Why "Good Grief" Shakespeare?
Because you can’t go wrong with an alliterative oxymoron.
Who deserves the title “Good Grief” more than Shakespeare? Among high school and college students, the idea of studying Shakespeare can cause immeasurable grief.
Perhaps only Organic Chemistry strikes as much dread in young hearts.
Shakespeare, however, is just as good as he is grief.
His plays and poems have remained popular for over four centuries because ordinary people (not just rabid English teachers and British actors!) have consistently connected with what he says and how he says it. They enjoy the stories he tells. Those stories are the reason behind Good Grief.
Nowadays, when we hear “good grief,” many of us think of good ol’ Charlie Brown, the character who immortalized the phrase. For fifty years, Charles Schulz wrote “Peanuts,” which (to us, at least) is the comic strip equivalent of Shakespeare’s plays: a universally appealing collection of insights into humanity.
“Peanuts” and Shakespeare are both classic, accessible, and—above all—timeless.
We can think of no better way to honor these ideas than to call ourselves Good Grief.