The Bothersome Bard

Shakespeare is known as the “Great Bard”, but each year fewer people actually are able to understand the writing or able to read the plays. The problems are many, but the solution is fairly easy. Shakespeare writes plays and sonnets, but schools, especially High Schools, study his plays. The way in which the schools study Shakespeare is backward. The class first read the play, then discusses the play with the class, and then, maybe, the class watches a film of the play. The appropriate way in which to teach Shakespeare to the masses, not academia but the masses, is to watch a production of the piece to be studied, either in a theater or film, read the play, and then discuss the play in class.
Some scholars say that by watching the play first, the reader is unable to interpret the piece and only gets what the director wants the audience to get. This is true, in so far as the director interprets the play for either the stage or the silver screen. But stating that the audience is limited to one interpretation is improbable. A production of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Lear will have one overall interpretation of the play by the director. The cast members will take that interpretation and interpret that in as many ways as there are cast members. The audience is bombarded with multiple interpretations on a general interpretation. This dichotomy allows the audience to witness many views of the play, understand the play without having to bog through early Modern English, and be able to digest the play through reading the play.
However, the current mode of teaching Shakespeare is more restricting to the student then the alternative. The student, struggling to read the work, will mostly agree with the teacher’s point of view. The more intimate atmosphere of the classroom creates stagnant mental activity. The students, wanting to pass the class, agree with the Teacher so that they know what to study for the test. By allowing the students to watch the movie first, then analyze the text and discuss the thematic qualities allows the mental activity to grow and bloom.
People have said that this way of studying Shakespeare is the lazy way out. I disagree. As long as the student takes some sort of academic information from watching the production, the student has used Shakespeare to the fullest.
I understand that there are some art pieces that would limit the understanding of the production if the audience has not read the piece. For those films, if studied concurrently with the piece of work, should be the second of productions that are shown to the student. A less artsy, more text based film would be better for the first screening.
I am not saying that Shakespeare should not be read, especially in college or higher academic areas. I am saying that the mode in which it is taught and what it was initially written for is the stage. Allow the “Bard” to return to the stage and give to the generations to come a chance to understand the antiquated language and appreciate the beauty that is Shakespeare.