What to do with the people who hate Shakespeare

What to do with the people who hate Shakespeare.

Professor Powers raised an interesting question in class the other day: Do we have a responsibility to appreciate things that we don’t like? Especially, in this case, literature?

As Professor Powers stated, that is not the case in our culture today. As Americans we are all about making our decisions, we are individuals, we can decide what we like and what we don’t like. No one, nothing, can make us thing otherwise. And there is no way that we are being held “responsible” to appreciate something we don’t like.

And what exactly does the word “appreciate” mean in this context. Are we trying to say that we should like what we don’t like? Should English majors be shunned if they detest Shakespeare? If we are talking in terms of we should be liking something because it is a “great” work of literature, then I do not think we have a responsibility to feel like we should like something. We all have our own tastes, our own likes, we are partial to certain styles over another. I’d rather read a good nonfiction novel with some humor than a boring academic piece. Just because the academic piece may be a “better” piece of literature doesn’t mean that I should like it.

But if we mean “respect” when we say “appreciate,” then I think we have it right. Just because an English major doesn’t like Shakespeare does not mean that he cannot respect his skill and craft and mastery of the English language in his work. Of course, all people can respect things that they don’t like. If it is worthy of being appreciate. If the work is good, if it is notable, and worthy of praise even though it might not be someone’s cup of tea, it should be appreciated. Do we have a responsibility to? There I’m not quite so sure. I don’t think it would be a sin to totally condemn Shakespeare. A shame, maybe, but not a sin. I don’t think we should feel bound in any way to appreciate something we don’t like. If you don’t like something that is worthy of being appreciated, it’s more your loss than anything really.