When you were in high school, did you look forward to reading Shakespeare’s plays? If you were like me, then probably not. Teachers often struggle to teach their plays due to the language, complexity, and genre. Nevertheless, there is hope! After reading chapters 4 through 7 in Rex Gibson’s book, Teaching Shakespeare, I have so many ideas running through my mind of all the possibilities there are of teaching Shakespeare. I always found the language of the plays to be the biggest barrier from appreciating them, so I would like to share a tactic to help students have a better understanding of what they are reading. Point out Shakespeare’s use of repetition and ask students to flip to any page of the play that they are studying and find any repeating words, phrases, rhythms, and sounds(They may need to be refreshed on these concepts). Ask them to try different ways of speaking the lines, and how the repetition adds to the dramatic effect. By repeating the words aloud, the students gain insight into why Shakespeare uses repetition, and possibly into the words that they are reading(especially if they are unfamiliar with the word or phrase) (55-6). I hope you find this helpful and that your students will begin to understand and enjoy Shakespeare’s plays!
2 responses so far ↓
1 Delbert // Sep 24, 2006 at 1:13 pm
I’d agree that Shakespeare wasn’t the most inspiring experience for me in high school as well. And the biggest problem was the idea of evaluating the plays with fairly unimaginative analysis techniques rather than being immersed into the works in an engaging manner. The one approach Gibson shared that resonated with me was the idea outlining major parts of the plays using 10 pivotal lines, allowing students to at least have a roadmap of where the plays are heading and so that they could creatively interpret and breathe life into them for themselves.
2 EDLA 7550 » How can you help students understand the power of his language, appreciate the beauty of his speeches and recognize the universality of characters and themes in Shakespearean and contemporary discourses? // Sep 27, 2006 at 2:59 pm
[…] Delbert suggests an examination of the use of language as reflective of the Shakespearean and contemporary times. Such close language analysis is also reinforced through a practical application in the posts, Who Loves Shakespeare Now? and Much Ado about Shakespeare. The application in the former post is meant to help students to examine the ways in which literary devices such as repetition or rhyme, just to name but a few, can enhance the writer’s intent. The application recommended in the latter post focuses on the ways to make Shakespeare’s language more accessible to the student. […]