Shakespeare & Macbeth: Even though he's "boring", he's so important!

Even though Shakespeare can feel boring to so many students, there's a reason we're still studying him 400 years later.

Shakespeare isn't important because students need to memorise a bunch of old words and somehow make sense of them. He's important because his work teaches us how to read, think and question.

Macbeth, for example, on the surface is a play about murder and ambition. But underneath that, Shakespeare is exploring ideas that still matter: power, guilt, manipulation, morality and consequences of our choices.

Studying Shakespeare teaches students to look beyond what is happening and ask why it is happening.

Why does Shakespeare make Macbeth hallucinate ?
Why does Lady Macbeth challenge his masculinity ?
Why is blood constantly appearing throughout the play ?
Why do the witches speak in paradoxes ?
There is always a reason.

And that's what makes Shakespeare so valuable. His language forces students to slow down, look closely and find meaning in the smallest choices. A single word, image or dramatic technique can completely change the way we understand a character.

The goal isn't to make Shakespeare feel less difficult. Its to teach students how to approach something difficult without immediately deciding they cant understand it.
Once you learn how to unpack Shakespeare, you're learning a skill that extends far beyond english. Your'e learning how to question, interpret, and argue and think critically.

Shakespeare might not be everyone's favourite, but learning to understand him might be one of the most useful things you take away studying english.