Most of classic literature was written in decades that have long since had any relevance to our current society. As a GCSE student studying classic literature, I do not relate to a lot of the characters portrayed in the classics because of how different our society is to how it was before the 1900s. Many books of this time period feature misogynistic, racist and ableist themes and yet they are still in GCSE curriculums. It is time we reviewed these texts and questioned their relevance in our modern times.
Jekyll and Hyde, Great Expectations, almost any Shakespeare play. These are all written by and for white men because at the time it was assumed that it was only white men who could read, write or afford to buy books – which is now commonly disputed. Even supposedly feminist classics like Jane Eyre are problematic in the sense that the focus is on Eyre’s relationship with Rochester, marriage being the end goal which epitomises her happiness.
However, some people argue that it is important to study the classics as it is a part of history and should be remembered for that. Understanding how things were in the past allows us to better understand how we got to our present. As said in the online Artifice article on The Importance of Learning the Classics, “the fact remains that the classic works of literature represent achievements of human thought in their scope”. In other words, we should celebrate the imagination and creativity of those authors.
Ultimately, we should study all different kinds of literature, including classics which may feel outdated. This is because we should celebrate how far we’ve come as a society and so we do not repeat history.
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