WHAT SHAKESPEARE PLAY WOULD YOU ASSIGN?

WHAT SHAKESPEARE PLAY WOULD YOU ASSIGN? Mary Jane had a long, interesting e mail exchange with a friend last week about which Shakespeare play the friend should assign to her eighth graders. (They read MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM in 7th grade and ROMEO AND JULIET in 9th grade). I put in my two cents worth and recommended HAMLET on the basis that at that age, they would not understand some things in a Shakespeare play, but they would certainly understand revenge, especially because revenge is important in so many of today’s movies and television shows. My friend wrote back that indeed her students understand revenge very well and that for that reason she was considering choosing THE TEMPEST. Upon reflection, I realize that I don’t think of THE TEMPEST as a revenge play, but of course it is.