A Look At What Makes Shakespeare Worthwhile

Shakespeare’s work is encountered by Sherwood students for at least three of their high school years, but why does MCPS devote so much time to this one guy?

Compiled by Alex Porter ’13

The Warrior recently had a chance to catch up with some Shakespeare enthusiasts in the building to ask them: Why Shakespeare?

What about students who will not be English majors?

No other writer peers as deeply into our souls as William Shakespeare.  The literary scholar Harold Bloom notes that Shakespeare reads us more fully than we can read him.  This mysterious playwright delves into the very essence of our humanity, poses questions about our life philosophies, and promises that our full attention will be generously rewarded.  Reading Shakespeare is a life affirming experience.  – Debbie Reier, Shakespear enthusiast, AP Literature and Honors English 12 Teacher

If students don’t like reading the plays, why would they want to see one?

Shakespeare did not write his plays to be read. He meant them to be acted, to be watched, to be listened to. He meant for his audience to interact with the play, and become involved. The amount of puns and double entendres that he put into his plays that he meant for the ‘underlings’ or the common people seeing his plays actually is a good representation of high schooler humor. Someone who is well versed in Shakespeare’s works once told me, “if it sounds dirty, it probably is.” I didn’t think that Shakespeare was allowed to be funny, but once I started looking for his jokes, I couldn’t stop finding them. – Shakespeare Club President Anne Carroll (Class of 2013)

Are the plays always so depressing?

I teach “The Taming of the Shrew” because it is one of the only (if not THE only) Shakespearean comedy students may read at Sherwood.  I enjoy Shakespeare’s use of wordplay, particularly in the scene when Petruchio and Kate meet for the first time.  To me, it is a lighthearted comedy with a happy ending (no death).  – Lynette Evans, Honors English 10 and 11 Teacher