Friday, 6 December 2013
my position on Shakespeare
I understand why the school thinks that it is important to study Hamlet. It has real life issues and can teach us a lot of life lessons. On the other hand I have been studying Shakespeare since grade eight and I have hated it every year. I think that it is completely over analyzed and teaches students to think too much about certain subjects. Our school system teaches us to make things so much more complicated than they need to be. Is it possible that the author of any story didn't mean for the blue curtains to represent sorrow and that they were actually just blue? Life doesn't need to be so complicated all the time and I feel that although Shakespeare does have more complexity to it than most literary works, it is still over thought. I disagree with the way that its been taught and shoved down my throat for so many years. I think that there are many other books that can teach better life lessons than Shakespeare that can be more easily related to our lives. Schools just have gotten to the point where its become routine to do Shakespeare in EVERY English class I have been in since the seventh grade. I get the point. So does everyone else, he spoke in old English and used metaphors. I'm over it. I shouldn't have to learn a new language in order to get a good mark. If I wanted to get marked on a language I am not familiar with I wouldn't have dropped French the second I could. Again I do think that there are some benefits of reading Shakespeare, he is very talented and eloquent, however I think it should not be studied at the depth that we have been for so long. I think the point for reading his plays is to have general knowledge of it and understand different times and literary devices used. But again, there are better ways we can apply our learning's in school to life than Shakespeare. I think it is over analyzed and that it is given a bit to much credit. I don't find it to be as amazing as everyone says it to be. Yes it is written well and he does have talent, but in my opinion-not as much as everyone else says he does.
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So C-Money, I get your point but I don’t really agree with you. In my eyes youth are getting dumber. What would the students read in your opinion? And when would any of those students ever read anything by Shakespeare? Never! And that’s why we are forced to read it at least once in school. Yeah maybe we read it too often but that’s just school. Analyzing Shakespeare teaches us how to use our brains to look at something closely. This could be useful in lots of areas of adult life.
ReplyDeleteBefore you can say you hate something you have to at least read it one time so you can make up your opinion about it. I think it is important to read it in school, so when people talk about it when you are out of school you are not standing next to them and have no clue what they are talking about. You think back on your lovely school time and remember Mr. Hurley talking about it. Or you watch your favorite series on TV and they say” to thine own self be true” you know what they are referring to. Reading Shakespeare reflects high standard of education. We should be proud of being so educated.
And yes, while I agree that analysing is annoying and maybe too much, that’s what school is for. If you learn something, you should learn it in full and not only part of it. School teaches us how to take a deeper look at some things! It is going to be very useful in many jobs.