Which Shakespeare play should I read?

[Longgrain]

I've been thing about brushing up on my Shakespeare this spring, and since i haven't read much Shakespeare since college, I thought I ask you all where I should start...

Bellow are the top ten Shakespearean plays according to About.com...
http://shakespeare.about.com/library/weekly/aatp110701.htm (The tenth play "The Winter's Tale" has been excluded to make room for an "other" option).

Some of these I've read, and some of them I haven't. Keep in mind, while I'm fairly up with Shakespeare, I'm by no means an expert...

[Shakespeare]

1. Other - Henry V

You'll find fascinating parallels to our current administration (though, as that's one of my favorite plays, I'm loathe to see Henry as ANYTHING like the chimperor).

Great, great stuff. And if you read it, follow it up with a viewing of Branagh's film version of the play.

[Longgrain]

4. I'll guess I'll take your word, since you are Shakspere...

It does sound interesting, the shrub Admin as told by the Bard...

[TahitiNut]

30. Henry IV, Parts 1&2 make Henry V even better.

I think they sould be read in sequence.

[Shakespeare]

41. I agree, BUT....

And, actually, the entire Henriad (Richard II, H IV 1&2, and HV) should really be read in sequence.

That said, I think Henry V is one of the few history plays that also stands quite well by itself, so if one doesn't have the time or inclination to read the entire succession of plays, Henry V still offers much on its own.

[BlueIris]

76. I think I love you. I was just coming

here to post exactly that. EXACTLY.

[Longgrain]

2. Well bigwillq already suggested Hamlet...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x2951637#2951686

But I'm leaning toward the Tempest...

[Bouncy Ball]

3. Richard III.

Don't fuck around with those others. Read Richard III. He'll remind you a lot of a smarter version of boosh.

[EFerrari]

12. Sh didn't really have idiot kings? He had impulsive ones.

But, he had a lot of really cold calculating bastards. They were actually a specialty item, back there in the 16thC.

[tjwmason]

39. Just as long as you realise that it's total fiction and Tudor propaganda.

Richard III was a very fine king, and I am more than happy to wear the white rose of York.

[villager]

5. King Lear

Both the Fool and Kent are necessary figures for our present times...

[yewberry]

10. Absolutely agree.

Lear, hands down.

Of course, Winter's Tale is good if you're looking for some bear-on-man absurdity.

[Ron Green]

29. Another vote for Lear....

and the second scene of Act II contains one of the best put-down rants anywhere!

[Rambis]

42. Lear is a must

great stuff if you like Kings rages tied to weather patterns. In college I had to write a 20+ page paper on 15 lines of Lear. It was easy!

[jpgray]

54. Nother vote fer Lear (nt)

[EFerrari]

6. Depends what you want: sex, murder, intrigue, statecraft

Escapism? Silliness? What'll you have?

Ant & Cleo is my play, and probably my vote, not matta what.

[Longgrain]

15. My favorite play of the ones I've read so far is The Tempest

yeah I know, fantasy escapism, but I also loved Hamlet and King Lear...

I might have to read some of my old faves first before venturing into that undiscovered country...

[EFerrari]

17. Then try Measure

Elbow is hilarious, the Duke is Rovian and the lovers are really complicated. As is the ending.

Thanks. I don't get to do this very often. lol!

("I never respected my wife wi' man, woman or child!" -- Elbow)

[Left Is Write]

7. Any of the tragedies, but I particularly like Macbeth.

[JohnKleeb]

8. I am not recommending anything but why isn't Othello on your list

I thought it was pretty well known.

[Longgrain]

11. I copied the list from another site (read the OP)

I was just looking for a general list of places to start...and yes Othello is a good choice...:thumbsup:

[JohnKleeb]

14. I read it for English this year, enjoyed it

Have you read any Shakespeare before? the best start is Romeo and Juliet IMO, that was the first one I read, Ive read a shakespeare in all my years of HS except junior year which was American Literature.

[Longgrain]

19. I've read lots of Shakespeare, I even own the complete volume

of his works...tho there still much I haven't read yet.

And if you must know, Romeo and Juliet is something you read in High Scho...ah

Never mind...:7

[JohnKleeb]

22. i read it freshman year man, then Caesar

[bridgit]

9. shrew, midsummer, as you like it...

unless you care for a ye ole goode fashion slog. shakespearian trained thespian here; the heavies are fine but (not suggesting that you can't longgrain) you'll need to 'stay in' for the long haul imo.

otherwise...

titus andronicus, is my recommendation but not on the list

[EFerrari]

16. To blaspheme, if you learn ten words and three dick jokes

and read the play twice, after three plays Sh sounds like your best friends.

Or, maybe it's just me :eyes:

(Okay, your best friends on a great day.)

[bridgit]

18. ah...so, now go tell, an if thy tongue can speak,

who 'twas that cut thy tongue and ravish'd thee.

:hi:

[EFerrari]

20. LOL!

I can hardly read Titus. Can only imagine doing it!

[bridgit]

24. you bet'cha...

how's the weather in 'the city' this fine aftrenoon, yo?

:hi:

[EFerrari]

26. Sunny, with no chance of meatballs : )

[bridgit]

28. u phunny i likey u...

:toast:

[China_cat]

13. Midsummer Night's Dream

followed by Taming of the Shrew.

Then let Merchant of Venice lead you into the tragedies. Othello's a little bit easier to understand than the Scottish play.

[tjwmason]

40. Big second for Midsummer here

You could also add other similar stories by other writers such as 'The Fairy Queen' (music by Purcell to that is marvellous).

[Orsino]

21. Twelfth Night

For silly and accessible, you can't beat Twelfth Night. Much Ado or even Shrew for crackling wit, though I despise the latter's message.

[EFerrari]

25. One of my friends reads the last Kat speech as a "wink"

It's a stretch but works in performance. So, no subjugation, more like finding a place outside of being the "bad" daughter via an accomplice. Sort of cool reading, that Janet Adelman.

[Orsino]

34. That's the way I recalled Liz Taylor's Kate...

...but it doesn't hold up for me when I watch the movie as an adult. I saw Shrew live for what may be the last time a few years ago, and the actress did play it for laughs (and Petruchio played off his rocker, similarly helping to make it palatable)--but in a medium of words, the lack of an opposing viewpoint means the sexists prevail.

The manner of the telling is often elegant and hilarious, but knowing how it ends is too much of a downer for me.

[EFerrari]

37. Sort of like life. Oops, did I say that?

There is, though, an elasticity in Sh that invites subversion. I guess that's why the guy fascinates me. He could imagine that.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

50. I played "Viola" in a college performance

I think I was cast mostly because there was a guy at school who bore an eerie resemblance to me who was cast as my twin. I love this play; very clever.

I'd also recommend "Macbeth."

[Orsino]

72. Ah. I was Feste.

I'd tried out for Orsino, but had also written songs for Feste, so the director pushed me into a part I thought I didn't want. In retrospect, i think I was much better clowning and singing than i would have been trying to enliven Count Bump-on-a-log.

[Az]

Dupe delete.

Doh

[Az]

23. Don't read it, go see it

The plays the thing for which the script was written for. I love Shakespeare but I believe it should be primarily a visual medium.

[Longgrain]

27. No real theater life near me so might be a problem but..

There's a park in Worcester Ma that does one of those Shakespeare in the park things in the summer, me and a friend were thinking of checking it out last year but never got around to it.

Thanks for the advise...

[EFerrari]

32. Do it! After a few minutes your ear tunes up -- as when

you watch an Irish or British film? A comedy by day, a tragedy if by night.

We've got this great amphitheater out here near SF. I'd being studying SH and the first time I heard the first lines of my favorite play, actually teared up. The playing is the thing.

Take a picnic, don't cry and enjoy.

[TahitiNut]

31. All of the above plus King Lear, Othello, Twelfth Night, ...

... Taming of the Shrew, and all three Henry's.

[amazona]

33. everything is in Hamlet

If you haven't read that one, there you go.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Longgrain]

35. Read it a couple times, one of my faves.

Maybe I'll start with Hamlet, then ease myself into some of the lesser known stuff...

[Swamp Rat]

36. Try some other English writers like Christopher Marlowe, John Donne,

Thomas Campion, Thomas, Ben Jonson, John Milton, Sir Walter Ralegh, Edmund Spenser, to balance out the heavy-hittin' Shake-a-spear. :D

Spanish Golden Age Spanish writers are cool too: Miguel de Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Calderón de la Barca, and Luis de Góngora, et al. I highly recommend "Lazarillo de Tormes" by anonymous (published 1554). ;)

I'll let other DUers take up the other countries. :)

[EFerrari]

38. I can't believe you are wishing Spencer or Milton on Longgrain : )

But, I was also thinking that the poets would be a great way to get into the plays. Sydney, Campion, Fulke Greville, Sh's sonnets. The sonnets are like little dramas.

The other thing this thread remindeded of was, the first scene of every play has all the stakes in it, all the threads you will follow.

[Swamp Rat]

46. Yeah, the spelynge is dyficult to rede.

:D

You are right, the sonnets are like mini dramas, and fun to read too. :)

I've really diverged from my original path, staked out for me years ago. Now I'm into Brazilian writers like Coelho and Amado... em potuguês.

[EFerrari]

58. Wow! That's cool. Hey, give me a reading list. I can read

potuges via espanol. (Was surprised that I could.) My partner is from Brazil and he'd love it as well.

Back to the Renaissance, the Faerie Queene drives me nuts because allegory basically makes no sense to me. But, Spencer's sonnets are quite lovely, aren't they?

Milton: I wrastled with PL over the years, starting as a resentful feminist undergrad, until -- this is hilarious -- I wound up talking about it as music in my oral exam. There I was, conducting Milton. LOL. Maybe it was traumatic bonding? But, I can see how JM would be a life's work, all by himself. Even the divorce tracts are really interesting!

Getting very spoiled by this thread. Thank you.

[Swamp Rat]

63. ¿Lees tú el español?

Muy bien. Entonces te recomendo leer Ruben Dario, Jorge Luis Borges y Isabel Allende (de ella, me gusta mucho "Eva luna" y "La casa de los espíritus"). Sin emabargo, ... agora eu prefiro as obras em português, os livros e filmes. Eu gosto ler a literatura de cordel (seu companheiro pode te explicar). Gosta de ver um exemplo? Vou fazer um scan pra você. :)

Aí olha! É muito engraçado, ne? :D:




... :rofl:

[EFerrari]

68. Allende no, Borges si, Dario siempre

"Cuentos quieres, nina bella,
tengo muchos que contar --"

Y que rotulos mas bellos.

:)

[SOteric]

43. I recommend either

The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummernight's Dream, or Much Ado About Nothing.

They are not Shakespeare's most complex works, but they are the works I have my young students start with, as these three are by far the more approachable. Additionally, I suggest you start with a good synopsis or some Cliff Notes. Seriously, it very much helps those who haven't read a great deal in Middle English to know what's going on in the plot sufficiently to aid in comprehension of some of the archaic linguistics.

:hi:

[Longgrain]

44. I'm not exactly a beginner, I just haven't read much in a while

I actually never read the Taming of the Shrew, so maybe that would be a choice to start with...:hi:

[SOteric]

45. Yes, I understand that.

And I think it's admirable that you want to brush up on some of his work.

I only suggest the more approachable works because, beginner or no, Shakespeare can be rather cumbersome reading to those of us who more often read more modern works. If you're making the effort to get back into some deeper works, then I think you deserve the opportunity to enjoy it. I wouldn't start with Titus Andronicus, MacBeth or Richard III for just this very reason. They're certainly comprehensible, but they have a tendency to leave a person in a disparing, embittered funk for days on end.

[EFerrari]

61. Agree. Othello, Julius Caesar, Hamlet

might be the end of the pool to start in.

Even though I'm supposed to be a pro, multimedia is fun. You can rent great productions of all three to watch as you read. When I was in the trenches with SH, I bought tapes of every play, so I could listen as well. There's also music, amazing graphic art. Why slog when you can sample at the buffet? :)

Mostly, have fun. This guy was SO much fun in so many directions. The ability to create enjoyment is a highly underrated virtue, imo.

[politicat]

70. I will second Much Ado since Beatrice is one of WS's strongest women.

She's very self-assured and she thinks very well.

(on edit: I apologize for being pedantic, but this is one of my twitchy points because I am in love with Chaucer, and have worked hard to be able to sight-read Middle English.)

However, Shakespeare's works are not written in Middle English. It's modern English, though the dialect is somewhat different. Middle English is Chaucer, and it is truly a different language. The difference between my written English and Shakespeare's is approximately the same as the difference between my spoken, dialectical English and the spoken, dialectical English of a Kiwi. We can understand each other, but it may take some footnotes. Also, spelling had not yet standardized for WS, something we are immeasurably fortunate to have. (Freepers aside.)

My HS English teacher was a Shakespeare scholar - she spent summers at Cambridge and worked in HS because she liked it. Her advice was NEVER, ever use the Cliffs notes, although the Folger's notes in the play itself were okay. She said that if one doesn't understand a section, to read it out loud several times, until one can read it quickly and naturally. 98% of the time, the reading will make it come clear.

I've found that the Cliffs Notes actually did damage my comprehension because I was looking for what came next in the notes, not studying the play, when I used them in University.

[Goathead]

47. Read the ones that were performed for Elizabeth I

Loves Labour Lost
Merry Wives of Windsor

and two others I can't remember. Anybody know them? It kinda gives you a good historical watermark to examine Shakespeares work.

[Longgrain]

48. More great suggestions, since I don't recall ever reading either

of them, and many people have already suggested starting with something a bit lighter.

[EFerrari]

60. The populist would say, read these to see how writing

for officialdom changed what SH was doing. LLL is sort of stiff; MWW is great fun, though imho, strained in a way that the Henriad (Henry 4, 1&2, Henry 5) are not.

One thing to keep in mind -- Sh was writing just at the time when the state really began to control what got published and what got performed. In the early part of his career, there were many places say, in London, where you and your buddies could mount a play. By his mid-career, there was so much control put in by the Privy Council that there were only 2 sanctioned playspaces for the public, and every word had to be submitted and approved before it was performed.

These restrictions were probably circumvented daily, but it really changed the public theater -- as you can imagine.

/damn modern English spelling

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

49. How come Julius Caesar is on the poll twice?

That's may pick anyhow.

[Longgrain]

57. So it is, I didn't notice that...

The poll has been up for almost a day and no one noticed that...I guess I just wasn't paying attention when I posted it, since I was coping the list from another site...:banghead:

[EFerrari]

59. Maybe it deserved to be up twice? Another great choice. n/t

[Huckebein the Raven]

51. Othello

[edbermac]

52. Shakespeare's Gay Boys In Bondage...

'Tis a story of a man's great love for his fellow men...'Tis like Hamlet...

[Anarcho-Socialist]

53. Twelfth Night

Just for the Shakespearean cross-dressing.

[bertha katzenengel]

55. read at least two you've never read

:shrug:

[cassandra uprising]

56. another nod to hamlet

in my humble opinion, that's one of the finest. imagine if orestes could say wtf to the fates and you have hamlet.

something a little lighter? i suggest twelve night.

[LiberallyInclined]

62. All the way thru High School, we NEVER had to read any Shakespeare...

Being a Lutheran High School, we had the holy babble instead.

[Rabrrrrrr]

64. I can't believe the ignorance level of DUers here -

you haven't read any Shakespeare since high school, so you say. SO why are DUers so stupidly saying to read "Hamlet" or "MacBeth" or "Henry V"??!!

you need to get back into the groove - go with Romeo and Juliette.

Or if not, A Midsummer's Night Dream.

Go with sopmething that is more easily understandable and not so heavy.

Certainly don't go with Hamlet or Othello or Macbeth or King Lear! Sheesh. Yeah, they're great plays, but you criterion is for something that will help you get back into Shakespeare.

I can't believe that so many are giving you such bullshit answers.

[fluffernutter]

65. i agree, i was going to suggest starting with

A Midsummer Night's Dream. and perhaps go see a play of his if possible, to get you into the whole Shakespeare groove.

[Shakespeare]

73. Well, gee, I didn't take the OP for a complete idiot.

So I didn't feel the need to recommend "entry level" plays.

Guess that MA in English/Shakespeare was a complete waste of my time, as was teaching this stuff to freshman honor students.

MSND is just as dense a play as HV, and in some ways moreso. I suggested that one because it IS approachable, with much to offer any DUer who would, one assumes, be interested in politics.

[Bitter Betty]

66. Other: Titus Andronicus

It's a very weird play & some experts don't even think Shakespeare wrote it because it's so weird. It is a family tragedy that's got a little bit of everything (hehe). It was adapted to a movie (directed by Julie Taymor) which I really liked.

[Shakespeare]

74. Have you seen Julie Taymor's film adaptation of Titus?

Brilliant and disturbing--one of the most visually interesting films I've seen in years.

[Bitter Betty]

75. Yes, I liked Frida too

Both Titus & Frida are visually interesting. I love the scenes with Jessica Lange; she is so fiercely beautiful as Queen of the Goths. The chemistry between Lange & Hopkins is sizzling. I hope Taymor makes more films.

[GalleryGod]

67. Merchant of Venice

especially relevant in a contemporary world of intolerance:popcorn:

[donco6]

69. King Lear is my favorite.

I love the complex storyline. And the message - Whis is more important? Saying flowery words from an evil heart, or speaking simple words from an honest one?

[Brian Morans]

71. If you can't make up your mind...

it's got to be Hamlet. To pee or not to pee... fantastic stuff.

[Tektonik]

77. The Tempest or Midsummer's Night Dream

[BlueIris]

78. Good to see my beloved MacBeth

has acquired so many votes. That is not only my favorite Shakespeare play, but my favorite stage play of all. Simple, elegant, lade with mystery, intrigue, and the best poetry Shakespeare has to offer in my humble opinion.