How Teaching of Shakespeare at School Reflects Cultural Values - Term Paper Example

Topic and Section # of The English language is the most widely spoken language in the world today. The language has its history deep down the fifth century A.D. The tribes of Angles and Saxons often known as the Anglo-Saxons settled into Wales, Scotland and Ireland bringing with them a vocabulary of words, many of which are now part of modern English. The development of English took through three important phases. The first phase was the old English around the year 1100 in which many words were introduced from the German language. The second phase witnessed a huge development as many other languages contributed to the reserves of English words. It was the fourteenth century and the English language gained wide use though out the Britain but with the addition of many French words. (C, 2001) The biggest development however was due to advancements made in the pronunciation in the eighteenth century which took the English to the current modern English language. English got its own grammar, spellings and vocabulary and established as the standard language of Britain. This development was brought into shape when the first English dictionary was published in the year 1604. Now the English language is recognized as a global language and is considered a language full of literary heritage. Shakespeare never got revered or respected in his lifetime but he got good results of his work. No writer could boast of such a success or fame and no book could compare the brilliance of Shakespeare’s work. He was a legend who could be copied but we would never be able to see his parallel. His writings are honored by granting them in the literary canon as well as including them in the secondary school curriculum. Like all the other languages, the English language is actually the verbal expression of the culture it belongs to. Any particular language contains everything which belongs to its culture; it could in fact be called as a virtual embodiment of the culture. The insinuations of language being completely entangled in culture, in regards for language educating and language policy are important. Language teachers must teach their students on the cultural background enlightening them with the language usage, choose culturally apt teaching methods, and explore culturally dependant linguistic differences to encourage understanding instead of fallacies or chauvinism. Verbal communication policies must be devised used to create responsiveness and understandings of cultural differences, and written to incorporate the cultural standards of those being educated. (D C. , 2003) A language represents only what is present in the culture, this could be seen from the given example. The Latin language has no word for the female friend of a man because it was not possible to fathom man as an equal to woman and even the possibility of such a friendship seemed impossible. In the teaching system of schools and colleges, the teachers therefore must teach the children the cultural implications and the background of the language. Without understanding the cultural background, the language is only a collection of words which does not convey anything. This also distinguishes the position of language as the major driving force for the construction, display and transmission culture itself. (J, 2000) Students can study the cultural values of the language by its famous literary compositions as these give a true picture of the social and cultural values present in the society. And none of the books, poems, novels and plays could match the brilliance of Shakespeare’s plays that could ultimately be called as the uncrowned king of the literary canon. (D A. , 1991) Shakespeare’s works are now an inevitable part of teaching in the secondary school programs in England. This policy of teaching Shakespeare at this level certainly reflects the cultural values of the English values and also affects different social groups of the country. It is really hard enough to read Hamlet, it is very hard to read Joyce’s Ulysses – It’s confusing just talking about these, unless this is really ingrained in the teaching styles or this is the kind of thing you live and breathe.  But for all of them who do live and breathe it, it’s quite the treasure to be proud of. As a writer and artist, Shakespeare was affected by his surroundings and the traditional values, beliefs, politics and gestures of his daily life which permeated his work. The Shakespeare Dialogues put forward the notion that further discourse between high school and college teachers and among students at all the levels can give a positive result for both. Inclusion of Shakespearean plays enlightens the students about the cultural background of English. (History of the English Language) Although it is not a complete solution for the cultural divide that identifies literary instructions within the high school and college, it can broaden the scope straight away and hone the center of our continuing discussion about the place of Shakespeare in the tutoring of young people. The reasons for teaching Shakespearean plays vary in reasons but it is acknowledged by almost all the teachers that Shakespeare can confer cultural capital across class lines. Shakespeare should be taught for the same reasons Bible and homer are taught: they are cultural inevitabilities, codes that are identified with the power class yet which are accessible to plain secondary school students. (V, 2004) During the 1990s the plays of Shakespeare have, above the works of all other literary figures, become increasingly dominant in the English curriculum of secondary schools in England and Wales, so that now all pupils between the ages of 11 and 16 have to study and be tested upon at least two plays by Shakespeare. It is as if Shakespeare has become `the central platform of traditional literary values. Shakespeare does not reflect the cultural values; in fact it makes the English culture. Shakespeare explored the roots and consequences of all social groups across all the theatrical and literary types which he put in writing. Many of his works can be reckoned as not exact pictures of human nature but of what independence is and how it functions or performs, triggering the ages-old realization that the way a monarch gains and or performs office effects people of all degrees. (eds, 1995) Shakespeare too aided in bringing credit to the horrors and dignities of human suffering, repeatedly having performed on stage the injustices often caused by those in authority over the government. Unfortunately, to all those having the authority as Shakespeare has Falstaff observed with practical accuracy, common men are often zilch more than a "commodity of warm slaves." Very often the legal and enlightening focus of Shakespeare’s works is upon the effects such institutionalized hubris and callousness of those in power has not only on deeds done but on what is said, felt and thought throughout the society represented. Reading Shakespeare in junior and high school is an educational rite of passage. Many students look forward to the experience, but many more dread it. Shakespeare’s Elizabethan iambic pentameter is daunting to many a contemporary reader. The plays perform and expose power and violence rendering them in terms of human causes and effects—an incommensurable experience of suffering and loss that disfigures representation, marking it with traces of occlusion and denial. Shakespeare explores a collective trauma and mourning lingering and stirring varied nationwide and spiritual agendas in the early modern period as well as in today’s life. As described above, Shakespeare’s plays give an insight into the British history. This serves as an interesting way to learn about one’s culture and history. (L, 1999)Equally intimidating is the cultural position to which the Bard has been elevated. Shakespeare is to literature what Einstein is to science or Mozart is to music: an iconic, transcendent genius of unmatchable superhuman ability. Shakespeare explored the roots and consequences of all social groups across all the theatrical and literary types which he put in writing. Many of his works can be reckoned as not exact pictures of human nature but of what independence is and how it functions or performs, triggering the ages-old realization that the way a monarch gains and or performs office effects people of all degrees. There are various implications that arise from these initial findings: implications for the teaching of Shakespeare in schools, for pupils learning, for the English curriculum, for assessment and for further research. One of the implications for the teaching of Shakespeare is that teachers will need to continue to consider imaginative ways for tackling the language difficulty which pupils have when they are faced with a Shakespeare text. Many already utilize a variety of different approaches in the classroom, but there may be others who are less familiar or confident with certain approaches involving drama or media work and here there is an implication for the need for more INSET. Concerning pupils learning, studying Shakespeare is undeniably difficult and sophisticated but it is perhaps, paradoxically, precisely this which could be a key and exciting challenge for pupils to improve their literacy, both at the micro, word level, and also at the macro, text level. Shakespeares texts embody and combine the challenge of unusual vocabulary and phraseology and also the challenge of teaching a long text. Current policies are targeting teachers and pupils in Year 9, where there is the obligation for all pupils to study and be externally tested on Shakespeare, to ascertain, through classroom observation and interview, their strategies for working with Shakespeare and their perceptions of and attitudes towards Shakespeare. In addition further research needs to look at the effect of certain teaching approaches on pupils learning (especially their literacy) and also at the most effective way of assessing pupils, understanding given the variety of teaching approaches. (JE, 1987) Cultural materialism is in danger of losing a vital aspect of its political significance and, while properly foregrounding the problem of subjectivity, it is at the expense of an analysis of politics. Few would dispute that powerful groups dominate cultural production, but it does not follow from this that they can discern the true cultural values. Literary works help a lot in this regard as they give a true background of the existing cultures and traditions of a country and Shakespeare’s works are the best example in this regard. (RJ, 2006) Personal history always serves a social purpose in Shakespeare, frequently challenging the stability and authority of met narratives. Shakespeares plays are swarming with historians, as controversial and conflicting in their building of the past as any academic get-together. Each individual dramatic character is shown to possess a tendency to come to terms with the present by the act of remembering and controlling the personal meaning by the use of linguistic processes not unlike those employed by professional historians writing the histories of empires and states. History is alive in Shakespeare not in the banal sense that we often invoke to try to interest our more reluctant students in the past, hut because the past cannot he laid to rest. The history perseveres into the eternal present, a stinging in the mind that worries the history being enacted and that shapes and outlines the nation. In a searching analysis of the relation between personal pasts and the nations past in King Lear the stress on personal memory to instability of the subject could be easily traced. Lears many styles of holding himself are linked to changing insight of how, whether, and to what degree his personal past is linked to the nation’s past. (R, 1997) The constant rethinking of these relations is actually a reconsideration of the formerly self. Shakespearean subject, then, is more often than not in a politically and socially variable role; it is far from the keystone of a bourgeois philosophy that would steadily declare itself later in the early modern period. Therefore the introduction of Shakespearean work in the secondary school program is quite justified as it is the only literary author which truly reflects the culture and the social conditions of England. It not only provides an interesting read but also a historical background of the country to its readers. (eds M. J., 1996) Shakespeare has always been a writer whose works have been appreciated and recognized the most. This is the reason why it has found its way in the National Curriculum of England and is being taught to the secondary school students. Shakespeare leaves a marked impression on the students as it reflects the traditions and the cultural values of England and its effects on different social classes. This is the reason why even centuries later, Shakespeare forms an inevitable part in the academics of Britain. Works Cited C, B. (2001). Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Multilingual Matters. D, A. (1991). Focus on the language classroom: an introduction to classroom research for language teachers. Cambridge University Press. D, C. (2003). Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press . eds, H. M. (1995). Language Policies in English-dominant Countries. eds, M. J. (1996). Using English, from Conversation to Canon. Open University Press. History of the English Language. (n.d.). Retrieved May 29, 2009, from http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm J, C. (2000). Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. JE, J. (1987). 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