Modern Relevance

So, I know the assignment for writing a blog post over the Qualities of Mercy project was cancelled. However, I was just really intrigued by all of the modern interpretations of Shakespeare’s centuries-old works in all of the different scenes.

First of all, I have a confession to make. And this is coming from a future English teacher. Before taking this class, I really struggled to see why Shakespeare was so important to be taught in every classroom in the entire United States. I mean, he’s the only author specifically stated in the Common Core Standards that has to be included in curriculum.

In my high school English class, my teachers did not make the plays relevant to our lives. Being the literature nerd that I am, I found my own reasons to be interested in Shakespeare. I loved the stories and the ideas, and I could get caught up in reading all of his plays. But as I said, my teachers never connected any of his ideas to the present day; I viewed Shakespeare’s works as an artifact of the past.

It is incredible how my view of Shakespeare has shifted after taking this class. Within every single play, we have talked about concepts that are relevant to the issues of today. We have searched through problematic elements and connected them to larger patterns of human behavior.

After watching many of the different scenes from the Qualities of Mercy project, it made me realize how effective Shakespeare can be in calling out issues of the present day. In the project, schools chose to talk about homophobia, pop culture, and immigration, just to name a few. They made these twenty-first century ideas fit perfectly into the context of Shakespeare. It was fascinating to see all of the ways Shylock's character was used to represent minority groups.

As a future teacher, this project has inspired me for how I will be able to use Shakespeare as a platform for discussing larger societal problems and questions. I am encouraged by how easily and naturally Shakespeare fits into interpretation in a modern context, even though it was written centuries ago.

In the spirit of our meme-themed production, here are some various Shakespeare memes.