Friday, October 5, 2007
Webb Chap. 5
"The way we think about Shakespeare's day has great implications for the way we think about Shakespeare's Plays...developing conceptions of history that connect Shakespeare's time and our own, offer to resuce Shakespeare from an abstract 'greatness'..." (p. 80). It seems that the more and more I read about new historicism--or cultural materialism--the more logical it has become for me as a future teacher to examine the historical, social and cultural contexts in which a literary work either contains or refers to. How could so much of my secondary school literary instruction neglect the historical and cultural lenses? When a historical perspective is broadened or naturally used in conjunction with a cultural studies approach, students simply have more information helping them to make meaning of or attach significance to that particular work. These approaches seem even more logical because many students seem to be intimidated by Shakespeare's use of language. Additionally, since a majority of his plays were written during the 16th Century, it is imperative that students understand what fueled Shakespeare's writings; this can only help clarify students' misconceptions. For example as Webb states, students are often mystified by his "abstract greatness," meaning they often believe Shakespeare is relevant and necessary to study simply because the teacher said so. As the quotation references, much of this 'greatness' comes from Shakespeare's inclusion of his surroundings and references to other significant historical events in his writing; examining them will nevertheless enrich students' explorations of Shakespeare.
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3 comments:
i agree with you here Jeff, about looking at the historical aspect behind the time period in which Shakespeare wrote. However i also feel that this shouldn't be what leads you to understand works like Shakespeare's. However, when it is never touched upon, i think there is a lot that students could learn and are missing out on. This is how my high school classes were. I was never given any historical background or information, so the conclusions that i came to on many of works like shakespeare's were very limited, and not nearly as deep as they could have been had i had the information that i now know about the time period.
I definitley agree with you on this one. I also feel that using a cultural and historical approach, especially in Shakespeare, can alleviate any intimidation when it comes to comprehending Shakespeare, and his use of language. Like Mallory, my high school English classrooms never really touched base with the historical context within a literary text. I think using this approach will be less frightening for young adolescents who normally tune out to works like Shakespeare, and allow them to become for intrigued and interested having a background of the work.
Writing never occurs in a vacuum. Although we can study a text without understanding the surrounding history, we would never fully get the text.
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