14. Well, Old Boy, Let's Dance!

Love of Shakespeare makes me bring up the next point of interest: Shakespeare. Plays might not fit into mass media immediately (since they are a performing art), but when they are published into books, suddenly they can be massively distributed. Maybe not as much in Shakespeare's day, but in our own those things are everywhere, as evidenced by high school English classes.

What does Shakespeare offer the world that is not present in other works of literature? I suppose you can find all the pieces of Shakespeare in other pieces, but the language of Shakespeare stands above so much common literary language. Even Jane Austen referenced Shakespeare as her character, Miss Marianne Dashwood, quotes, “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds...”

However, brilliant though Shakespeare is, we must realize that there is good beyond his tragedies. There is a reason that the youth as a whole in America are depressed. Have you looked at one of their high school reading lists recently? Tragedies bleed onto the page, and while “To be or not to be” may be the question, there are so many other questions to ponder. Introduce the students to the comedies! Make them see the action. Shakespeare was meant to be performed, not read in stale classrooms by stale teachers. (I say this, but my own teachers were incredibly interesting and made the works intriguing, but I have heard many students express their hatred of Shakespeare for similar reasons.)

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