Source: http://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/movie/movie_poster/romeo
-and-juliet-1968/large_t52FqTfIttKQjdPxd6LxJ6UpVkv.jpg
Having once been in my son's shoes, twenty and more years ago, I can understand why he finds it difficult trying to appreciate Shakespeare. We have long moved on from the Early Modern English the plays were written in, and so it does take a lot more effort in trying to understand it. Usually when one picks up literature, they see it as a means of entertainment. A 14 year old can hardly call Shakespeare entertainment when he has to continue resorting to the dictionary to understand the language. A paraphrased translation helped a little, but any Shakespearean fanatic will tell you it is just not enough. So of course, I encouraged him to read both. I mean what good is Shakespeare when you can't say "To bait fish withal". "I'll use it as fish bait" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
However, I had to agree with DS, albeit reluctantly, that R&J should perhaps not be taught in schools. He could not find the relevance to his world no matter how much he tried. Schools often pick R&J as an introductory text to Shakespeare's works, believing that it would be the one students would most relate to. After all, Romeo and Juliet are about their age and madly in love, and that's something they can identify with, right?
Eh... not so much according to DS. He pulled out their ages- Romeo was perhaps 16 and older and Juliet was 13 years old. Therefore Romeo became a pedophile. He was in love with Rosaline bfeore falling for Juliet, so did that make it love or lust at first sight? He after all had a sickening penchant for pubescent girls. Capulet dictated Juliet on her love life and DS threw up his hands calling him a despot and a misogynist tyrant who did not believe in female empowerment. Sampson was chauvinistic and had urges to rape, Romeo was a murderer, Juliet was just too young, a three day affair- 6 deaths, the play was sexist and Shakespeare would have been vilified as a plagiarist today for never crediting Bardello for his inspiration... Argh! I almost had me tearing my hair out of my head, answering his questions.
The argument that this is how it was five hundred years ago was only met with how is it relevant now? Why am I studying this? Society has changed for the better. Leave the past in the past. And for godsakes, move on!
I sat for a long while after that, trying to figure out a way to help him appreciate Shakespeare. It was only then I understood I could never really do that. I had no right whatsoever to force Shakespearean literature down his throat. He would only barf it up again. Interestingly, I also remembering groaning at Shakespeare at his age. My love for the ole Bard began in my adulthood. I realized then that my son wasn't acting so out of character after all.
Shakespeare was a business man, first and foremost. He recognized he had a talent for writing and found a lucrative potential in theater. So he did what any person would do. He put quill to paper and made a hell lot of money. His audience was primarily men, drunk men, so it was inevitable that his plays were going to be sexist. It still happens today. Put a group of hammered men together and watch the sexist jokes fly. Well, usually.
So is my son unappreciative of Shakespeare? I suppose not. If I'm not going to have my 14 year old son read Fifty Shades of Grey today, why would I expect a 14 year old to study it in class five hundred years later only because the language has suddenly become archaic? Cringe. I know. Not the best equivalent.
In ten more years though, when he is adult enough to understand the low brow humor of Shakespeare, I am certain he will begin to enjoy Shakespearean literature. That is, when he finally becomes the target audience that Shakespeare had created his plays for.
For now, instead of Romeo & Juliet, give him a Shakespeare he probably might understand. Like Macbeth or Hamlet. I have a suspicion he would probably relate better to those. After all, aren't their themes more rampant in the movies and this digital game age? Ahh... but I guess that is an argument best left for another post.
