Best stay relevant

Re: “The Ides of March and perils of power”, Roger Crutchley, (BP, March 12).

Shakespeare is a big put-off for most US school and college faculty and students except those associated with drama and theatre.

In a 1995 interview, famous American rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur, known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, said, “I love Shakespeare. He wrote some of the rawest stories, man. I mean, look at Romeo and Juliet. That is some serious ghetto s**t.” After his comments, African American students flocked to English classes to check out Shakespeare. In 2019, to improve enrolment in English literature, many educators in California seized hip-hop’s broad appeal to help students connect with boring Shakespeare. It worked for a while.

As Roger mentioned, many famous American authors ignored Shakespeare’s legacy. Even today, plenty of people in academia in the USA and Canada believe that Shakespeare is irrelevant. To them, studying classics is a waste of time. Twenty-first-century social and behavioural norms, traditions, and cultures are very different. They firmly believe that students like to study the current authors. Their characters and stories are more relevant to them, and they can make real and easy connections.

To such teachers, faculty, and students, their own representation matters. Hence West Side Story by Arthur Laurents is more relevant to them than Hamlet or King Lear. Hence despite his incredible talent, “To study” or “Not to study” Shakespeare remains a big question. KULDEEP NAGI