(CNN) -- In
the Roman poet Ovid's "Metamorphoses," one of the great works of
Western literature, King Tereus of Thrace rapes his wife's sister, Philomena,
then cuts out her tongue.
In
"Titus Andronicus," Shakespeare references Ovid with an even more
grotesque rape and mutilation, while including multiple acts of murder, torture
and cannibalism. Kathleen Kennedy, associate professor of literature at Penn
State University-Brandywine, says, "Everyone is traumatized by Titus."
Over the last few months,
students, faculty and administrators at a number of universities have been debating
whether faculty should be obligated to place "trigger warnings" on
their syllabi before assigning content that might trigger a traumatic episode
in one of their students.
Before
assigning Ovid, Shakespeare or any topic about human cruelty and suffering,
what should teachers be obligated to tell their students?
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