My Goodreads Review
rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is the first Shakespearean play I’ve read outside of an English class and its the first time I’ve realized why we read Shakespearean plays in English class - they’re so damn obvious once you get past the frilly olde English.
Shakespeare’s characters explicitly tell the reader the themes of the play in the first act or so. There’s little complexity to be unraveled.
Sure there are story twists and surprise encounters, but nothing that challenges your expectations or introduces new ideas. The twists and turns are shallow at best and more akin to those of a soap opera than a great novel.
The ‘complexity’ of Shakespeare lies in his metaphors, puns, and exquisite use of language alone. I found it enjoyable to listen to this banter while reading but it really only makes for great sentences, not great books.
Part of this literary shortcoming surely stems from the fact that Shakespeare’s plays are meant to be performed and not read. But that still doesn’t save Shakespeare from my criticism of using his plays in schools.
American schools should not rely on Shakespeare as much as they do. Sure its nice to introduce students to his creative use of language but how much will they really learn from the stories?
American students would be much better prepared for college and life were they exposed to books on great ideas. I’m talking about Plato, Ayn Rand, Asimov, Frank Herbert, and all the other great authors who base their books in ideas.
Too many American students see English class as the place they learn to “bullshit”. And rightly so. Give them books bereft of bold ideas and ask them to write powerful essays and you’re bound to get “bullshit”. Give them powerful books that engage their minds instead and you’ll find that suddenly they’re giving back bold ideas of their own.
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