Thompson, Ayanna. "Titus Andronicus as the gateway drug." Throughlines. www.throughlines.org/suite-content/titus-andronicus-as-the-gateway-drug. [Date accessed].
Titus Andronicus as the gateway drug
They've read Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing, but starting a class off with Titus Andronicus offers students a new way into Shakespeare.
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Titus Andronicus is the perfect gateway drug for a lifelong addiction to Shakespeare. Starting Shakespeare courses with a unit on Titus destabilizes students’ preconceived ideas about Shakespeare. Some students come with a hatred of Shakespeare because of the ways they encountered his works in high school. Some students come worshipping “The Bard” because of the ways they encountered his works in high school. Either stance (disdain or worship), though, precludes close readings and original analysis. The students believe they know what Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet or Macbeth mean, but rarely do those “meanings” stem from the students’ close engagements with the texts. By beginning any Shakespeare class with Titus Andronicus, students are forced to see Shakespeare anew.
Further learning
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Recommended
Othello and Othello and Othello
Beginning with the play’s earliest performance, we study Othello from various critical perspectives through close analysis of the play-text and adaptations on film and stage. For several weeks students read the text of the play slowly and closely, paying particular attention to Shakespeare’s use of language, metaphor, genre, and dramatic form.
