This paper aims at discussing Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of Carnivalization in Shakespearean plays and in the interactive processes of reading classes of these same plays in fundamental public schools of poor neighborhood in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. We notice the importance of the debate of ideological questions and forms of power in literature as an opportunity to broaden students' critical conscience and to create a 'subversive classroom'. We also bring out the relevance of the carnivalesque perspective not as a escape valve but as a point of view that can help to understand and is part of our cultural system.
teaching literature; carnival; interaction