A University of Rhode Island lecture questioned why William Shakespeare remains a staple in classrooms, arguing that his lasting popularity comes less from literary brilliance and more from the questions his work leaves unanswered.
The talk, part of the Center for Community Pop Culture lecture series, focused on why nearly every student is required to read Shakespeare despite shifting cultural and educational priorities.
“Shakespeare’s popularity grows less from the literary quality of his texts, and more from the depth and variety of problems… in them,” speaker Jeffrey Wilson, a Harvard scholar and editor-in-chief of Public Humanities, said.
Wilson pointed to a show-of-hands moment during the lecture, where nearly all attendees said they had read Shakespeare in high school. While that familiarity is nearly universal, the reasoning behind it is less clear.
“One reason is that Shakespeare is one of the very few authors called for by name in the Common Core [State Standards],” Wilson said.
The lecture also noted that not all of Shakespeare’s works are equally emphasized. Tragedies like “Romeo and Juliet” and “Macbeth” dominate school curricula, while his comedies and histories are often overlooked.
Rather than crediting Shakespeare’s dominance solely to talent, the speaker argued that cultural forces have shaped his reputation over time. In his own lifetime, Shakespeare was not the most valued writer and his history plays were more popular than the tragedies students study today.
A key reason for this was his use of ambiguity, according to Wilson. Shakespeare often removes clear moral guidance from his plays, forcing audiences to interpret the meaning themselves.
“Shakespeare… refused to tell audiences what to do or think,” Wilson said.
The lecture framed Shakespeare as both a literary and cultural figure.
“Anything that is popular is so because it fills a demand in the culture,” Wilson said.
To see more information on upcoming lectures for the Center for Community Pop Culture, visit URI’s Center for Humanities’ website.
