Shakespeare.

I will spare you the details of his life because to be quite frank if you haven't heard of him I suggest you climb out from whichever rock you live under.

~~~​

I fell in love with his works when I was about 11, we read The Tempest as part of a project for English and I was blown away. The Tempest to this day remains my favourite play <:

I know a lot of people shy away from his works due to being overkilled during school, and it is true that the school systems put a huge emphasis on Shakespeare works, but this is because he is seen as one of the greatest writers to have existed. However, I think that anyone who avoids his works without ever really looking into them is missing out majorly.

Generally speaking I prefer the Tragedies to the Comedies, but that is just down to personal preference.

I could keep speaking, but I don't want to just talk to myself, so what do you guys think? Discuss <3

 

I'd probably enjoy his stories more if not for the "shakesperian" flavor of the prose.

 

id like to read his books.

 

I've never read his work or seen a play I've seen the movies of romeo and juliet and much ado about nothing. I quite like the way the original ideas worked out. Shakespear is a pretty good writer. Although I still find it odd that even though women were seen as worthless and used for nothing but marriage and children. You would have thought that he'd allow an exeption for the female characters to actually be female.

 

I think you can get copies that have been translated into modern English, but I do think something is lost when the language is adapted for modern day.

It is worth it, it can be a little hard at first, especially since the language is very different to how the English Language is today. Maybe start by taking a look at some of his sonnets before attempting to break into the plays :3

Whilst in today’s society portraying women in such a way would be pounced on by ignorant people feminists, at the time that Shakespeare was writing, women had a very different role in life and so it is only natural that his works reflect that. Plus he did occasionally break the idea that women were worthless, for example his portrayal of Desdemona in Othello, she is a very strong character.

As for allowing women to play roles within the plays themselves, that would never have been allowed during the period in which the plays were written. Women had a very specific place and the stage was not one of them.

 

By far, my favorite work by him would have to be Macbeth. It really has meaning to it. I like Shakespeare because each line he writes is almost like a symbol itself. You almost have to decipher each line to understand the true meaning.

 

I'm a fan of shakespeare, and it seems that our ongoing VM chat has sparked this thread Kay. 8D.

Currently, i'm reading The Comedy of Errors for class tomorrow.

 

I loved Macbeth when I first read it xD

Right now we're reading the merchant of Venice for my english class. It's an interesting play.

So far out of all the ones I've read I haven't disliked one yet.

 

I hate shakespeare's work and I think he's over rated. Homer kills shakespeare.

 

I agree.

I like the stories themselves enough, but all the archaic text makes it a little hard to enjoy them.

It's not just Shakespeare, that applies to any book with that kind of prose.

 

That's like comparing Twilight with War and Peace. You can't hold Shakespeare and Homer up to the same light. For one, Shakespeare didn't finish grammar school, Homer was one of the leading philosophers of Greece.

Homer wrote the Illiad and the Odyssey as an epic tragedy.
Shakespeare gave everything a romantic feel given the time.

 

In all honesty, I am not a huge fan of Macbeth, mainly because it has been whored so damn much. It is a brilliant piece of work, but to be honest it somewhat bores me.

Correct, I thought we could share our thoughts and views with others :3

I already said this to you on MSN but comparing Homer and Shakespeare is like trying to compare a fruit salad to the most amazing cake in the world. They are complete worlds apart and if you judge every writer based on how they match up to Homer, you will not find much that ever satisfies you.

I actually like reading them as they were written, mainly because I think it adds to the feel and atmosphere of the pieces.

 

I read the play about Cleopatra Mark Antony when I was eight, because other then I had nothing better to do, it was a big book in the "big kid" section. It was complicated, and took me quite a while to work through, but it got me interested. Then I read Romeo and Juliet in 7th grade, and again in 9th grade. Lots of sexual humor, but it was a very good read. And I actually understood it this time :D

 

So far, I've only read Othello. I liked it despite the tragic ending.
Ironically, I had chosen to read Othello for a Finnish-course, because I didn't know the plot– and the ending was revealed right on the back-cover >.<
​

 

I currently prefer Romeo & Juliet and A Midsummer Nights Dream.

I don't know why I like them the most other than the fact that they are classic love stories, one being a tragedy and the other being a comedy featuring a 'love conquers all meaning'.

 

im reading Romeo and Juliet in my english class sadly.. It bores me to death i've fallen asleep like 10 times while the teacher is reading it >_< i don't think im going to be reading anything more from him after Romeo and Juliet..​

 

We are currently reading Romeo and Juilet also...It's pretty good because we can understand it.

Juliet Is very....sexual in some ways, and that surprised me XD...But we are also watching the movie, the modern-day one...it's good.

 

i'm starting to read shakespeare's work or i am trying to at least my school library is sucky atm. I have read Romeo&Juliet and I loved it. At first i thought that the oldern time english language was a bit strange but then i thought that's what makes a lot of his work good xD

 

I'm not a fan of Romeo and Juliet, either I couldnt stand how stupid those two where or my teacher was just horrible and was a 'read the book, youll understand it' teacher. I read Macbeth my senior year and loved it, I watched Hamlet in a humanities class, but I'm reading it in my Theatre class now, and now I'm getting ready to read a midsummers night dream in my college british lit class. I really enjoy shakespeare, we have a class just on him so I think I'll probably take it. Homer was a great mind of his time, Shakespeare was a great mind of his time. There. End of story.

 

Can't say I disagree with any of this.

At the moment i'm reading Taming of the Shrew as a follow up to Comedy of Errors. I'm not going to lie, that one makes you pay close attention or you will screw up which twin is talking with which servant and which family member is arguing with who. I can see it as being extremely humorous acted out, but man, that was a hard read for me.