Shakespeare and Me

Love is a babe: then might I not say so,
To give full growth to that which still doth grow.


Shakespeare--Sonnet 115

Having not seen any new films lately that have inspired me to write, I'll focus instead on the past, say Renaissance England.

This semester I have been blessed with teaching literature for the first time. Up until now, I've only been teaching grammar and essays, and while I do enjoy teaching these--odd for me to say considering how much I hated studying grammar in school--I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching literature. Granted, since this is my first semester to teach it, I don't truly believe that I've done the best job, although my students have been turning in some wonderful papers, but I do believe they have been learning.

However, it seems I have been subconsciously leading them to Shakespeare. Yes, when I planned my syllabus, I knew Shakespeare would come near the end of my semester; but what I didn't know is that I would enjoy teaching him as much as I have. After all, Shakespeare and I haven't always seen eye-to-eye.

One of my earliest experiences with Shakespeare was Romeo & Juliet. This first reading occurred in junior high. I didn't get it. Of course, that's not to say I didn't understand the language. I knew what was happening in the play, not everything, but enough to know that the entire play takes place over the course of three days. Three days. That's one day for Romeo to lament his unrequited love for Rosaline and subsequently see and fall in love with Juliet. Okay.... that's almost believable.

The second day has the couple marrying, Tybalt killing Mercutio, Romeo killing Tybalt, which of course leads to Romeo's banishment. Wow! These characters don't believe in wasting time.

And on the third day, Romeo and Juliet have an early morning love-making session--despite Juliet being torn between her love for her cousin, Tybalt, and her love for her new husband--, Romeo is banished, Juliet takes a sleeping draft and becomes a sleeping beauty, Romeo believes she's dead (as does everyone else) and goes back to Verona to kill himself, Juliet wakes to find her husband dead, takes his knife and kills herself. The end.

Now, my timing may be off. While writing the above, I feel I may have missed a day in there somewhere. Nevertheless, to my young mind such extreme passions seemed illogical, unbelievable, and just plain stupid. Who in their right mind would do this, any of it? It's all utter madness! Madness, I say!

Romeo & Juliet was not the best introduction to Shakespeare, at least not for me. Not until a couple of years later, in high school, did my fascination and understanding of Shakespeare began to grow. Theatre, Shakespeare's kingdom, forever changed my perspective of that poet who couldn't write a simple, easily read sentence to save his life. During my sophomore year in high school I auditioned for One-Act--every year, schools compete against each other by delivering their best one-act plays--and that year our director decided to adapt Macbeth into a one-act play for us to perform. (We ended up not performing Macbeth but that's another story.)

Maybe this is the "boy" coming out, but I loved the gore, the overwhelming guilt, the witches, the insanity of it all. Now that's a Shakespeare I can sink my teeth into. To this day, Macbeth remains my personal favorite (I've seen a version of Titus Andronicus, but that play is too violent and distant to appeal to my emotions).  Macbeth displayed human emotions I could understand, not to the extent that I shared Macbeth's motives, but they were at least understandable. The passion of love still escaped me. However, thanks to the Scottish Play, I was willing to give Romeo & Juliet another try.

Some of you may find what I'm about to write sacrilegious, but nevertheless it's the truth. Suffice it to say that I was once young, naive, and craving the passion of Romeo & Juliet. Baz Luhrmann's "eclectic" mess of a film, his MTV version some have called it, changed how I viewed Romeo & Juliet. After viewing his film, I got it.

Yes, the line delivery was not all that great. Yes, Shakespeare's language gets lost in the rapid cuts, dizzying shots, and screaming, but that doesn't change the fact that for the first time I understood Romeo and Juliet's passion for each other. Of course, it probably helped that I was feeling the first stirrings of passion myself. Around the time the film came out, so did I. At least, I came out to myself. Denied love was something I could relate to as I started crushing on guys from afar. Always looking, nothing more. Being forced to hide a part of myself, like the two star-crossed lovers, was definitely something I could relate to. So it seemed, I just had to wait for the right time to get Shakespeare's best expression of love... from what I've read so far.

And now, jumping ahead to today, I'm showing another film version of a Shakespearean play to my students. No, I'm not showing a version of Macbeth, although in another semester I will show the recent PBS version starring Patrick Stewart (it is the definition of "awesome"!). I will be showing Kenneth Branagh's ambitious and robust, full-length version of Hamlet.

I came to truly respect Hamlet when I took a graduate class entirely devoted to what many consider Shakespeare's masterpiece--the other one up for the top spot in critical circles is King Lear, but I have yet to read or see that one yet. I truly wish I could devote an entire semester to this play, but my students are not up to that level yet. Maybe in a few years; plus, there's another class I'd love to teach first: an entire class on the Harry Potter series, but that's for another post. Going so deep into the play was an exhausting and liberating experience. It was amazing to see passages I'd thought incomprehensible suddenly burst into understanding. I only hope I can reveal the beauties to my students. I know I won't reach all of them, but it'll be worth it to reach one or two, or at the very least light the spark that will fuel the fire of curiosity for years to come. Like me, many of them may just need time to appreciate the wonders held within these works of art.

The light started to come on in some of their heads when I introduced to Shakespeare's language through a couple of his sonnets. It's amazing what you can do with a well-placed curse word and a bawdy image to bring forth understanding. I always find it funny when students realize the rather humorous and sexual nature of Shakespeare's writings. In their minds, they can't equate the stuffiness of Shakespeare with humor and sexuality. That he made dirty jokes blows their minds!

Dirty jokes aside, I cant wait to see how they react to the rest of the play. My journey has been fun and fulfilling. I hope it can be for them as well.

And blest are those
Whose blood and judgement are co-meddled
That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger
To sound what stop she pleases. Give me that man
That is not passion's slave and I will wear him
In my heart's core--ay, in my heart of heart--
As I do thee.

Hamlet-Act 3, Scene 2