Shakespeare...

[mushroom25]

in view of the perceived extreme content of his plays, is Shakespeare really suitable study material for today's students?
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/cambridge-university-trigger-warnings-shakespeare-plays-titus-andronicus-mary-beard-academics-a8008456.html

[sunny-dave]

Yeah - they should stick to nice safe stuff, like The Wizard of Oz

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/245/572/148.gif

[atalanta]

Do we really want to wrap all students in cotton wool ? That won't prepare them for the real world.

[Mamyalynne]

I don't think the vast majority of students at that level need a warning in advance, silly idea.

[jackthehat]

///A Cambridge University spokesman said that the English Faculty did not have a policy on trigger warnings but "some lecturers indicate that some sensitive material will be covered in a lecture by informing the English Faculty Admin staff".
"This is entirely at the lecturer's own discretion and is in no way indicative of a Faculty wide policy," they added.///

So not much of a story, really......

Titus Andronicus is a horrible play in any case.

[mikey4444]

Complete twaddle.

[cassa333]

But Atlanta the real world is becoming just that.

Sanitised and dumbed down.

The older we are the more dumbfounded we are at the apparent lack of backbone in the younger generation.

The real world of work is becoming so PC that I doubt that there will be any office romances in a few years. Everyone will be too frightened of accused of harassment or something.

The Genie is out of the lamp and it will be pretty nigh on impossible to stuff it back in.

[atalanta]

I'm a mythological princess, not a US city

[Peter Pedant]

satalanta

yeah course you are - didnt you cast darn free apples to hinder the uvva goddesses whilst you won the race ?

and den day burnt you at the end (well dey did in the da film)

Mushroom - shame on you with your AOG skin on
you are a respected academic - in anthropotobly no less
so you have the wherewithal to analyse these periodic phases in a culture

what about
do the cultural flags current in our universities have anything in common with booko burning in berlin in the thirties or the salem witch trials

there - that is a much better question

[naomi24]

I would hope that students of English literature are familiar with Shakespeare long before they enter Cambridge.

[jourdain2]

Precisely, Naomi. As an Eng. Lit. /Art student myself I am absolutely speechless about all this. When teaching, one of my main themes was hammering home that arts students could not afford to be 'mealy minded'. Appreciation was what counted ('appreciation' in its broadest sense, of course). I find all this, not only unacceptable, but incomprehensible.l

[atalanta]

Hey Mr Pedant - it wasn't me, it was Hippomenes. The only way he could beat me was by cheating using the apples.

[kvalidir]

I've played Lavinia, and I first read Titus when I was 10, neither of which have hurt me. Despite the subject matter there is really no need to be so precious and pandering, I cannot imagine anyone getting triggered by it because of the manner in which the depiction of the rape and violence is worded and portrayed. Some people are more dramatic than the play and enjoy being offended, and tbh I find it really irritating because the majority of people my age are not these milk sops that need safe spaces, they feel it's equally ridiculous.