Rhetorical Analysis: From Why Read Shakespeare By Michael Mack

Pursuing further why Shakespeare should not be taught in school is because Shakespeare is very difficult to understand. “Shakespeare's way with words can be tough for students to grasp”.(DeBlasis) Shakespeare is a lot to comprehend because the way Shakespeare speaks is very different from today's text”.(DeBasis) Shakespeare is very tough to understand now days

As a high school student, reading his speech did not sway my feelings toward Shakespeare; and I found that his speech was quite on the hyperbolic side instead of giving straight up facts to his argument. His “head and heart” analogy was overall effective, but at the cost of being forcefully repetitive. What seemed to be lacking in his speech was a disconnection between Mack himself and his audience. In other words, it would’ve been more effective to tell a personal story pertaining to how Shakespeare affected Mack first-handedly. That way, the audience would have an easier way to relate to Mack and his

One technique that Mack uses to advance his argument is his use of rhetorical devices. Lines 7-8 Mack used a rhetorical question “I don’t get it; is it really worth the effort?” Asking this question is meant to grab the freshmen’s attention. Although I feel like asking this rhetorical question is ineffective, due to the fact that if someone has no interest in Shakespeare a rhetorical question will go through one ear and out the other. Lines 34-42 Mack used the rhetorical device logos. “The editors, john Heming and henry Condell” said there self that to read Shakespeare you have to read “again and again”. Although Mack tried to include facts in his speech, his facts are ineffective. Proving that Shakespeare is hard to understand doesn’t make someone let alone freshmen want to read.

For example, “I’m just a normal guy” stated on lines 52-53, “I’m in a professional school, and i just want to get into my professional studies.” stated on lines 55-56, and “I much prefer something more scientific-I believe in studying ‘real things’.” stated on lines 57-58. He’s appealing to his audience by using a counterclaim to show that Shakespeare is equal with the other subjects and that he is worth as much time as the other subjects are. Another quote by Mack is “Shakespeare isn’t just for literacy types.”

The first technique Mack uses to advance his argument is his use of rhetorical devices. Mack effectively uses a rhetorical question, “I don’t get it, is it really worth the effort?” (Line 7), to appeal to his audience. Mack’s argument was greatly strengthened by his efforts to appeal to his audience. “As you learn to read Shakespeare, you are learning to read the world.” (Line 101), a metaphor, which greatly relates to his audience because these students will soon be left on their own in the real world and will help them better understand themselves.

First of all that Mack uses to advance his argument is his use of counterclaims. One of the CounterClaims that Michael Mack used to ask his college freshmen was from lines (3-5). The Obvious argument to the contrary is that reading shakespeare is hard-working not particularly Rewarding.

Mack is showing how reading Shakespeare helps you out in life. Also he says “Struggling with the complexities of interpreting Shakespeare is a superb preparation for struggling with the complexities of life.” (103-105). Mack proves his argument with this saying this is one way that makes it worth the

Another technique that Mack uses to advance his argument is his use of Rhetorical devices. On line 44, he encourages people to read shakespeare through

Everyone hates Shakespeare, right? In the speech ”Why Read Shakespeare?”, the director of University Honors Program at The Catholic University Of America, Michael Mack uses literary structures and techniques. By using parallelism and rhetorical questions Mack fabricates an effective argument to convince a college freshmen audience that Shakespeare is worth the read.

One of the few techniques that Mack uses to advance his argument is his use of analogies, the most prominent being the mirror analogy. “In Shakespeare’s time, great books were thought of as mirrors,”(67) a direct quote from the essay. This line leads to an explanation of the analogy, as that great books “reflect the world in a way that allows us to see its true nature.”(69-70). These lines show that the author is giving evidence backing up his original claim that Shakespeare does help us to understand the world and ourselves. “In the case of Macbeth, we have a supreme reflection of ambition.”(85) Mack delivers a direct example, backing up his previous analogy of

In the words of T.S. Eliot, “We can say of Shakespeare, that never has a man turned so little knowledge to such great account” (Eliot). The works of Shakespeare are known throughout the world as classic literary pieces. The lessons learned through reading Shakespeare have carried themselves and remain to be true although they have been around for hundreds of years. The style in which William Shakespeare wrote has influenced a great amount of the literature that has been written in the more recent past-- books that are read throughout schools in the United States today. It is necessary to read the work of William Shakespeare in schools today, not only because of the lessons in his work, but to understand the roots of some of today’s literature.

Why read Shakespeare? Is the argument made by Michael Mack, is it good? Or extremely flawed? Let's find out by analyzing his speech and everything he said in it to find out if Shakespeare is really worth reading.

Starting off, Mack used an analogy. On lines 9-12, let me try to explain by comparing shakespeare to music. Since most people enjoy music, shakespeare ,it’s sometimes similar to a good song or beat. People find it appealing to read. Lines 67-71, great books were thought of as mirrors, when you read a good book you are looking into a pretty special mirror. That mirror reflects the world in new ways. Macks reason for this, which helps support his claim is when reading shakespeare, you could be learning more about reality. Using this for college students, stating shakespeare might prepare them for the real world when they graduate.

Some students find Shakespeare difficult to understand because they don't get it, they don't understand what any of it means. The writing is too difficult to comprehend what is happening. It's too complex the first time they read it, so they figure that the next time they read it, it will be just as awful as the first. Some people just don't want to read it. They're just normal guys who don't think there is any merit in trying to decipher Shakespeare when they can enjoy the simple pleasures in life. Mack presents that reading Shakespeare the first time will be hard and not enjoyable, even the second time might be bad, but if you keep reading and reading it, it will eventually click and Shakespeare can teach a lot of lessons about life.

Heard of the sayings “Kill with kindness” or “All that glitters is not gold?” All these popular sayings originated from one man, William Shakespeare. Shakespeare is considered the best playwright and author the world has ever seen, his works from over four-hundred years ago still heavily influence the English language. Shakespeare's works are taught in schools worldwide, but some are starting to question whether or not students should be required to read Shakespeare. Shakespeare should be taught to students because of his word choice and his messages that can apply to anyone, even though some may argue that his lessons can only apply to white people since he was white.