Good morning esteemed members of the Australian curriculum, assessment and reporting authority, it is my great pleasure today to be speaking here on why the study of the canon in English should be extended beyond the flawed classic canon. Traditionally, a canon is a series of texts which are said to be texts of “greatest value” and typically consists of text written by dead, white, European males. By simply acknowledging this, there is no doubt that texts written by such a narrow criteria of authors would inspire great prejudice and bias. Through comparisons of the classic play “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, and the modern novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, it will be highlighted that although both texts are unarguably great sources for education, through their representations of universal themes, human dilemma, and their appeal to future readers, “Frankenstein” is an equal, or superior text which should undoubtedly be included in the classic canon. In our modern society of digital technology, it is …show more content…
It is vital that universal themes are included in the texts that we study because of the value that the implement into our perception of the world. “Macbeth” achieved an accurate and adequate representation of universal themes at the time through the exploration of elements of Scotland and England. However, this standard is no longer sufficient in our modern society where we frequently meet and listen to people from a wide variety of countries and cultures. “Frankenstein” also presents universal themes, however, does so through the exploration of a much larger spectrum of countries and cultures and the character’s judgements. In addition, the human society and their cultures are subject to constant change and it is thus necessary to extend our study of the canon far beyond the classic canon and further into the eastern and modern