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I still think about Lord of the Flies and how I much just didn't like it
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this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
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Shakespeare has been compulsory for pupils aged 11-14 in British state schools since 1989. The four plays most frequently studied across all age groups are Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and King Lear, and the plays most frequently studied by 11 and 12 year olds are A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, and The Merchant of Venice.
So in answer to your question, British people think the Tragedies are appropriate for underage readers.
And all the female parts in Shakespeare plays were originally played by boys.
ETA: 11 and 12 year olds.
No, all Brits don’t think that any more than all Americans think it. But curriculum developers and legislators appear to think it.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is my favorite of all Shakespeare’s works. Macbeth is a close second. I can’t stand Romeo and Juliet and I’m at best ambivalent about Julius Caesar. Ironically, I think I might like R&J if it were presented at a more appropriate grade level. But then, it still wouldn’t be a love story but a tale of the adult romantic relationship between a 15- and a 12-year-old in which six people died.
Please don’t think I’m picking on Shakespeare. There are plenty of authors I loathe because well-meaning but ham-fisted teachers demanded that I read them at an inappropriate time (Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Steinbeck leap immediately to mind).