midsummer Night's Dream at an open air theatre - which really was magical. The play is set to work perfectly with the sun setting, when started at the right time. It was truly incredible.