I’ll admit, I visited SparkNotes many times in my high school career while reading Shakespeare. Yes, I still read his plays, but it was nice to compare to see what was actually happening. But with this class, I didn’t even have to look at SparkNotes – and learned more than I ever did in high school about Shakespeare.
We did not simply read the plays; we compared them to films as well, which made the plays more understandable. Even though we only met twice a week for 3 credit hours, I learned so much more in that class than just about Shakespeare and movies. I learned how to critically think about texts and films and why certain choices were made in them.
Professor Karen Britland teaches with clear passion about the subject and truly cares about her students. It was a small class of about twenty Honors students, so she was able to connect to each student individually. People were quiet for discussion at first, but by the end of the class, we were all eager to share our thoughts about the film choices and connections to the play. I was able to improve my writing through each essay with her meaningful feedback. She is incredibly available to ask questions and to talk; I felt so valued as a student and as a person in her class.
If you want to learn how to think and write critically in a fun way, this is the class to take. Unfortunately, it is not available in Fall 2020. However, if you ever have a chance to take a course with Professor Britland, I strongly suggest you go for it.
