Howest Art Thou Doingith Today
Fighting ‘till death, vampires verses werewolves, and sappy love stories are what fill the pages of books which are flying off today’s book store shelves. Unlike what was written back in the early 1600’s, works which include words such as ‘thou’ and ‘art’. Few today can understand the wording of the old English writing used by William Shakespeare, leading everyone to the conclusion his works should be eliminated from high school English curriculums. Back in the 1600’s, when Shakespeare was writing, he used much different language than is used today. Reading old English writing is very hard for people in today’s society because that type of language is no longer used in every day talk. People who have more experience on this earth (they don’t like to be called old, so we say they have “more experience”) may have an easier time reading and comprehending this language, seeing as they have had more time to experience different types of language.
As for young high school students, they have not had time to learn how to decipher the wording of this language, thus it is too hard for students to comprehend what is going on. Therefore, it is pointless to keep him in the curriculum because students won’t learn from words they can’t follow. William Shakespeare wrote over thirty-five different plays. From the few of those plays most high school students have read, those students have received the “low down” on all of his other plays. They all include the same plot: forbidden love, a death, rise or wanting of power, and supernatural interference. Since his writings are one of those, “you see it once you’ve seen it all”.
For example, Macbeth, the man who rose to power and kept it for a little bit, then died. Then there is Hamlet, the man who gained power by uncovering the secret to his fathers death, then again, in the end everyone died. Therefore, there is no reason to put emphasis on reading his works in the high school English curriculum, because it simply is a waste of time and effort to try to put his redundant plots into teenagers’ brains (unless you want to tell teenagers it is acceptable to go behind their parents back and do things they don’t approve of). Between not comprehending the wording, and every story using the exact same plot with different characters, what is the point of keeping the works of Shakespeare in the schools curriculum? There is not a valid point in keeping a unit that no student can understand or retain any information from; therefore William Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets should be cut completely from every high school’s curriculum.
