Connecting with Shakespeare

By Cindy Reitzi

Sometimes I have conversations with people who wonder what high school students are reading in English “nowadays.” When I go through the standard 9th-grade curriculum: “The Odyssey,” “Of Mice and Men,” “Animal Farm,” “Night,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Romeo and Juliet,” sometimes they smile at their favorites or grimace in recognition at others.

Others say, “You’re still reading ‘Romeo and Juliet’? I read that in high school. Why?”

Instead of going into some breathy reverie of Shakespeare (who has earned his reputation), I simply reply, “Because the kids like it. It’s a great story.”

“Huh?”

Some people don’t understand this because they have a view of Shakespeare as inaccessible and “canonized in concrete” because he wrote classic plays in funny English. Or, they’ve watched too many stiff-backed versions of the play.

“Yes. A lot of my students like Romeo and Juliet.”

“Really?”

“The play is about what they’re thinking about and feeling in 9th grade: impulsive ‘love,’ not feeling like you can tell your folks you’re in trouble, poor judgment, revenge, and even suicide. And there’s an ‘ancient grudge’ between two families.” All of this is emotionally familiar or fascinating (plus there’s a “modern” version of Romeo and Juliet – with bullets instead of swords – that many students have seen).

I didn’t come to this conclusion on my own. My students told me they like “Romeo & Juliet.” The first time I taught “Romeo and Juliet,” the fans were mostly young females. In later experiences assisting in high school English classes, I found the main enthusiasts were young black males. For all of these students, Verona, Italy, was not too far from their hearts. What surprised me was how passionately some students felt about the story. It is a passionate tale, and it hooks them.

It’s true with “Romeo and Juliet” that students are often initially put off by Shakespearean language unless they are acquainted with it already. It sounds funny; they can’t understand it. But gradually it starts to sound familiar; they get used to it, and they acclimate. So, understandably, the more apt students get it and enjoy it right away.

It’s easy to understand why a successful student with a good reading level would. There’s less blockage with Elizabethan English. If you can read well in Modern English, it’s easier to “translate.” The real test is students who have difficulty reading. What about a 9th grader with a 1st-grade reading level? Will “Romeo and Juliet” grab him? The answer is yes.

I was working with two 9th graders in special ed. James (not his real name) was clobbered academically since he only read at about a 1st-grade level. He was not overly enthusiastic about learning because of that, nor was he optimistic about his chances to do well in school. Working with James was usually a combination of alternately nurturing him and barking at him to sit down. All in all, though, he was a nice kid.

Lawrence (also not his real name) was academically stronger than James, but had just arrived in school halfway through the quarter. He was another nice kid, though intensely shy and skeptical about school. I thought “Romeo and Juliet” would be a tough sell to these two. I was wrong.

Obviously, I was not going to convince them to like “Romeo and Juliet” in the original language – it was too hard for them. But I had no trouble convincing them to like the story. Their case manager gave me an adapted play version of “Romeo and Juliet” and a corresponding tape. Our daily procedure was to listen to the tape and follow along in the book, then discuss what happened afterwards. Finally, we wrote out summaries for each scene. I wrote out simple sentences for James to copy. Lawrence was able to do that part independently.

It turns out that James, when he was interested, had a great memory. He easily kept track of all the characters, their relationships to each other, and the plot. This was no mean feat since there’s a lot to keep track of in this play. Lawrence, on the other hand, seemed slow to warm up at first. But one day when he was listening to the tape on his own, he was reading along in the book animatedly, acting things out. Then I knew he was hooked.

As part of English class, they took adapted tests and quizzes that I read to them. James got As on all of them; not because they were too easy, but because he really loved the story and remembered it, in detail. Even when James got to the final exam, he announced, “I’m gonna ace that part. I got ‘Romeo and Juliet’ down cold.”

This is not the usual pronouncement of a struggling student.

A good story compels us in some way. It pulls us to feel for the characters. Or, it helps us understand ourselves through them. Most of all, it means something to us. The writer Robert Coles calls this the “call of stories.”

“Romeo and Juliet” continues to fascinate me by how it translates through time to teenagers (and adults) and how each generation reacts to it. Teachers may need a few tricks to help students translate Shakespeare. But the story itself needs no promotion. A good story sells itself.

Posted May 10, 2002