Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Trigger Warnings and Shakespeare

Should Shakespeare come with a warning label? by David Perry


(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?


Continue reading here

No comments:

Post a Comment