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The IUP Journal of English Studies :
Teaching Shakespeare
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My students enjoyed Shakespeare’s plays, especially his tragedies, much more than anything else. Guided by me and in the light of the insightful criticism offered by the famous Shakespearean scholars, they had a true comprehension of his tragedies and tragic heroes like ‘Brutus’, ‘Hamlet’ and, ‘Macbeth’. They came to know that in a Shakespearean tragedy, character is destiny though accidents may happen. They understood that each Shakespearean hero had a flaw that spelt his doom in spite of his great merits. They also enjoyed his comedies like As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night. They were fascinated by Falstaffian wit and humor; they liked his disposition for pun, fun and frolic. His indefatigable energy, his undying charm, and, above all, his high spirits and zest for life fascinated them. Though they appreciated that sonnet became an effective poetic genre for an expression of tenderest feelings of love, they felt that he wrote better poetry in his plays, especially his tragedies. Shakespeare is matchless: there is not an aspect of human nature or an angularity of human mind that he has not perceived and immortalized in his works. May the great bard live eternally in our memory!

 
 
 

Ishould say I am lucky I had had quite a rewarding experience in my teaching career. My students invariably enjoyed what I taught them, but interestingly they enjoyed Shakespeare’s plays more than anything else; that is, perhaps, because of the great bard’s versatile universality. His themes are simple, his treatment skillful, his language appropriate and brief to the point, his nature honest and untainted by ostentation.

My feeling is that Julius Caesar, though not considered one of the four great tragedies, has a peculiarly special appeal to the Indian readership. There is, I think, something in the Indian psyche which at once responds to idealism of any hue involving sacrifice, mainly, self-sacrifice.

 
 
 

English Studies Journal, Shakespearean tragedy, Macbeth, Hamlet, Brutus, Teaching, Shakespeare.