To be or not to be?

[me123]

A simple question, do you like the works of William Shakespeare?

I love them (how sad, some of you are probably saying, but it's true). They're so well written and wonderful to see performed and study: I have to say I enjoyed Hamlet more than anything else I studied in English ever: only Macbeth and Sylvia Plath comes close.

[Cake for Brains]

If you'd asked me two years ago, I'd have said 'no' very, very loudly. But, I've studied Shakespeare for A-level recently, and I've found myself really enjoying it. 'Hamlet', 'Othello' and 'Measure for Measure' are my favourites.

[Mayday Malone]

Ditto

At secondary school I did MacBeth and Romeo & Juliet and I was none too keen. At college I did Othello and The Taming of the Shrew. I tore Shrew to shreds in my essay and found I was starting to get into it.

I've recently tried quoting and what have you but also aiming to watch plays being performed to broaden the horizon. My efforts to see The Tempest last month with Patrick Stewart were wasted as it was fully booked out. So "It's OK" at present.

[Bee Gees Fan]

I voted Like it.

I really, really liked doing Othello last year. Of course, that was also helped by the fact that we had a good teacher.

[Wezzo]

Sorry, 'not my thing'. As I write this I'm also doing an essay on "Antony & Cleopatra", and I cannot imagine anything more mind-numbing than sitting through another of his plays and analysing every last line.

I'm not opposed to non-contemporary English literature - I love Chaucer - but Shakey doesn't do it for me.

[Mayday Malone]

Sorry, 'not my thing'. As I write this I'm also doing an essay on "Antony & Cleopatra", and I cannot imagine anything more mind-numbing than sitting through another of his plays and analysing every last line.

I'm not opposed to non-contemporary English literature - I love Chaucer - but Shakey doesn't do it for me.

Shakey?

Shakin' Stevens writing plays now?

[Wezzo]

Sorry, 'not my thing'. As I write this I'm also doing an essay on "Antony & Cleopatra", and I cannot imagine anything more mind-numbing than sitting through another of his plays and analysing every last line.

I'm not opposed to non-contemporary English literature - I love Chaucer - but Shakey doesn't do it for me.

Shakey?

Shakin' Stevens writing plays now?

Hehe.

[DHP]

His comedies are fantastic. If you can get used to the language, Shakespeare had a great knack for all types of comedy, whether slapstick, farce or wit, he really did master them all and wasn't afraid to mix one with the other.

I think he had a great understanding of his characters and their developments, which really are the strengths of his dramas and romances. Again, you've got to get used to the language, which I know is the main turn-off for a lot of people.

If you want a good introduction to the basic plot elements of Shakespeare and his characters, I'd recommend BBC's fantastic Shakespeare Retold, which was shown at the end of 2005. It's 4 different 90 minute plays updated with modern language and settings, but the essence of the characters and the plot were all kept or tried to as best they could. Pretty entertaining stuff really!

[CatNamedRudy]

Love most of his comedies. The tradgedies I can take or leave and some of them I can just leave. I've seen Richard III several times and I never need to see it again! Romeo and Juliet is ok and I was able to sit through about 10 minutes of Julius Caesar. (I had to read that twice in high school and it was just as bad both times).

I'd much rather watch a Shakespeare play though than read it. They are a very difficult read.

[me123]

I'd much rather watch a Shakespeare play though than read it. They are a very difficult read.

Definately agreed! I'll hopefully have to write an essay on it in my final exam for English, and some of the quotes are horrific to memorise:

"Haste me to know't that I with wings
As swift as meditation or the thoughts of love
May sweep to my revenge!"

[dorianblue]

Love most of his comedies. The tradgedies I can take or leave and some of them I can just leave. I've seen Richard III several times and I never need to see it again! Romeo and Juliet is ok and I was able to sit through about 10 minutes of Julius Caesar. (I had to read that twice in high school and it was just as bad both times).

I'd much rather watch a Shakespeare play though than read it. They are a very difficult read.

Completely agree! IMO they're not even supposed to be read. They're plays - you watch them.

I have a nice wee collection of Shakespeare movies. My favourites are Richard Loncraine's Richard III, Ken Branagh's Hamlet and Baz's Romeo and Juliet.

[Stratman]

I have the complete works of William Shakespeare, but I haven't ever really sat down and read it. His work is great when played out, though.

[!Amz!]

Did Macbeth last year for SATs - HATED IT TO DEATH! We're supposedly doing Romeo and Juliet this year, which surprisingly, I'm looking forward to because it's apparantly really good.

[me123]

Did Macbeth last year for SATs - HATED IT TO DEATH! We're supposedly doing Romeo and Juliet this year, which surprisingly, I'm looking forward to because it's apparantly really good.

As my English teacher put it:

"I was going to do Romeo and Juliet, but it's disgusting! A forty year old man chasing after a thirteen year old girl!"

He seemed to think it was paedophilia, which it wasn't (well, not at the time). Hope you enjoy it though. Once you get into the language, they;re really good.

[Leanne]

Was Romeo 40? I know he was meant to be older, but I didn't think by that much.

Anyway, like you say, times were different back then.

[me123]

Was Romeo 40? I know he was meant to be older, but I didn't think by that much.

I don't think so, he was more like 21 it is believed (BGF, do you know?). My teacher hates some things, like "airport" novels (Jeffrey Archer, John Grisham, Dan Brown etc. ) so he's probably just on one of his "times" when he said that. I see his point, but it was a little dramatic.

[Leanne]

I thought he was around 21 too.

I studied R&J last year and remember barely anything about it, apart from the adaptation I watched featuring a young Alan Rickman in tights.

I prefer his poetry to his plays.

ETA - with one exception, being A Midsummer Night's Dream. I saw an open-air performance of that a couple of summers ago at a midlands castle. It was very atmospheric, as dusk fell candles were lit... doesn't sound that special, but it was really nice.

Has anyone ever been to Stratford? And does anyone believe in the theory that Shakespeare was a collective name for a number of writers, rather than being an actual person?

[Mayday Malone]

Romeo was at least in his mid-20's. Juliet earlier. Most portrayals of him seem to be this age.

[Bee Gees Fan]

Has anyone ever been to Stratford?

I went to Stratford almost a year ago (5th May 2006) with my Drama group and some of our teachers, to see a performance of Hamlet.

We also went when I was a baby, but I don't remember anything about that trip.

And does anyone believe in the theory that Shakespeare was a collective name for a number of writers, rather than being an actual person?

I haven't heard that, but I have heard a theory that the playwright Christopher Marlowe's murder was faked (he was killed around 1593) and that he was the one who wrote Shakespeare's plays.

[me123]

There's also the one that Shakespeare was actually bisexual and, whilst he left his wife in Stratford, he was in London "bumming lords" as it was most succinctly put.

[Leanne]

Yes he did seem sexually ambiguous... Sonnet 13 is said to be about his young male friend, and I think he was his muse for other works. Cross-dressing also features in some of his plays, though I think that was more down to the trend of coincidence-strewn plots at the time rather than anything to do with his preferences.

[Mayday Malone]

That kind of thing was quite common back then. King James I was said to have many male lovers included the Duke of Buckingham. Though historically hazy being the sixteenth/seventeenth centuries.

[Stratman]

Was Romeo 40? I know he was meant to be older, but I didn't think by that much.

I don't think so, he was more like 21 it is believed (BGF, do you know?). My teacher hates some things, like "airport" novels (Jeffrey Archer, John Grisham, Dan Brown etc. ) so he's probably just on one of his "times" when he said that. I see his point, but it was a little dramatic.

What a pretentious bastard, those are the only type of novel I read.

[Moon-Crane]

I think any love of Shakespeare is carefully drilled out of you at school by the tedium of examining his work to death to the nth degree.

I found reading 'classics' outside of schooling allows you to take more from them.

[Leanne]

Was Romeo 40? I know he was meant to be older, but I didn't think by that much.

I don't think so, he was more like 21 it is believed (BGF, do you know?). My teacher hates some things, like "airport" novels (Jeffrey Archer, John Grisham, Dan Brown etc. ) so he's probably just on one of his "times" when he said that. I see his point, but it was a little dramatic.

What a pretentious bastard, those are the only type of novel I read.

I find it annoying when someone hates a book they've never even read. Their opinion's worthless if they haven't, based probably on prejudice or hearsay.

And I bet that pretentious bastard never read any John Grisham