Shakespeare at School

It’s Monday and you are walking into your English class wondering what you are going to be doing today when your teacher tells you to pick a read aloud part. For what you may ask? Well, for Shakespeare’s famous Romeo and Juliet of course!

Shakespeare’s work is used everyday in classrooms across America, and is easily one of the most memorable parts of high school English class. Though the memory isn’t always necessarily a fun one for everyone.

Some students hate reading lengthy plays with copious amounts of characters, because they can be genuinely hard to understand at times.

One of the hardest parts for students reading Shakespeare’s writing is not just the old English, but relating it to their lives. This leaves students not only bored but confused with what they’re supposed to be taking away from the works of Shakespeare. 

Some people do actually enjoy reading Shakespeare even though it usually isn’t very popular amongst high school kids today.

When asking Sophomore Aniyah Conklin her thoughts on reading Shakespeare in school, she explained that writings like Romeo and Juliet were not too bad, but schools could always mix it up with something more modern.

Sophomore Rose Brown shared that Shakespeare’s writing is honestly hard to relate to and a lot of the time very hard to translate.

This is true for a lot of students experiencing the works of Shakespeare for the first time. Students often have a hard time relating and understanding the language of Shakespeare’s time, leading them to really dislike the stories.

Even though Shakespeare may not be for everyone, most students that go to MHS will end up reading his works at one point or another. They are truly inevitable, so try to enjoy them for what you can get out of them whether it’s a life lesson or a good nap.