I don’t recall any trigger warnings when The Merchant of Venice was discussed in class. And while I did not appreciate the depiction of Shylock as a character replete with just about every anti-Semitic stereotype possible, I do recall pointing out that Shakespeare likely never met a Jew, since Jews had been expelled from England in 1290. This led to an interesting class discussion.
That was then.
Now? Trigger warnings, safe spaces and demanding that professors be fired for their “insensitivity.”
Students at the prestigious Cambridge University have been given “trigger warnings” ahead of a Shakespeare reading assignment because the assigned play involves depictions of sexual violence….
Gill Evans, emeritus professor of medieval theology and intellectual history at Cambridge, criticized the decisions to forewarn students but conceded that the document was likely produced due to “a genuine wish not to risk upsetting students.”….
Cambridge University slammed over Shakespeare ‘trigger warnings’
Oxford University law students being issued with “trigger warnings” before lectures
