As finals season approaches, a stroll through the English wing might yield a traumatic sight for some and a nostalgic one for others: students gathered in circles, sometimes wearing ridiculous medieval costumes, pouring their hearts and souls into their versions of scenes from some of Shakespeare’s most famous plays.
As an essential part of Saratoga High’s English education, Shakespeare’s works are taught every year; freshmen puzzle over “Romeo and Juliet,” sophomores struggle with “Julius Caesar,” juniors agonize over “Hamlet,” and seniors in AP Literature and English 12 analyze “Macbeth” and “Othello.”
Although Shakespeare may often seem difficult and painfully outdated to teens — an anachronistic relic that ought to be replaced with modern literature — Shakespeare’s essential role in English curricula is well deserved and must be maintained.
To remove Shakespeare from the curriculum would be to ignore his massive and immeasurable impact on both literature and the English language as a whole. He produced 38 surviving plays and over 200 poems in his lifetime. Today, over 400 years after his death, Shakespeare is projected to still be the most produced playwright. He pioneered the use of different themes within a single work, blending comedy and tragedy in ways that are still mimicked today. Shakespeare intertwined romance and tragedy in an unprecedented fashion, setting the stage for the next 400 years of literary development.
Shakespeare also molded the modern English language, creating over 1,700 words throughout his career. Common phrases used colloquially in everyday language, like, “without rhyme or reason” or “I haven’t slept a wink,” all find their roots in Shakespeare’s work. Along with adding to the language, Shakespeare was instrumental in standardizing English by creating commonly used structure and syntax.
Despite his influence on our language, the outdated words and phrases Shakespeare uses can frustrate students. The verbiage is often archaic, the concepts and ideas shrouded behind linguistic tricks and literary flourishes. This difficulty is exactly the reason Shakespeare is integral to the English curriculum. Even beyond the ideas that he expresses, Shakespeare’s import comes from the fact that understanding his work requires students to develop decoding and problem solving skills that are useful in every aspect of life.
When confronted with a particularly challenging bit of word play, students are forced to think deeper in order to unpack it. Other books in the English curriculum, like Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” from English 11 Honors, are challenging by virtue of their ideas; Shakespeare is challenging by virtue of his words. This distinct type of obstacle challenges students to learn a different skill set and instills within them the grit necessary to tackle difficult problems. With time, students, like me, can come to find satisfaction, and perhaps even enjoyment, in deciphering the layers of complexity.
Yet, the greater reason to study Shakespeare extends beyond a recognition of his impacts and the critical thinking benefit to students. It is essential, as a society, to maintain and develop a literary canon, or a collection of books and works that we have all read. A literary canon allows us to draw upon shared references and ideas that, as a society and a culture, we can debate upon and learn from. Shakespeare’s place in the canon of literature is indisputable, and teaching this canon is imperative to continue to build a cohesive culture.
Shakespeare’s impacts on the modern world, the rigor needed to grasp his work and his essential place in the literary canon ought to preserve his place in English curricula for decades to come.
