The Politics of Teaching Shakespeare

The media debate about Shakespeare sparked off by Prince Charles's speech earlier this year has already been referred to in several articles in this edition. Although all the media comment agreed that it is of paramount importance that students study Shakespeare, there was hardly any consideration of what such study might involve, beyond the development of a reverential "acquaintanceship". In this article, Sean McEvoy discusses this blank reverence and proposes a more theoretically-informed, politically-aware pedagogy.