Shakespeare's Genius: Not a Conspiracy of English Teachers

Oh yes! Somewhere, sometime in the past 400 years all the English teachers got together at an undisclosed location and it was moved and seconded that some writer or other be designated as the "greatest of them all." Someone said, "OK, so how about… oh, I dunno… Willy Shakespeare?" Those who had heard of him shrugged and nodded, and all the rest said, "Sure, why not?" No records of the meeting were kept, of course, and all participants swore a blood oath that they would "never speak of this day again," but would faithfully put the word out and to initiate all new teachers from that day onward into the clandestine brotherhood (later, "siblinghood").

This narrative roughly matches many students' "Conspiracy of English Teachers" suspicion. Every time we deliver a child from that notion by opening his or her eyes to what's actually within the covers of that heavy "Compete Works" volume, we've done a great thing. One strategy that can help literally overnight is to get a student into a seat at an actual performance of Shakespeare by a quality acting company. This is why I'm so grateful to be three hours' drive from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. I know that most schools and families are not quite so blessed, but I'd still encourage you to check out my post on the Festival as well as the information on our Shakespeare 4 Believers summer seminar trips.

You might point out to students that no other writer has anywhere near as many theater festivals devoted to his plays, and all those millions of play tickets being sold year after year can't result from a Conspiracy of English Teachers. People all over the world gladly part with their ticket money, often at pretty steep prices, to see and see again the plays of a man nearly 400 years dead by now. But that argument is no match for seeing (or at least reading) his product. "The play's the thing." (Hamlet)

Let me also suggest a little exercise that may impress you more than it impresses your students, but try it anyway. Pretend that the very best plays of Shakespeare—let's say the top one-third, the top twelve—never existed. Your list might be different from mine, and mine today might be different than it was last year, but let's just say that the following dozen were suddenly vaporized: Hamlet, Henry V, King Lear, Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, and Winter's Tale. (Hold on. Give me a moment. OK, I'm feeling a little better now. Deep breath.) So, with those gone, who is the greatest English playwright ever? I'll bet you're way ahead of me.

It's still Shakespeare beyond a doubt. His reduced portfolio is headed by Julius Caesar, Taming of the Shrew, Richard III, As You Like It, Measure for Measure, All's Well that Ends Well, and Comedy of Errors, and filled out by eighteen other pretty good plays.

I can't think of another genre of literature or art where one figure towers above the rest like "the Bard of Avon" does in the field of drama. Ask a hundred informed people who was the greatest painter, or composer, and you'll get pretty close results among three possibilities, or maybe five, or eight. Not so in the playwright sweepstakes. Somehow, one village boy with an eighth grade education dominates the field to the point that theories keep popping up about him not writing the plays at all. These conspiracy notions with their candidates for the "real author" are fascinating but silly, and serve only to underscore how astonishing it is that any man, let alone one who probably never traveled 50 miles from his home, turned out these 37 quality scripts in 22 years.

So the closest thing to a conspiracy that we need as English teachers is probably this blog, where we can share insights and tips on how to clear the fog that exists for many students around this unaccountable phenomenon, this treasure of the English language, the Shakespeare plays. I like the down-to-earth conclusion that one scholar reached: "No one has ever written better, and at this stage of the game it's becoming doubtful whether anyone ever will."