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DD would like to study some Shakespeare during the next semester (we are finishing medieval literature and history, and she will be doing Renaissance history in the spring).

I would like to do about half a credit worth of Shakespeare studies. We will have an opportunity to see a live performance of Othello in June, so this will be one of the plays we plan to study. I have a list of plays we are interested in reading, maybe watching a video of a performance.

We need some materials that analyze and explain the plays and I am really not sure what exactly it is I am looking for. Any recommendations?

Also, how important is it to study Shakespeare's biography to understand his writings?

Thanks

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I suggest that you consider the wonderful Arkangel recordings of plays instead of videos. They have actors recorded, but include the complete text of the play. They help the student be able to read along and listen and not be distracted by the visual.

 

You do not have to read his biography at all to understand Shakespeare. Part of what makes his plays as respected as they are is the fact that his authorial voice is not very telling in terms of what he thought. Scholars continue to argue, for instance, over the Merchant of Venice: is Shakespeare just another antisemitic European or does his play show how unfairly Shylock is treated by contrasting the "quality of mercy" speech with the final sentence placed on him? You can't tell.

 

I also highly recommend the Penguin Shakespeare text, their introductions do the best job fleshing out both the literary aspect of the play and any historical context that would help you understand it better.

 

Finally the Shakespeare Set Free series of books is supposed to be good to teach Shakespeare, but depending on your aims, I'm not sure you need to buy anything. There are lots of good websites on teaching Shakespeare:

http://teachingshakespeare.wikispaces.com/

http://folger.edu/index_sa.cfm?specaudid=2

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/teaching-shakespeare-with-the-new-york-times/

 

And here's a blog post with a lot of information about the authorial debate and Shakespeare:

http://www.huffenglish.com/?p=2066

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I suggest that you consider the wonderful Arkangel recordings of plays instead of videos. They have actors recorded, but include the complete text of the play. They help the student be able to read along and listen and not be distracted by the visual.

 

 

Thanks for the suggestion -I have already ordered one.

 

Can you elaborate more on this? My understanding was that Shakespeare intended his works to be performed on stage; for the plays I have seen so far, the performance has greatly enhanced the experience over the reading of the text.

:confused:

 

Thanks for all the links - I'll check them out.

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Also, how important is it to study Shakespeare's biography to understand his writings?

Thanks

 

Studying his biography isn't too important, but the history of the War of the Roses might be, if you are reading some of the history plays.

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We follow a "Retelling. Watching (preferably a live production followed by a film). Reading while listening." pattern, amply seasoned with much discussion. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. When they got older, we added reading aloud in parts, as well reading criticism.

 

This entry better explains what we have done and includes a list of resources: "Shakespeare for all ages and stages." In the five years since I first prepared that post, I've adopted a few other neat resources, including Saccio's lectures from the Teaching Company, the Folger "Shakespeare Set Free" series (three titles available from Amazon), and Reading Shakespeare with Young Adults (Mary Ellen Dakin).

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Studying his biography isn't too important, but the history of the War of the Roses might be, if you are reading some of the history plays.

 

I think this would only be necessary if you studied any of the Henry VIs which I suspect no novice would. The other history plays can stand on their own. You might want a smidge of history for Richard III, but the others, no.

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Thanks for the suggestion -I have already ordered one.

 

Can you elaborate more on this? My understanding was that Shakespeare intended his works to be performed on stage; for the plays I have seen so far, the performance has greatly enhanced the experience over the reading of the text.

:confused:

 

Thanks for all the links - I'll check them out.

 

I got the idea from Rafe Esquith (a man who I wish would write more on teaching Shakespeare). Shakespeare wrote nothing with the idea of taking it to a publisher, but that doesn't mean that your student will get the most out of watching a video. I note the two most important reasons in my last post. The audio recording is of actors, acting, just no visual. Visual can be really powerful, but also extremely distracting couple that with edits made my directors and it makes for a difficult study situation. In my view the Arkangel recordings give you the best of both worlds: the acting coupled with an accurate to the text script and no visual distraction.

 

And I am a play advocate, there is something immediate and compelling that even a poorly done real life play will have over a video. So if you can find some more plays to actual go to, I'd do that over video, and I'd go after I'd studied the play if possible.

Edited by Candid
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I must dissent. I HATE recorded plays. I remember listening to them in school. The first year I taught 10th grade English, I got the job when a teacher dropped dead mowing his lawn in September. They had the children spend the entire quarter... 9 weeks studying Julius Caesar. We spent days listening to the recording. The kids HATED it!!! I hated it. The next year, I was prepared. I spent 3 weeks on Julius Caesar AND Much Ado About Nothing as well, and they LOVED it. I used movies in addition to the text. There is nothing like seeing Marlon Brando give the funeral speech to see how a good speaker can influence a crowd. We would watch some, pause and discuss.

 

The boys and I did a Shakespeare study a couple of years ago. First I had them read an easier version of the play. I particularly like the Picture This! Shakespeare ones as it has actual text of the more famous passages in addition to the cartoon summary. It also points out literary devices like alliteration, hyperbole, meonymy, oxymoron, etc. My boys were in middle school when we used this, but it is certainly appropriate for high school. No Fear is also good because it has the original version on one side and the modern version on the other side. We then watched the play. I would stop it so often and talk about things: themes, plot, famous speeches, etc. They often wrote a paper or took an essay test when we were done. The language of Shakespeare is SO tough. It is much easier for them to understand the basic plot so they can concentrate on the language.

 

If you need help understand the play, there are tons of places on the internet like Pink Monkey that can help you.

 

Although you do not need too much background of Shakespeare's life, a little would be good. However, you MUST go into the background of The Globe theater. Just look in the children's section of your library, and they should have several choices so they can see what it looked like and how it was arranged.

 

Perhaps the purists think I've watered down Shakespeare; however, all I know is that I have teenage boys that like it!! We were blessed to actually see a Shakespeare play at The Globe last May. The children enjoyed it. My husband spent half the night trying to understand it. Since the children and I had already read an easier version, watched a movie version, and discussed it, they were much better prepared and enjoyed it more. Although we seriously considered being groundlings ( much cheaper!), I am so glad we paid for our bench. After a long day of sightseeing, we needed it.

Edited by choirfarm
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We follow a "Retelling. Watching (preferably a live production followed by a film). Reading while listening." pattern, amply seasoned with much discussion. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. When they got older, we added reading aloud in parts, as well reading criticism.

 

This entry better explains what we have done and includes a list of resources: "Shakespeare for all ages and stages." In the five years since I first prepared that post, I've adopted a few other neat resources, including Saccio's lectures from the Teaching Company, the Folger "Shakespeare Set Free" series (three titles available from Amazon), and Reading Shakespeare with Young Adults (Mary Ellen Dakin).

 

This is very similar to our approach. We read the Garfield version http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Stories-Leon-Garfield/dp/0395861403/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1323864632&sr=8-7 (there are 2 volumes) followed by watching a production and then going to the play in strictly written form.

 

We are getting ready to do a Shakespeare unit and we will also be including Saccio's lectures. I have been previewing them, and I like his approach! (he says not be beat a single Shakespearean play to death!)

 

The American Shakespeare Center has study guides available on select plays: http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=116

 

We are going to follow the above w/2 live performances, 1 tragedy by a local company and 1 comedy by the ASC.

 

HTH

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We are getting ready to do a Shakespeare unit and we will also be including Saccio's lectures. I have been previewing them, and I like his approach! (he says not be beat a single Shakespearean play to death!)

 

HTH

 

So you do like them? I have strongly considered getting them. My middle one will get another dose of Shakespeare when we do Year 2 again as a junior. Plus, we have a local Shakespeare Festival we attend in the summer.

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I must dissent. I HATE recorded plays. I remember listening to them in school. The first year I taught 10th grade English, I got the job when a teacher dropped dead mowing his lawn in September. They had the children spend the entire quarter... 9 weeks studying Julius Caesar. We spent days listening to the recording. The kids HATED it!!! I hated it. The next year, I was prepared. I spent 3 weeks on Julius Caesar AND Much Ado About Nothing as well, and they LOVED it. I used movies in addition to the text. There is nothing like seeing Marlon Brando give the funeral speech to see how a good speaker can influence a crowd. We would watch some, pause and discuss.

 

 

I think this depends on both the recording and the teacher. As I note Rafe Esquith uses these very recordings with elementary students in an impoverished school. He's done so for decades. They love Shakespeare. I imagine using another teacher's plans can suck the life out of a topic. In your case the recordings may not work, but in others it may well work beautifully.

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I think this depends on both the recording and the teacher. As I note Rafe Esquith uses these very recordings with elementary students in an impoverished school. He's done so for decades. They love Shakespeare. I imagine using another teacher's plans can suck the life out of a topic. In your case the recordings may not work, but in others it may well work beautifully.

 

Grin... I'm sure things have changed. Both the ones I had to listen to and the ones my students listened to were on 78 records!!! I am so old.:tongue_smilie:

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