Is Romeo And Juliet Still Important In The 9th Grade Curriculum

Simon Lee English 9 Mrs. Smith June 3rd, 2024 Is Romeo and Juliet Still Important in the 9th Grade Curriculum? Many people are influenced by modern social media and celebrities, which makes them think that Shakespeare is not cool or entertaining. However, what if Shakespeare is more modern than we think? Shakespeare is popular for a reason and the millions of people that watch and enjoy his plays are not fluke. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is important to the high school curriculum because those plays and other plays teach important life lessons and are very similar to us in moderation. While the language barrier may be a problem, as many students are unable to understand his plays, some really important lessons can be learned from his works..

It is important to learn Shakespeare in high school to show that people before us had the same problems, and make positive illustrations of it through things like plays. An example of Shakespeare's plays being meaningful is in the article, “Kentucky Inmates Turned Actors Explore Selves Through Shakespeare Play,” by Sean Rose, when the article says that “The themes that are in these plays resonate so deeply in these guys. Through these plays, they’re digging up some of the most painful and horrific parts of their lives” (Rose 426). This gives an example of how the problems in Shakespeare's plays also relate to the inmates in prison. These plays really speak to them, and once they are understood, they can mean a lot to people. The plays help them with their past and prepare them for their future. An additional example of this is in the article, “Britain Puts on a Shakespeare Marathon as World Arrives for the Olympic Games” by Jill Lawless. This is shown when the text states, “The productions, in more than 40 languages, have ranged from an Iraqi Romeo and Juliet to a Russian Midsummer Night’s Dream and a Brazilian Circus Richard III” (Lawless 413.) If there are more than 40 ethnicities and cultures performing different Shakespearean plays, it must signify that his plays mean more than just words. People worked so hard to memorize those lines and present them in front of

Since we don’t even know who he is, and what he really did, his ideas are not meaningful enough. An example of this thought process is in the article, “On Bard’s Birthday, Is Shakespeare Still Relevant?” by Alexandra Petri when it says, “Is Shakespeare one of them? Do we only read him because we’ve seemingly always read him?” (Petri 407) If we only read him because we have always read him, then how did he become as famous as he did? His plays and ideas are read today because they have been enjoyed by millions of people over hundreds of years. Other people might say that he is not important today, and is only relevant because the educational system is shoving his plays down our throats. This is shown in the article, “Why It’s Time to Give Bard the Heave-ho!” by Brandon Robshaw when it says, “It is, as Will himself would say, a custom more honored in the breach than in the observance—and in practice, many teachers circumvent the difficulty by teaching a fragment of “Romeo and Juliet and then showing the class West Side Story” (Robshaw 433). To this, I would say that the students that read his plays do not even try to understand the story. If you try to understand the story, it won’t feel like they are forcing you to read it. It will feel like an actual story, and it will be enjoyable. He also says that showing a more modern version of West Side Story might be difficult, but I