How to teach: English - Chris Curtis 2019

Demystifying the language
How to teach shakespeare

The hardest part of teaching Shakespeare is the language barrier. There’s no getting away from the fact that it is alien to students. You can dress it up and be positive and say that they will understand it in time, but that doesn’t really address the problem. One of my favourite lessons involves spelling out why the language is so rich and different and how Shakespeare’s plays are scripted so differently to other playwrights’.

The starting point is the context. I get students to imagine a theatrical world without fancy costumes, special effects or stage curtains. Within such a simplified context, what is going to be the most important thing in the play? The answer is usually interesting plots, likeable/dislikeable characters and interesting ideas. Then we explore what you’d do as a playwright to make the audience understand the setting. After a bit of time, we get to the point where they realise that the language would have had a bigger function. It is the reason why all the characters refer to the setting within the dialogue. I rarely enter my house saying, ’I am home and the heating isn’t on to protect me from the chill of such a cold night as this.’ The language has to set the tone, show the characters’ feelings, interest the audience and paint the scene for them. That’s why it is so poetic.

At this point, I usually get students to compare the phrase ’I love you’ with any romantic monologue from one of Shakespeare’s plays. This enables students to see what he is doing. They understand why the language is so detailed. I then get students to construct their own Shakespearean speech. We start off with a simple phrase:

1 Will you marry me?

2 I do not want to be your friend.

3 You are a liar.

4 He is dead.

5 There has been a murder.

In groups or pairs, they have to improve their phrase in a Shakespearian manner. We build it up in stages. After each one, students share their updated version. Take ’You are a liar’.

Stage 1: Pimp up words

You are a deceiver.

Stage 2: A list

You are a cold, callous, careful deceiver.

Stage 3: Body metaphors

You are a cold, callous, careful deceiver whose eyes paint mysteries.

Stage 4: An unusual simile

You are a cold, callous, careful deceiver whose eyes paint mysteries. You smile like a man in death.

Stage 5: Repetition

You are a cold, callous, careful deceiver whose eyes paint mysteries. You smile like a man in death, like a man in life, like a man in doubt.

Stage 6: A reference to a historical event

You are a cold, callous, careful deceiver whose eyes paint mysteries. You smile like a man in death, like a man in life, like a man in doubt. As Cassius once spoke to Caesar’s friends, you whisper sweet poison in the ears of others.

Stage 7: A reference to a myth

You are a cold, callous, careful deceiver whose eyes paint mysteries. You smile like a man in death, like a man in life, like a man in doubt. As Cassius once spoke to Caesar’s friends, you whisper sweet poison in the ears of others. There’s no barrier to your deception, and even Icarus couldn’t reach your destiny.

Stage 8: Make it sound Elizabethan

Thou art a cold, callous, careful deceiver whose eyes paint mysteries. Thou smileth like a man in death, like a man in life, like a man in doubt. As Cassius once spoke to Caesar’s friends, thine voice whispers sweet poison in the ears of others. There’s no barrier to thine deception and even Icarus couldn’t reach thine destiny.

OK, it is unlikely to receive any awards, but it gets the message across: Shakespeare’s writing is incredibly dense, rich and multilayered. Students assume that you should be able to understand every line instantaneously; in fact, you can’t. I often take my Arden version of Romeo and Juliet to school and work through it line by line, reading and rereading the text. If we present a simplified solution to reading Shakespeare, we are neglecting the richness of the text. I like using this activity to show them just how deeply rich the writing is, but it also helps students to understand that there are hundreds of references and allusions that they must appreciate in order to grasp the text fully. Spell out the ingredients and students are able to tell if the text needs further unpicking and research.