No more so than forcing them to learn anything else which originated in one culture or country.

(And Shakespeare has universal appeal and relevance -- people from all over the world can relate to his characters and themes.)

 

I think there's a danger in forcing Shakespeare on kids who are simply too young for it, though.

 

I didn't encounter the Bard until university (I went back at 30), and by then, having lived a lot of life, and having a more mature/receptive attitude toward education and the acknowledged "greats" of the canon, I was ready to enjoy his writing.

 

His knowledge of human nature and motivation -- indeed the richness of the whole human experience -- was (and arguably still is) unsurpassed.

He's VERY important to Western literature, culture and even our language -- Shakespeare is taught, and held in such high regard, for very good reasons.

 

I love going to watch a Shakespeare play.

 

 

Shaw, believe it or not, I've never seen performed. I think I might have read some in university (in getting an English Specialist's degree), but I don't recall any. (I know he's a very important playwright, but that must say something about this stature in relation to Shakespeare.)

 

 

 

nice quote from Shakespeare's play Julius Ceasar.

 

I wonder if Shake knew that the Pole star isn't a fixed star, but every now and than, another star is the north star.

If Shakespeare knew this, than it makes him more brilliant.

 

any way Shakespeare it is for me too.

 

You just got to love West End Story.

 

As for the implications of teaching Shakespeare; it's not so much whether he's taught as how he's taught. Whatever your agenda, you can probably find something in the complete works that's apposite. Shakespeare's vision encompassed all manner of characters - remember that when you cite 'Neither a borrower nor a lender be' that it was uttered by Polonius, a doddering old fool whose advice to Hamlet is invariably either innappropriate or wrong. Just because Shakespeare put words into the mouths of his characters it doesn't lend them moral authority, as anybody trying to unpick characters like Othello or Shylock from a PC perspective finds out pretty quickly.

 

 

Shakespeare can be enjoyed by children, though i never really appreciated him till years later, his sense of humour is amazing, and today we quote from Shakespeare more than we realise (what the dickens? give me some elbow room, for goodness sake, in my heart of hearts a fool's paradise is a foregone conclusion - there's the rub!)  - cultural authoritarianism in schools? it was all Greek to me -  i would say so, yes!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for confirming that. I was not that familiar with Shaw's works, but it seemed an odd match-up.

 

Shakespeare can be compared with the French trilogy of Moliere, Corneille and Racine.

 

 

But duelling Shaw and Shakespeare is like comparing Goya and Dali.