How to Read and Understand Shakespeare, one of the Great Courses audiobooks, with Professor Marc C. ConnerOver the past few years, I have been purposefully reading and studying Shakespeare, both as an aid to teaching my children and for my own personal enjoyment. We've been reading and memorizing using How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare (highly recommended) and I've read many plays directly using editions like Shakespeare Made Easy and No Fear Shakespeare. I listened to Peter Saccio's course, "William Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies," (mentioned here) and found it helpful.
My sixth grader and my ninth grader are both reading three plays each this year and I've read them all myself in preparation. (Realizing I never studied any Shakespeare in college, I decided to expose my children to as large a number of his plays as I can before they leave home just in case it's all they get.)
I picked up this course, How to Read and Understand Shakespeare, in order to continue my Shakespearean education, especially as my oldest started high school. Now that my children are older, I listen to audiobooks using bluetooth headphones while I'm washing dishes and folding laundry and they've practically changed my life. I love doing chores!
In this course, Professor Conner, explores the themes of twelve of Shakespeare's plays over a series of 24 lectures.
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Romeo and Juliet
- Twelfth Night
- Richard II
- Henry IV, Part I
- Henry IV, Part II
- Henry V
- Macbeth
- Hamlet
- The Merchant of Venice
- Measure for Measure
- The Tempest
As he introduces each play, he teaches "tools" for understanding Shakespeare like the order characters are introduced or the contrasts between characters or places in the plays. These tools can be applied to many different plays and he showed connections between them I had not recognized before.
The PDF included with the audiobook contains all the tools and extensive notes on the lectures.
Despite the tools being introduced and explained in a particular order, I do think a student could listen to just the lectures on a particular play. Be aware that some of the lectures touch on mature themes. One of the Macbeth lectures in particular, if I remember correctly, touched on events in Othello I would not want my young children to hear.
Of all the books, plays, and lectures I've listened to in the past few years, this one was the most helpful. If I could recommend just one resource for a homeschooling mother hesitant to read and assign Shakespeare, this would be it. (Followed closely by How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare, which you'll need once you've listened to this course and are looking for a place to begin.) One of the best aspects of this course is how it's focused not on the specialized Shakespearean student, but on showing how anyone can read and enjoy Shakespeare. Professor Conner wants to encourage everyone to read more Shakespeare and it shows in his lectures.
I would really like to assign this course to my high school student, but I think I may wait until junior or senior year, mostly because some of the mature content that is touched upon. There's nothing that's not also in the plays, but I don't intend to assign Othello (for example) for the same reason.
I purchased this course, probably during a 2-for-1 Great Courses sale, as a member of Audible. Links above are affiliate links. I did not receive anything for writing this honest review.
I would really like to assign this course to my high school student, but I think I may wait until junior or senior year, mostly because some of the mature content that is touched upon. There's nothing that's not also in the plays, but I don't intend to assign Othello (for example) for the same reason.
I purchased this course, probably during a 2-for-1 Great Courses sale, as a member of Audible. Links above are affiliate links. I did not receive anything for writing this honest review.
