4AL 2021/2022

STUDENTS' VOICES ON LITERATURE ...

... Othello or "The tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice", is one of the most famous literary works that focuses on the dangers of jealousy. In particular, it is a tragedy based on jealousy, a sexual jealousy that becomes obsessive. Although the tragedy was written at the beginning of the seventeenth century, I noticed how the issue of sexual jealousy is highly pertinent to the cases of femicide that happen too often nowadays here in Italy. Furthermore, in this tragedy, jealousy takes many forms, from sexual suspicion to professional competition, but it is, in all cases, destructive.... @Jasmine

“Be advised, fair maid. / To you your father should be as a God...”

While reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, these words - alongside many others - told by Duke Theseus really got me thinking. The first question that popped up in my mind was “Could I use this quote to describe our contemporary society?” and so I started reflecting on Patriarchy.... @Martina

“She’s gone, and I’ve been cheated on. I have no choice but to hate her. Oh what a curse marriage is!”

This quote taken from the third Act of "Othello" introduces the current issue of 'domestic abuse: the relationship between Othello, the main character, and his wife Desdemona is clearly an episode of domestic abuse. Indeed Desdemona is the victim of verbal and physical abuses. At the end of the tragedy, Othello kills his wife, convinced she was cheating on him: this issue unfortunately is extremely topical, and the cases of domestic abuse have highly increased during the lockdown, caused by Covid-19 - when the number of victims was extremely high, owing to the obligation they had to stay at home with their abuser... @Viola

... During the Summer I knew I wanted to do something special to raise awareness on the importance of Literature, and in particular of William Shakespeare, by digging deeper into a social issue, of course not in a banal way! There has been a debate on whether Shakespeare’s Drama is still relevant nowadays: the various opinions are extremely controversial... However I came up with a conclusion: Shakespearean Drama is definitely still relevant nowadays, and here are the main reasons why... @Ilaria

"The love that follows us sometimes is our trouble, which we still thank as love..."

This is a quote taken from the Shakesperean tragedy of Macbeth, and it reminds us of some current issues that I dug deep into, in particular it is suggestive of 'Love addiction' that is the best expression to describe the relationship between our main characters: Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth.... @Sabrina

“My only love sprung from my only hate...”

This quote is taken from the tragedy of "Romeo and Juliet" and it is particularly meaningful because it already suggests the main theme of the entire work: 'conflict'. While I was doing my research work on the most famous play written by William Shakespeare, "Romeo and Juliet", I was literally impressed by the way in which William Shakespeare incorporates this very intricate theme by addressing it through the use of characters and the different situations that take place within the work... @Sara C.

"To be, or not to be, that is the question..."

Shakespeare's "Hamlet" has definitely entered the imagination of modern Men - and Women: so much so that he has given rise to the now proverbial expression "Hamletic doubt". More often than not, this great not-only-Hamletic doubt does not concern anything in particular, but involves the whole of Human Existence, the why of things and the true essence of reality. All characters are devoid of certainty, for everyone there is a mistery in reality that is difficult to grasp...@Danna