I was excited to read a story in our local paper about the First Folio coming to South Carolina. Published in 1623, the First Folio is the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s works that includes 36 of his plays. It will be on display at USC from April 11 to May 1, 2016. I cannot wait to see it and yes, I know Shakespeare elicits groans from people of all generations. However, we would be hard-pressed to find another single writer whose works have as much importance.
Like anything else we learn in school, the single most important factor is the teacher. Our own experience with reading Shakespeare is linked to the person that helped you read it. Great teachers can, through masterful interpretation and discussion, make the words come alive. While not everyone is my own 10th grade English teacher (Hans Farnstrom) or Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, there are wonderful educators out there that have stayed committed to teaching Shakespeare.
I am happy to report that here at Pinewood, we are fans of the Bard. Our English Department currently teaches Romeo and Juliet in 8th Grade, Julius Caesar in 9th (the Honors classes read Midsummer Night’s Dream along with Julius Caesar), Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing in 10th grade, and Hamlet in 12th (AP Lit reads King Lear). Our teachers work tirelessly to make Shakespeare’s language, humor, and dramatic imagery all come alive through a deliberate study sometimes peppered with the use of film clips. It is a good formula.
However, it is important to not compromise the study of such influential works by a watering down of the plays or language. Publishers have now created idiomatic, translated versions or guidebooks like Shakespeare for Dummies. Reading Shakespeare in some sort of modern language form takes way the very benefit of the exercise, deciphering the humor or the tragedy through the original writing. It is an exercise that can help one’s brain to be more elastic much like the study of mathematics or language. To understand the writing of Shakespeare requires concentration and discipline. It requires some repetition. His writing is good for your mind. More importantly, it is good for your soul.
Yes, it is easier to have someone just paraphrase the stories, but that is not the point. Would we want to see Van Gogh’s Sunflowers drawn by someone else or listen to Beethoven in some sort of derived, techno form? Okay, maybe there are people out there that would. However, I would not like to count myself among that club and know that the masterful teachers in my school do not either. We want to honor the educational tradition of the liberal arts and embrace the future to come. If you have to use a program like No Sweat Shakespeare or No Fear Shakespeare then don’t bother reading it. The original language is magic, the stories mesmerizing, the characters are timeless. Shakespeare will never be for dummies. Let’s not deprive future generations of the laughter, the tears, the challenge, or the growth that can only be realized by reading Shakespeare in its original form.
Steve Mandell 