LAST WORD
Hamlet and #MeToo
An English teacher reflects on conversations
in his all-male classroom .

BY JOSEPH LA BELLA
I Teaching and
raising boys in
the aftermath
of the #MeToo
movement is a
process toward
thoughtfulness through
conversation. ’ve been teaching “Hamlet” recently — Shake-
speare’s play about the murder of the title
character’s father by his brother and the fall-
out as Hamlet is rendered maddened both by the
truth and his task to “revenge [this] foul and most
unnatural murder.” Perhaps the most unfortu-
nate victim of the play is Ophelia, who is used by
her father, battered by her boyfriend (Hamlet)
and drowned in a stream in what is presumably a
suicide. The conversations that emerge from my
students — all high school-age boys — because of
this text are powerful, transformative and often
incredibly uncomfortable. Does Ophelia deserve
her fate? Every year, a student feeling particu-
larly cozy and confident will explain why Oph-
elia deserves her doom. Then everyone pauses,
though not very long. Most of the students shrink,
glancing at neighbors and predicting the coming
argument. Some settle in and perk up, ready to
mix it up. Talk about a teachable moment. The
challenging conversation that ensues is frustrat-
ingly essential for a better world.

Raising two young daughters, I feel fortunate
to be parenting in our present world. Finally, our
American society seems ready to confront the pain
that has been the historic female sexual experi-
ence. The #MeToo movement has provided a plat-
form for voices long silenced, scared and shamed.

Although the revelation of these painful truths is
tough, the promise of the future is invigorating.

We should strive for a world where vulnerable
people do not have to fear sexual assault; I refuse
to believe this goal is unrealistic. Through this con-
text, it is incumbent upon me to seize any oppor-
tunity to address misogyny or inequality within
my all-male classroom — if for no other reason
than to cultivate a safer world for my daughters.

My students recognize that my classroom is
a sacred place where we suspend judgement,
operate under the presumption of goodwill, and
communally search for deeper truths through the
written word. This can be glorious; it can also be
disastrous. But from day one, we agree to put in
the work. All of us. We must always be open to
new perspectives, or we risk reaffirming archaic
ways of viewing the world.

Many teachers enjoy the luxury of avoiding the
world outside school because their academic sub-
ject doesn’t interface much with current events.

This is not so in a high school literature class
40 WashingtonFAMILY FEBRUARY 2019
where we spend our time reading other peoples’
stories and reflecting on the implications of them.

Is Victor Frankenstein an admirable scientist?
How are we all like Dr. Jeckyl?
I’ve taught “Hamlet” for years, yet in the after-
math of the #MeToo movement, I’ve been strug-
gling through it. Everywhere you look in this play,
women are repressed, abused and victimized. Does
the literary canon justify its exposure of destructive
gendered relationships to impressionable, mallea-
ble young minds? That might be an unfair question.

Maybe the more important question is: How can I
help the young men I teach avoid Hamlet’s missteps?
Undoubtedly, these days my students find them-
selves in a much more complex world than Hamlet’s,
where consent wasn’t really much of a question. For
so long we’ve acquiesced to the reality of female sub-
ordination that it has been ingrained in our experi-
ence of the world, from Ephesians, “Wives, submit to
your own husbands, as to the Lord,” to our present
fight over women’s reproductive rights and remarks
from politicians like Missouri Congressman Todd
Aiken, who said, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female
body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
For too long, we’ve espoused the notion, “boys will
be boys” to excuse, if not legitimize, the damage
young men leave in their wake as merely a function
of the growing process rather than a cultural or ideo-
logical misalignment.

Thankfully, this old order is crumbling, but we
must help our young boys navigate this new world
for which the map is still being made. Some of my
most thoughtful students come to me expressing
deep romantic anxiety, not about saying the right
thing but about knowing how to obtain authentic
consent and avoiding the physical/psychological
damage that was previously unacknowledged. What
a heavy burden for a developing adolescent mind!
The 21st-century educator has become the
coach who guides students through their experi-
ence of the world, helping them to think critically
and reflect on their assumptions. In this way,
teaching and raising boys in the aftermath of the
#MeToo movement is a process toward thought-
fulness through conversation. We must provide
boys with safe space to express their thoughts
and the composure to guide them accordingly. ■
Joe La Bella is an English teacher at Loyola
Blakefield in Towson.