Last year I had to work on a Shakespeare project with 3 other students in my B. Lit class. One of them was quite excited to have found the following: "When reading horizontally from Shakespeare’s original published copy of Hamlet, the furthest left hand side reads ‘I am a homosexual’ in the last 14 lines of the book. Was this a message, or just a coincidence?"
I did manage, I think, to convince her that neither Shakespeare or anyone else living at that time had ever heard the word. This, and many other experiences have made me grateful that I homeschooled my children.
AMDG
Janet --
Congratulations on striking a blow for Shakespeare scholarship -- and common sense. Everybody knows the Bard could never have made such a statement.
On the other hand, if that hidden acrostic had spelled out "I am a Catholic"....
Well, I have two books about that on a shelf in my bedroom, one of which I bought because it was on clearance for $2.00. I never can get very far into them, though, because there's always so much more to read. And then again, it reminds me of C. S. Lewis. In the 13 years that I have been in the CSL Society, I have read confident opinions from many people that if Lewis had lived, surely he would have been Catholic, Evangelical, Anthroposophist, etc.
So, I hope that Shakespeare was Catholic because it would have been a better preparation for death, and it might be fun research if I had the time, but I don't think I ever will.
AMDG
Came here via MAclin's.
There is no such thing as unbiased history. Home-schooled children, at least, know that, and they know what their teachers' biases are.
So true.
Government-schooled children are allowed -- no, encouraged -- to believe that all biases have been conscientiously purged from the intellectual atmosphere in which they breathe. That is the most dangerous intellectual atmosphere of all.
I really think most secularists just don't realise they are biased about anything. They seem to truly believe they are "neutral." And it is dangerous.
Welcome, Louise.
There is indeed a kind of cultivated insularity among those on the secular left. I get the impression sometimes that they don't know anybody who disagrees with them -- and don't particularly want to.
The old Pauline Kael Syndrome, I guess: "How could Nixon have won? I don't know a single person who voted for him." (Yes, I know she didn't really say it, but it still epitomizes a common elitist world-view.)
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