Thursday, September 24, 2015

Shakespeare Ponderings


Ever since I began teaching at this school, English II (10th grade) has studied Julius Caesar. When I was first assigned English II, I hated the play. I'm not a "words for the sake of words" person (Mercutio's Queen Mab speech feels like a tiresome detour) so a lot of the pontificating seems overlong to me. Plus it's another bunch of dudes; Portia and Calpurnia get some words that end up not making any difference to the story. And I could go on for pages and pages about how insulting Portia's characterization is - the way she attests to how much better she is than other women, and part of her justification for that is based on who the men in her life are. And then a few scenes later she's so nervous and upset that she can't think straight.

This year we got parallel-text copies of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Part of me wants to teach that instead of Julius Caesar (given that it is expected that we WILL study a Shakespearean play in English II - I would not be allowed to use Antigone or a novel instead). The main reason is that we don't teach ANY of Shakespeare's comedies. The closest we get is the first half of Romeo and Juliet in English I. So students finish our program and graduate having been /told/ that Shakespeare also wrote comedies, but not really having been exposed to them. And I feel like they end up thinking that Shakespeare is all intrigue and murder and angst and forgetting that there's more.


However.

Julius Caesar looks at the ideas of leadership and power and the responsibility of citizens when government starts going wrong. (Or when you think it does.) And I tend to think that those concepts are of greater significance than romantic love and mistaken identities and whimsical magic. Nor are you going to get me to believe that romance is more relevant to teens than "what do you do when the people in charge are becoming bad leaders?"

Additionally, the play makes a fantastic follow-up to Animal Farm (which we also study), where the 'lower' animals let the pigs assert more and more control until they end up getting fed less and having to work harder than they did when they were owned by humans.

I guess I'm wondering about the relative value of the thematic messages in Midsummer and Caesar. I feel like the latter is much stronger, but that may only be because I haven't taught the former! So, to those of you who've taught A Midsummer Night's Dream, what do you see as its enduring messages, and why are they so important?

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Clix,

This is Mary from DialMyCalls. I wanted to followup on my last email.
We, at DialMyCalls, love your site and were wondering if you offer any
kind of advertising options. Possibly sponsored posts or banner ads.
Thousands of teachers are already using our DialMyCalls service. We
think DialMyCalls would be the perfect match with your audience. We
could even give away our service for free if you wanted to
run some kind of promotion or giveaway.

Either way we are up for anything you have available, please let me know.

I look forward to hearing back from you,
Mary

Unknown said...

christmas card

messages ideas



2019happy new year quotes

Clipping Solutions said...


I have visited many blogs! And found much good Knowledge. This site is one of that site. Thank you so much.
Footwear photo editing services
Background Removal Service
clipping path service


ClixHimself said...

hey! @ClixHimself is willing to buy your twitter name @clix for over $1000! If you could dm him that would be great! :)

Leona Knight said...

I was diagnosed of Herpes 2 years ago and I have tried all possible means to get the cure but all to no avail, until I saw a post in a health forum about a Herbal Doctor(Dr Akhigbe) who prepares herbal medicine to cure all kind of diseases including Herpes, at first i doubted, if it was real but decided to give him a trial, when I contacted Dr Akhigbe through his Email: drrealakhigbe@gmail.com he guided me and prepared a herbal medicine and sent it to me via courier Delivery service,when I received the package (herbal medicine) He gave me instructions on how to consume it,I started using it as instructed and I stopped getting outbreaks and the sores started vanishing, could you believe I was cured of this deadly virus within two to three weeks and noItices changes in my body. Days of using this REMEDY,couldn't believe the healing at first until I see it as my HERPES  get cleared like magic Dr Akhigbe also use his herbal medicine to cure diseases like, HIV, HERPES, CANCER, ALS, CHRONIC DISEASE, HEART DISEASE, LUPUS, ASTHMA,  DIABETES, MARBURG VIRUS,  HEPATITIS A AND B.ECZEMA, BACK PAIN, EXTERNAL INFECTION ,ASTHMA, MALARIA, DENGUE FEVER, BACTERIA DIARRHEA, RABIES, OBESITY, PROGERIA,  MENINGITIS, ARTHRITIS, EPILEPSY,STROKE, LYMPHEDEMA, GALLSTONE, PULMONARY HYPERTENSION, PENIS  EJACULATION, UTIVE, LCERA  HPV, IMPOTENCE, DENGUE, COELIAC DISEASE, OSTEOPOROSIS, RHEUMATISM, THYROID, COLD & FLU,KIDNEY DISEASE,ACME. TOXOPLASMOSISM  ERYSIPELAS. etc Contact this great herbal Doctor today the father of herbal root cure. via Email: drrealakhigbe@gmail.com or whatsapp him  +2349010754824   and get cured permanently He is real..website:      https:drrealakhigbe.weebly.com

Ovrkast said...

Stfu

CRKB IT SOLUTION PVT LTD said...

Always look forward for such nice post & finally I got you. Really very impressive post & glad to read this.
Web Development Company in Greater Noida
Software development company In Greater noida


Homoeopathic treatment for Psoriasis in greater noida
Kidney Disease Homoeopathy Doctor In Greater Noida

CRKB IT SOLUTION PVT LTD said...


Best content & valuable as well. Thanks for sharing this content.
Approved Auditor in DAFZA
Approved Auditor in RAKEZ
Approved Auditor in JAFZA


i heard about this blog & get actually whatever i was finding. Nice post love to read this blog
Approved Auditor in DMCC
Virgin Linseed Oil BP

CRKB IT SOLUTION PVT LTD said...

Good luck & keep writing such awesome content.
Best dental clinic in Faridabad

best child dentist in greater Noida

Post a Comment