Thompson, Ayanna. "Titus Andronicus as the gateway drug." Throughlines. www.throughlines.org/suite-content/titus-andronicus-as-the-gateway-drug. [Date accessed].

Titus Andronicus as the gateway drug

They've read Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing, but starting a class off with Titus Andronicus offers students a new way into Shakespeare.

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Ayanna Thompson
Arizona State University

Titus Andronicus is the perfect gateway drug for a lifelong addiction to Shakespeare. Starting Shakespeare courses with a unit on Titus destabilizes students’ preconceived ideas about Shakespeare. Some students come with a hatred of Shakespeare because of the ways they encountered his works in high school. Some students come worshipping “The Bard” because of the ways they encountered his works in high school. Either stance (disdain or worship), though, precludes close readings and original analysis. The students believe they know what Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet or Macbeth mean, but rarely do those “meanings” stem from the students’ close engagements with the texts. By beginning any Shakespeare class with Titus Andronicus, students are forced to see Shakespeare anew.

Further learning

Essay

Teaching race in Titus Andronicus

Helping students make sense of race in Titus Andronicus with a strategic framework for in-class discussion.

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Video

How to talk about race in the classroom

Ayanna Thompson discusses how PCRS in the classroom starts with students and teachers being comfortable talking frankly about the reality of race in their lives as well as in the texts they encounter.

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