#Easily offended

[whydidisavethistomyphone]

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Chris Hastings

Published: Jun 25, 2023

Is this a case of crazy wokery I see before me? Actors ridicule university trigger warnings over blood in Macbeth

Queen University Belfast has issued a warning to students studying Shakespeare

It stressed Macbeth 'could cause offence' due to its depictions of 'bloodshed'  

Similar warnings have been applied to the Twelfth Night and Titus Andronicus

It is Shakespeare's most violent play – a bloody saga packed with stabbing, strangling and poisoning that reaches a grisly climax with a beheading.

And for more than 400 years audiences have been enthralled – if a little disturbed – by the butchery of Macbeth.

But now one of the UK's top universities stands accused of 'infantilising' students after it warned them they might be 'offended' by the 'bloodshed' in the play.

Queen's University Belfast has issued the warning to undergraduates studying a module called Further Adventures in Shakespeare on its BA English course.

'You are advised that this play could cause offence as it references and / or deals with issues and depictions relating to bloodshed,' the warning, a copy of which has been obtained by this newspaper under Freedom of Information laws, states.

The university has also applied similar warnings to the Bard's Richard III, Twelfth Night and Titus Andronicus.

Some of Britain's biggest theatrical stars last night branded the warnings counterproductive and unnecessary. They point out that Macbeth, which was first performed in 1606, is particularly popular with schoolchildren.

Sir Ian McKellen, who starred opposite Dame Judi Dench in Sir Trevor Nunn's landmark 1976 RSC production, said warnings such as this could undermine the dramatic impact of the piece.

He said: 'My sister (a teacher) used to show Sir Trevor Nunn's TV version of the 1976 Macbeth to her teenage students.

'She'd pull down the blinds, start the video and then leave the classroom and count the minutes till she heard the first scream from within. Had the youngsters had trigger warnings in advance, the effect of the play would have been considerably diminished.'

He added: 'I remember talking to a priest who saw a number of performances of the stage production at the Stratford Other Place.

'He would hold out his crucifix throughout the performance, to protect the audience from the devilry conjured by the cast. I suppose these triggers are something similar.'

Call The Midwife star Jenny Agutter, who has acted in Shakespeare's The Tempest, King Lear and Love's Labour's Lost, said: 'I don't understand why anyone should feel warnings are necessary for Shakespeare's plays. Unless we need to be constantly warned that depicting human nature might cause offence.'

Sir Richard Eyre, the former Director of the National Theatre who has directed productions of Hamlet, Richard III and King Lear, said: 'It's completely fatuous and totalitarian to try to police people's minds with these absurd warnings. Ridiculous, contemptible, infantilising.

Presumably the people putting out the trigger warnings feel they are able to cope with the content of these plays, but weaker, younger, less intelligent people aren't.' Doctor Who star David Tennant and The Good Wife actress Cush Jumbo are due to star in a new production of Macbeth which opens in London in December. It is one of four major productions of the play set to open in the UK.

Queen's Belfast's trigger warning for Twelfth Night centres on what it calls the 'depictions relating to sexuality or gender. Warnings for Richard III and Titus Andronicus relate to depictions of disability in the former and 'race and or racism' in the latter. A spokesperson for Queen's University Belfast declined to comment.

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'[A priest] would hold out his crucifix throughout the performance, to protect the audience from the devilry conjured by the cast. I suppose these triggers are something similar.'

Very apt. It's magical thinking. Especially considering they've not only been shown to not work, they've been shown to make things worse.

Also: Spoiler, much?

[pointless-letters]

“People complaining about things are such snowflakes. On the other hand, my complaining about people complaining about things makes me a brave, common-sense speaking, salt of the Earth hero. It’s really very simple.”

[rabid-dog-steve-horn]

[geezerwench]

[ntimmel]

Easily Offended People

[postersbykeith]

[littlewalken]

Remember when the radio didn't give a shit and would play Holiday in Cambodia?

[3amcynic]

Not Easily Offended

I know a lot of people who complain that others get offended too easily. (Mostly Boomer relatives, of course) If you find yourself feeling the same way, I’m going to let you in on a secret.... Very often it is not the specific thing that you said that bothers those around you. It is the cumulative affect of you just being an asshole for years. When you’re a selfish, self-serving, insensitive shithead year after year, eventually people’s tolerance of you starts to wane. So then the minute you open your mouth you’re going to get eye-rolls and groans. You don't really have to say anything that offensive - it’s you're general continued existence that has become offensive.

[notbecauseofvictories]

I'm re-reading Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters for book club, and there should really be a truly epic saga about The Friendship Of Gytha and Esme, Young Witches Who Absolutely Shouldn't Get Along But Do, Shockingly (Even If Sometimes There are Minor Natural Disasters Because There Has Been A Row)

[mylittleredgirl]

stumbling back to the safety of the castle (star trek fandom) covered in blood from the front lines (the wiki of any other fandom that doesn't separate on-screen canon from random shit that happened in a novel once)

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

The people who say that "words are violence" are telling you what they plan to do if you say something they don't like.

The point is to make you responsible for their reaction. Like any abuser.

[pointless-letters]

Syd from Birmingham: vexed by vegans

[ghaikcake]

* The Emperor disapproves *

[westbifire]

I really believe that if the TS characters existed at least one of them would hate me. No clue if anyone else feels this way, so I made a poll!

[litttlestars]

what they dont tell you about feeling too much is the overwhelming anger and frustration side of it and the guilt you feel afterwards for feeling that way over smt so small and trying to convince yourself that you're not an awful person over it