William Shakespeare, why?

voz es

I cant understand the respect given to the writeing William Shakespeare. To me it is an excuse for backwards English and what slurred drunken speach is to writeing English. I was torchered by it in School.

I'm going to try it one more time, well eight times to be exact. I read somewhere that his plays need to be re-read over and over again and when you do get it there is great satification, i'm not sure is it the little buzz of a feeling that finishing a crossword brings or what but one thing for sure is that I dont want to outright disregard something that so many people love without properly giving it a reasonable chance. It seems Shakespeare needs eight and so be it.

But tell me which one would you recomend me to read first and why?

This being the forum that it is, please forgive spelling and grammer mistakes.

PurpleBee

How about some sonnets to ease your way in gently?

voz es

Could you recomend some titles please.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Da Shins Kelly

As Permabear said, the English language has changed since Shakespeare's time (and continues to change), but the English he used is only one linguistic generation away from what we speak today. I appreciate that it is difficult to understand sometimes, which is why I think it's best to buy the Oxford editions of his plays. I think they're the best for footnotes.

Also bear in mind that Shakespeare's plays were not written to be read, they were written to be performed, and so reading them the way we tend to today (particularly in academic circles) is wholly unnatural. That should be taken into consideration. If you can see a good stage production of one of his plays, I think that would be worth going to. Last I checked it was possible to watch a Royal Shakespeare Company production of MacBeth with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench on Youtube. An excellent version.

im invisible

or Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet,

Toby Take a Bow

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Also bear in mind that Shakespeare's plays were not written to be read, they were written to be performed,

I definitely found this in school. Reading through them and you would become bogged down (to a degree) in trying to understand the language, the metaphors, what they were referring to. Seeing it performed (well) on stage and it's much easier to get a handle on. Then you can go back to the text and go further (if you want).

Kinski

Toby Take a Bow wrote: »

I definitely found this in school. Reading through them and you would become bogged down (to a degree) in trying to understand the language, the metaphors, what they were referring to. Seeing it performed (well) on stage and it's much easier to get a handle on. Then you can go back to the text and go further (if you want).

I've found the opposite - it's better to familiarise yourself with the text before seeing it performed.

voz es

Thankyou for all your help. you all seem to have different ways of enjoying shalesphere. I must admit i like the idea of reading it twice and then viewing it and then going back to the books after. Now hopefully it will be enjoyable.

PurpleBee

voz es wrote: »

Could you recomend some titles please.

I think the sonnets are a good way of getting yourself used to the richness of his language in that his words can hold so many different meanings at the same time, a good example is sonnet 136 and the proliferation of meaning in the word "will."

you can get the sonnets easily on the internet, they're numbered rather than titled so just browse through them at your leisure.

Earthhorse

When it comes to the plays, I really would recommend going to see them first. They are difficult to read - well, I find them difficult to read anyway, and follow - so seeing them acted out on stage can really help. Of course, you don't have the time to absorb everything that's being said, the time to reflect on it, when you see a production the way you would when reading, but you can do that after you've seen them.

As for which sonnets I would recommend; all of them.

Bazinga_N

I find my worst problem with reading Shakespeare has to be understanding what the writing actually means.. So I use this site and it has helped me hugely! http://nfs.sparknotes.com/ It takes the Actual text of the plays/sonnets and has a modernised version of the text right beside it! Good luck! I got a little buzz when I got one of his plays!

Da Shins Kelly

Bazinga_N wrote: »

I find my worst problem with reading Shakespeare has to be understanding what the writing actually means.. So I use this site and it has helped me hugely! http://nfs.sparknotes.com/ It takes the Actual text of the plays/sonnets and has a modernised version of the text right beside it! Good luck! I got a little buzz when I got one of his plays!

It's very easy to fall into a situation where you're using SparkNotes as a substitute for actually reading the material, so I'd be a bit wary of that. If it helps you, and you're using it to help you along with understanding difficult language, then I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Just be aware that it could be problematic in that it some times overshadows the aim of actually learning how to read literature, and is questionable on how well it actually relates to the material. Also, if you have any assignments to write on English literature, I would strongly advise against using SparkNotes, as the analyses can be quite misleading.

catherinej

I have to say that I am a huge fan of Shakespeare. His plays are still relevant to todays society as the themes are universal and essentially are similar to stories told by Ancient Greeks and authors today i.e. lost love, greed and death. I know that some publishers have his plays with comprehensive notes on language, themes etc though these are usually limited to the works studied by secondaery school students. The Royal Shakespeare Company have produced great plays which I would definetley recommend watching but after you have read the text. Enjoy

Kinski

catherinej wrote: »

I know that some publishers have his plays with comprehensive notes on language, themes etc though these are usually limited to the works studied by secondaery school students.

No they're not.

letsbet

Shakespeare is definitely worth the effort. If you read Hamlet and don't love it then there's something wrong with you imo.

PurpleBee

letsbet wrote: »

Shakespeare is definitely worth the effort. If you read Hamlet and don't love it then there's something wrong with you imo.

Assuming he wrote it that is :P

Da Shins Kelly

PurpleBee wrote: »

Assuming he wrote it that is :P

Please don't start me on this.

PurpleBee

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Please don't start me on this.

Ah sure I'm only Kydding.

susanmiller696

Every person have different viewpoints so may be others like what you don’t, and one reason for your dislike could be that you read it as a school book which makes it but obvious boring and ridiculous.