"The whole world is a stage, and all the men and women merely actors"

[tempestsarekind]

Gee thanks, SparkNotes 2009 Everyday Shakespeare Calendar! I could not possibly have figured out what "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" meant without you

Comments

[angevin2]

If every day were a vacation, playing would grow as tedious as working.

I think this was where I started crying.

[tempestsarekind]

I thought it might be, yes. :)

[skirmish_of_wit]

I would totally join your Shakespeare activist cell. Although sadly I don't know how to do so either, other than by mockery.

[tempestsarekind]

Hey, every activist cell needs a mockery wing!

[rymenhild]

GIVE ME BACK MY HAWK AND HANDSAW.

[tempestsarekind]

I KNOW. Hamlet is not happy about this! I almost want to write them a letter: "Dear SparkNotes, That's the part that makes the line AWESOME, and not clunky and stupid like your 'translation.'"

[tempestsarekind]

That is true--I must remember to focus on the part where these translations are laughably bad.

[lareinenoire]

It hurts me in my soul. Every time I see those 'No Fear Shakespeare' books I want to hide them.

They actually think they need stupid things like this to help them understand Shakespeare, or don't realize how such things actually strip away all the nuance that makes Shakespeare worth reading or seeing, and that kind of breaks my heart.

Mine too. I would totally join your Shakespeare Activist Society. Although I'm also of the opinion that seeing it performed helps. A lot.

[tempestsarekind]

Oh, me too! I hate that they're on the shelf right next to the actual play texts, as though they're neccesary. And the whole idea that Shakespeare is something one should approach with fear, and the only thing that can prevent this is an idiotic translation...gah. It bothers me that they make their money off of making Shakespeare appear to be harder than it is--especially given how much of any 'translation' seems to be made up of changing a word or two in a line that's already completely comprehensible

[lareinenoire]

And the whole idea that Shakespeare is something one should approach with fear, and the only thing that can prevent this is an idiotic translation...gah.

Oh, I know. Shakespeare is not something to be feared -- it's actually perfectly comprehensible, and for the bits that aren't, that's what footnotes are for. The old Folger editions served perfectly well when I was in high school. And the first time I ever heard about the No Fear books was when my AP English teacher explicitly forbade people from using them.

[tempestsarekind]

Yes--as much as I enjoy having all the plays in one edition, and as much as that's cost-effective for the students (especially in an intro course), I do really like the Folger editions and think they teach well, especially for high-schoolers. Having the summary before each scene provides some support for comprehension without resorting to goofy translations.

I had a student admit to me that he was using SparkNotes just to make it through the reading/analysis for the last Shakespeare class I taught for, but I honestly wonder how much of that was due to a) his mindset going in (already very apologetic about not having taken many English classes), and b) way too many plays on the syllabus for anyone to get through comfortably. (There's a related issue here, which is that I've had a lot of students who always want to start with the criticism or lecture first; the idea of reading a play cold really scares them. I think this student was using the SparkNotes as criticism as well.)