Each year, Sherwood students are required to study the many works of William Shakespeare. From Romeo and Juliet to Hamlet, the majority of advanced English classes devote a month or more of the school year to teaching and analyzing his plays. But why? What makes Shakespeare’s writing so important that it is being taught 400 years after it was written? Some say it’s the peak of English literature, while others argue it is outdated and overrated.

Pro: The Play’s The Thing

by Peyton Blumenfeld ‘22

Now I know that many students groan when they hear the name “Shakespeare,” but hear me out. Shakespeare’s a pretty cool dude. Ever heard of “love is blind” or “in a pickle?” Chances are you have, and believe it or not, you probably know more Shakespeare than you think. The titan of English literature coined thousands of words that we still use in the English language today.

Shakespeare may be difficult to understand, but shouldn’t we challenge ourselves? We ease our way into Shakespeare by starting off with the comedies in middle school, and then tackle his more complex tragedies in high school. This allows us to grow as readers and increase our capacity of understanding other literary works, because if you can read Shakespeare you can pretty much read anything. And if you look past the difficulty, you will realize that Shakespeare was a poetic genius who was able to capture the true feelings and thoughts of human beings like no other individual could. We are still able to relate to his characters, even after 400 years.

We’re exposed to his stories from such a young age anyways, from the countless adaptations and movies inspired by his work like The Lion King and 10 Things I Hate About You. His complex characters and intricate plots and themes are universal and will continue to stand the test of time. Plus, the best way to understand his plays is the way they were intended—to watch them. We must not forget that his works were essentially for entertainment. Instead of complaining about the complexity of the play, we should step back and revel in its narrative, characters, and complex themes through the art of reading and watching them to get the full experience.

Shakespeare may be long gone, but his works will live on forever in the hearts of people around the world. We continue to put on his plays, share his poems, and value the truths he has brought to us, because frankly we owe it to him to carry on his legacy.

Con: Something Is Rotten in the State of Shakespeare

by: Avery Prudenti ‘22

I have been assigned a Shakespeare play every year since 7th grade with the exception of junior year during virtual learning. Yet this year as a senior in AP Lit it is the first time that I believe I have truly comprehended the themes, characters, and plots of a play. Shakespeare is a complicated writer and the language in these plays is extremely difficult to understand. Unless teachers truly spend the time explaining the scenes one-by-one–which many don’t– a majority of students will not have much or any understanding of Shakespeare’s work.

Plays by Shakespeare should be something that is only taught to upperclassmen, to those who have a better ability to comprehend the language. Then students have the opportunity of actually learning from them, as opposed to teachers teaching it to an entire class that has no grasp on what is going on. Also, teaching Shakespeare only in students’ junior or senior years will reduce the repetition of being assigned multiple plays by him.

Let’s face it–the plays aren’t that amazing. Sure, they may have universal themes, but the characters, plots, and delivery often are no longer relevant. Just because something is old, does not mean that it is superior to modern creations. There are many present-day works that contain more complex characters and plot lines that have the ability to teach students more than these plays written 400 years ago.

In middle school, there was no appeal of reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 7th grade and As You Like It in 8th grade. And it wasn’t much better when we got to Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. Now as a senior, I can comprehend the plays much more and do relatively enjoy watching Hamlet with the captions on. The issue is that it took seven years for me to get to this point. Most underclassmen will not become engrossed in a play by Shakespeare like they may with more contemporary works. It’s time to stop assigning Shakespeare year after year in English classes.