“Percy Bysshe Shelley… Vincent Van Gogh… John Keats… I don’t know who these people are, but the librarian tells me they are certified geniuses. They are in the canon, she says. I picture the geniuses fired through the air at a circus. They wear helmets of course. They land in the net and jump, and everyone claps, glad they have not broken their necks…. Mary Somerville, mathematician… I’m surprised to find a woman genius. She’s not in the canon, you know, the librarian says…women geniuses were probably not fired from cannons because in those days they all wore skirts. I see London! I see France! The men would tease when they saw her underwear.” (from Zsuzsi Gartner’s All the Anxious Girls on Earth, from the story The Tragedy of Premature Death Among Geniuses)
It is important to note the conflict of opinions of respected intellectuals when it comes to Shakespeare. (I think it can be a challenge to teach Shakespeare, and to engage students, and it’s important for students to feel that it’s not invalid to dislike the work if they can explain why. Disliking a work, and proving it through the text can be a form of engagement too)
“The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he is really very good- in spite of all the people who say he is very good.” – John Dryden, 1631-1700
“Shakespeare is a good raft whereon to float securely down the stream of time; fasten yourself to that and your immortality is safe” George Henry Lewes, (1817-1878)
“Shakespeare is crude, immoral, vulgar, and senseless” –Tolstoy, (1828-1910)
“Shakespeare is a drunken savage with some imagination whose plays please only in London and Canada” Voltaire (1694-1778)
Homework: What Shakespeare plays have you read in the past? What was your reaction to them? Did you like or dislike them and why? Give at least three reasons to support your position
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