Research Question and Thesis
I started this project with a question rather than a thesis. That question (as found in my Focus Project post) is What elements of Shakespeare can be successfully translated into the young adult experience?
This served me well as I researched, and I've finally come to an arguable thesis: Teen lit adaptations of Shakespeare can make the Bard more accessible to young adults, adding to--rather than detracting from--Shakespeare's original texts.
In order to prove this thesis, I took a look at three types of sources: the Bard's original texts, specifically A Midsummer Night's Dream; several YA lit adaptations; and scholarly articles about YA Shakespeare.
Analyzing Original Texts
I read several Shakespeare plays this semester, and I chose to look closely at A Midsummer Night's Dream. As I read, I looked for themes that would appeal to teenagers reading the play or that authors could use when adapting the play into novel form. Two themes that I found were frustrated love and female friendship. I discovered that the Bard's plays are full of ideas that teenagers can appreciate at their unique stage in life; however, because the language is difficult, teens may need help exploring Shakespeare's themes. YA literature is one way that teens can have greater access to Shakespeare's stories and themes.
Exploring Young Adult Adaptations
Of course, no study of YA Shakespeare adaptations would be complete without examining examples of YA Shakespeare novels. I originally planned to read multiple books based on each play, as planned in this post for The Tempest, but that turned out to be too overwhelming. The library here has picture books, middle grade novels, YA novels, and graphic novels for many of Shakespeare's texts, but I needed a narrower focus, so I chose to look at YA novels only. I made a list of possible books to read in my Focus Project post.
I reviewed Ariel and The Loser's Guide to Life and Love. I also read Dating Hamlet and The Wednesday Wars, but I didn't have the time to write up reviews, and I read Claire's review of a YA adaptation. Reading these books and reading summaries of other books showed me the breadth of Shakespeare adaptations for teens. Some of these books take place from the perspective of minor characters; some take place during the events of the play while some extend before and after; some use a historical setting and some a modern setting; some approximate the original language or use lines from the play while others use modern language; some are based directly on the text while others adapt loosely.
In other words, Shakespeare is widely adaptable! Authors who want to write a Shakespeare YA novel can do so pretty much however they like. But all these adaptations have one thing in common: they point the reader back to the original text. Even though the novels (at least the good ones) stand on their own, all of them can spark readers' interest in reading the original plays. Aside even from all the good they do of helping the reader understand the basic story and characters, the most important function of these books is to make Shakespeare seem appealing and manageable for teen readers to explore.
Finding Scholarly Resources
To back up my own conclusions, I looked at a couple of books discussing Shakespeare and YA literature, which I overviewed in my Scholarly Resources post. (You can also see the full bibliographical information for these books over at my Sources tab.) I followed up by reviewing several articles, one comparing Hamlet to Bridge to Terabithia and another about Harry Potter and Shakespeare as a storyteller. These articles brought me to two conclusions. First, Shakespeare affects YA literature today even outside of direct adaptations. Second, high school teachers have used modern texts to help students explore Shakespeare for years, and such "bridge texts" help students appreciate Shakespeare better.
Conclusions
Although some may argue that Shakespeare adaptations are a waste of time and that young readers should dive in to reading the Bard's plays immediately, the truth is that adaptations can augment the experience of teen readers. Adaptations help teens understand Shakespeare's characters, stories, and themes in a richer, more enjoyable way than just looking up Sparknotes. These adaptations may be used in or outside of the classroom, and Shakespeare scholars should view them as a valuable resource for teens studying Shakespeare.
