I am often asked "why do we study Shakespeare? He is dead and gone and does not matter to today's students." Those who instruct "today's students" are beholden to impart knowledge, foster learning, and open those student's eyes to the larger world. In my estimation, no one before or since William Shakespeare has done these things quite as well. Consider:

 

• Shakespeare was a master and originator of the English language – He created thousands of words and phrases

  • WORDS - Gloomy, majestic, lonely, laughable, hurry, radiance, generous, rant, critical, courtship, undress, Assassin/ate, clangor, watchdog, and thousands more.

  • PHRASES - Break the ice, laughing stock, Greek to me, heart on sleeve, fair play, and many more.

• Historical Observations – Shakespeare wrote about: the rich and the poor; the nobility and the working man; the religious and the profane. His observations of both the extraordinary and the ordinary helps us learn about and understand history more deeply.

• Social and Political commentary – Shakespeare took political and social traditions and examined them - even ridiculed them - publicly. This allows viewers and readers to make up their own minds about issues ranging from the roles of women in society, the supernatural, and the changing place of religion in the social fabric of the time. By examining the word of someone dead for four centuries we can gauge his perspective on the same issues today.

• Master Storyteller – Shakespeare's work has brought us rich and intricate plots, themes and characters. Shakespeare's plots are clever, convoluted, and complicated - this flies in the face of the simplistic plots and morals that were prevalent an the 16th century. His use of moral/ethical ideas, and themes are often captivating and relevant today as they were in the 16th century.To learn about Shakespeare's characters and their imperfections is to study human nature. There are recurrent themes across the spectrum of his plays include supernatural elements and magical potions, explorations of sin and heaven and hell, appearance versus reality, greed and lust, and violent actions resulting in violent outcomes (These violent delights have violent ends - Friar Lawrence Romeo and Juliet, II.vi)

• Impact on the theatre – refined genres, staging, multiple characters, the role of the chorus/narrator, soliloquys, and what can be accomplished on stage, the uses of "play-within-a-play" for dramatic purpose.

 

 

SHAKESPEARE IN MY CLASSES

GRADE 9                                                                                      GRADE 10

A Midsummer Night's Dream                                          Romeo and Juliet
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GRADE 11                                                                                    

Othello                                                                             Macbeth                                                                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GRADE 12                                                                            LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION 12

                           Hamlet                                               The Taming of the Shrew

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                                                                                                                                           King Lear