Based on real experiences of teaching Shakespeare in diverse classrooms and outreach programmes, this Element questions the role of authority in Shakespeare teaching. It connects an understanding of how Shakespearean texts function with critical thinking about teaching, especially derived from the work of Jaques Rancière. Certain elements of the Shakespearean text - notably how it was intended to teach its first readers, the actors, and its uses of dramatic irony - are revealed as already containing possibilities for more decentred forms of knowledge production.
Preface: On the T3 Train Line; Introduction: 'Down, down, I come'; 1. 'Well, sit we down': Disavowing Explanations; 2. Shakespeare and the Ignorant Schoolmaster; 3. How to Gouge Out Some Eyes: A Workshop Approach; 4. Into the Athenian Forest of Dramatic Irony; 5. 'It is required': Rubrics, Teacherly Authority and the Problem with Paulina; Conclusion: 'Treasons make me wish myself a beggar'; Bibliography.
