I am taking a Shakespeare class this semester (my first). We just finished Richard III. I’ve been trying to watch the videos as well as read the texts. For Richard III, Al Pacino directed and stared in a Docu/Drama called, “Looking for Richard.” The following quote is from that video. It was spoken by a man on the street who was interviewed by Pacino. I think the statement is also worth considering relative to the class I’m taking on Rhetoric of Emotion as well.

Intelligence is hooked on language. When we speak with no feeling, we get nothing out of our society. We should speak like Shakespeare. We should introduce Shakespeare into the academic. Know why? Because then the kids would have feelings. We have no feelings. That’s why it’s easy for us to get a gun and shoot each other; we don’t feel for each other. But if we were taught to feel, we wouldn’t be so violent as a people.

I don’t know that introducing Shakespeare is the answer, but the events over the past month or so have made it even more evocative for me.