Why Shakespeare?
Written by Susan Severson
After graduating from college, I took a job at a small international boarding school in Kansas. Upon arrival, I found that almost half of my students were from China. Many of the foreign students were attending the school in order to gain enough proficiency in English to attend University in America.
It didn’t take very long for me to find out that English Literature was their least favorite class. I could completely understand—math, science, music…these were all subjects that could be understood even with a language barrier. In fact, there was more than just a language barrier—I was stunned on an almost daily basis at small little cultural references that just didn’t translate. As the year went on, my fondness for my students grew—so it was with a little trepidation that I announced that we would be tackling a Shakespeare play next.
“Why Shakespeare?!?”
”Please, Mrs. S! Can we please read something else?”
”Even the American students are afraid to read Shakespeare!”
There was one student in particular, (he had taken the American name, Benjamin) that, despite his best efforts, always struggled with the literature that we read. He’d retreat to his dorm room and build custom computers during his off-time. He needed a special tutor to come in from the local college for his math and science as he had moved beyond what the school could offer him. Oh how it vexed him to be having difficulties in an area of academics!
With encouragement and slow-going persistence, we began Romeo and Juliet. I was amazed to see that, as each act progressed, the groans and complaints slowly fell away as the kids became immersed in the story. I loved seeing Benjamin’s circular glasses slide to the end of his nose as he bent forward to read his lines. After Act III, he stopped at my desk after class and simply said: “I see now, Mrs. S. It is music with words.”
It was the beat of the play that moved him. The musical quality of the iambic pentameter found in the soliloquies. The passion of the lovers. The humanness of the caregivers. The absolutely unique way that The Bard could finesse the English language to do his bidding. It was all of it. Benjamin wasn’t brought to love literature because he was fed pulp fiction and given a lollipop. He grappled with something difficult and came out the other side wiser and more confident in his own ability to perceive beauty.
Benjamin headed off to MIT the following year, and I like to think that maybe, on his off-time from building computers, he went to his dorm room to read Shakespeare.
About Susan Severson
Susan Severson is a wannabe saint, a homeschool slogger, a sometimes-but-wants-to-be-all-the-time writer, and a mother to four little rapscallions. Prayers are welcome. She resides in Crosby, MN.
About Well-Read Mom
In Well-Read Mom, women read more and read well. Our hope is to deepen the awareness of meaning hidden in each woman’s daily life. We long to elevate the cultural conversation and revitalize reading literature from books. If you would like us to help you select worthy reading material, we invite you to join and read along. We are better together! For information on how to start or join a Well-Read Mom group visit our website wellreadmom.com
