Making Shakespeare Appealing

This is the working draft of my paper. As I continue to work, I am hoping to bring in more textual analysis and also some psychological studies about the research that is being done on the psychological and social needs of adolescents. I know it isn't perfect, but it provides a decent framework of where I want to go as I continue to research and write.

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Mallory Brugger

Dr. Burton

English 382

5 November 2012

Making Shakespeare Applicable

            Shakespeare’s Othello contains many lessons that are applicable and important for secondary students to understand. Lessons like trust, honesty, and communication are important at every stage of life, and especially important during the formative years of middle and high school. As well as being valuable and instructional to students, educators would do well in becoming comfortable with these themes and the emotional needs that their students have.

            Teaching Shakespeare in schools is important for many reasons. One reason is because Shakespeare is so prevalent in pop culture. I was on Facebook the other day and witnessed the following conversation: “Dad: ‘To be or not to be; that is the question.’ Zach (little brother): ‘Wasn’t that Yoda who said that?’” This conversation alerted me to a disconnect that exists between these “mysterious words” and their source. At least the younger brother was aware that there was some significance to the words. That’s a start. And if the disconnect wasn’t bad enough, the first comment is, “oh sad day… need to set that kid down with some Shakespear!” “Shakespear” without an “e.” It seems like the woman who commented also could have used some Shakespeare knowledge under her belt.

Revised Thesis Statement and Annotated Bibliography

Thesis Statement:

In his works Othello, Hamlet, and _______, Shakespeare addresses universally applicable themes such as communication and trust that are important for secondary students to understand.


After some thinking and reading comments on my last post, I have decided to focus my research on teachings secondary students about honesty and communication by using Othello and other Shakespeare plays. I am not familiar with many of Shakespeare's works however, and so would love feedback and some guidance from those who read plays with themes that could apply. I also am struggling a little bit to make my thesis argumentative, and would love to hear any thoughts/ideas. I want to explore these themes in two or three (I think too many more than that would be too large of a task) of Shakespeare's plays as well as explore the concept of how things are not as they seem ("honest Iago," for example).

Annotated Bibliography:
Social Graph
There are a few people that I think would be good to keep in contact with as I move forward on my research. One of them is my brother, Steven. We are close in age, and so have grown up together and have always bounced ideas off of one another. Another person is my friend Emily, who is an English major at another university. A third person is one of my favorite high school English teachers Dianne Madsen. She might be hard to get a hold of, but she would be a great resource.

I am on both Facebook and Twitter. I don't use Twitter as much, but I think I can work harder on that network because it is such a good way to reach out to a wider audience than Facebook.

"Honest" Iago

My paper is on Othello. I am going into English Education, and so I want my paper to be on something that will be applicable as I try and teach Shakespeare to secondary-age students. Othello obviously deals with themes that I don't necessarily want to discuss in my classroom, but I think that there are points that I can draw out that could be helpful. Below are a few ideas that I have been playing with.

1: With few exceptions, Iago is always referred to as "honest Iago." Using this phrase is an act of justification for the characters, as many times the characters refer to Iago this way they are involved in some action that they are unsure about. This mentality is a "Freudian slip" of sorts, and the characters are looking for a way to view their own actions as honest.

A few potential passages to look at: (pages referenced are from the Dover edition)

• pg. 36 Cassio is concerned about his good name, Iago refers to himself as honest
• pg. 26 Cassio decides to go to Desdemona and says "I will beseech . . . [her] to undertake for me
• pg. 40 Iago says he will get Othello "out of the way" so Cassio can be with her

• It also could be worthwhile to look at some psychology studies and find information on the "Freudian slip" idea.