British universities putting 'trigger warnings' on Shakespeare, Greek tragedies for being too dark

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British universities have reportedly begun putting trigger warnings on great Greek and Shakespearean tragedies for students who may be sensitive to their dark content. 

U.K. outlet The Telegraph reported Wednesday that the University of Derby and several other British universities have deemed celebrated tragedies like Shakespeare’s "Hamlet" as "potentially upsetting" for students.

As such, university staff have attached "trigger warnings" to a school literature module that covers classic tragedies, cautioning students that the works are "obsessed" with suffering.

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One British university has placed a "trigger warning" on a class featuring works of Shakespeare, thanks to the stories' dark content. (The Associated Press)

The Telegraph added, "Athenian dramas concerning the deaths of mythical kings, and Arthur Miller’s classic Death of a Salesman, are also on the reading list for the module, which has been given a blanket advisory on how the tragic could be troubling."

The outlet provided the text of the warning provided by professors for their students, which stated, "Tragedy is a genre obsessed with violence and suffering, often of a sexual or graphic kind, and so some of the content might be triggering for some students."

The "trigger warning" provided an additional note from the class instructor: "If you feel that your engagement with particular texts or themes is going to present challenges, do speak to me in advance of the class."

Covering 2500 years of plays, the University of Derby module begins with ancient Greek tragedies, like those from Aeschylus and Sophocles. Both Greek playwrights have stories dealing with murder and dark sexual material. 

For instance, Sophocles’ "Oedipus Rex" deals with a king who sleeps with his mother and kills his father. Such plays have prompted the warning, with staff noting they "explicitly engage with themes of violence and trauma, frequently sexual in nature."

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A portrait of William Shakespeare is seen in London. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Other U.K. colleges have provided similar warnings. According to the piece, the University of Aberdeen in Scotland has put a trigger warning on "Beowulf" due to its depictions of "animal cruelty" and "ableism."

The University of Greenwich has put a warning label on the classic seafaring adventure story "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" for a "potentially upsetting" depiction of the death of an albatross.

And the University of Warwick has warned that Thomas Hardy’s "Far From the Madding Crown" depicts the "cruelty of nature" and of "rural life."

The University of Derby justified the warning, saying it has been given "because many of the plays explicitly engage with themes of violence and trauma, frequently sexual in nature, and the module leader believes that students benefit from being made aware of this before classes begin."

Though not everyone agreed. The outlet spoke with University of Kent education expert Professor Frank Furedi, who claimed that the warning defeats the purpose of the tragedy genre in the first place.

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He said, "In order to draw a reader or an audience into the drama, tragedy is meant to provoke emotional upheaval and cause upset. If they fail to provoke strong emotions then a tragedy is anything but tragic. There is no such thing as a safe tragedy and students who wish to study this literary form have to live with it."

The professor added, "A trigger warning is merely a banal way of saying beware of engaging with this wonderful art form. The real tragedy is the use of trigger warnings for grown-up students who are about to encounter their first taste of Euripides."

This March 17, 2009 photo provided by VisitBritain shows a monument to William Shakespeare in the Poets’ Corner at Westminster Abbey in London. (AP/VisitBritain)