Letter to the Editor
Dear Mr. John Adams,
I am writing this letter in regards to the recent article that was printed in the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this week criticizing the study of Shakespeare in school and how it should be removed from the year 9 syllabuses. One of Shakespeare’s most famous works is the play of Romeo and Juliet which is also one of the world’s best-known love stories. A play such as Romeo and Juliet incorporates profound themes of human nature, father and daughter relationships and the inevitability of fate. In addition, exposing students to a multitude of literary techniques, challenges students with difficult language and style, expresses a profound knowledge of human behavior and offers insight into the world around us. Simply stated, I believe students should study Romeo and Juliet in school because of the incredible value within the play.
The play centres around the rivalry between two families, the Montagues and the Capulets, and the victims of this conflict. As the play progresses, it reveals how human beings are capable of many things. They can be incredibly nice and generous, but they can also be very greedy, selfish, and deceptive. This is particularly suitable given the key theme of human behavior. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare demonstrates how even the kindest person can be deceiving to a lot of people or how money can make people do almost anything. This play teaches the audience that these characteristics is something that everyone is capable of in one form or another and not many people realize this but these rivalries may still exist today which is also adds to the reason as to why Romeo and Juliet should remain in the syllabus for year 9 students.
A character in this play that could illustrate this clearly is Lord Capulet. At the beginning of the play, it is clear Capulet feels his daughter is “too young” to marry and “still a stranger to the world” as Capulet first tells Paris when he proposes, conventionally to Capulet
I am writing this letter in regards to the recent article that was printed in the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this week criticizing the study of Shakespeare in school and how it should be removed from the year 9 syllabuses. One of Shakespeare’s most famous works is the play of Romeo and Juliet which is also one of the world’s best-known love stories. A play such as Romeo and Juliet incorporates profound themes of human nature, father and daughter relationships and the inevitability of fate. In addition, exposing students to a multitude of literary techniques, challenges students with difficult language and style, expresses a profound knowledge of human behavior and offers insight into the world around us. Simply stated, I believe students should study Romeo and Juliet in school because of the incredible value within the play.
The play centres around the rivalry between two families, the Montagues and the Capulets, and the victims of this conflict. As the play progresses, it reveals how human beings are capable of many things. They can be incredibly nice and generous, but they can also be very greedy, selfish, and deceptive. This is particularly suitable given the key theme of human behavior. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare demonstrates how even the kindest person can be deceiving to a lot of people or how money can make people do almost anything. This play teaches the audience that these characteristics is something that everyone is capable of in one form or another and not many people realize this but these rivalries may still exist today which is also adds to the reason as to why Romeo and Juliet should remain in the syllabus for year 9 students.
A character in this play that could illustrate this clearly is Lord Capulet. At the beginning of the play, it is clear Capulet feels his daughter is “too young” to marry and “still a stranger to the world” as Capulet first tells Paris when he proposes, conventionally to Capulet