Does anyone really like Shakespeare? And if so, which is your favourite?

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Reply 140

Bellissima

Original post by maskofsanity

You're comparing Renaissance drama to modern fantasy...
.

Oh my, sorry for being such a philistine.

Reply 141

deedee123

I enjoyed Romeo & Juliet the most, i have a midsummer night's dream but i haven't read it yet. I didn't enjoy Macbeth much.

Or is it too mainstream to like Romeo & Juliet? :rolleyes:

Original post by Bellissima

Oh my, sorry for being such a philistine.

How very dare you. I'd just end my life out of embarrassment right now if i were you.

A lot of snobs in this thread it seems.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 142

username474976

Original post by Bellissima

Oh my, sorry for being such a philistine.

I never called you a philistine - I was pointing out the absurdity in comparing such polar opposite genres.

Reply 143

username474976

Original post by deedee123

How very dare you. I'd just end my life out of embarrassment right now if i were you.

A lot of snobs in this thread it seems.

I think it is far more pretentious to declare how everyone ought to enjoy Shakespeare.

Reply 144

deedee123

Original post by maskofsanity

I think it is far more pretentious to declare how everyone ought to enjoy Shakespeare.

who declared that?

Reply 145

username474976

Original post by deedee123

who declared that?

Bellissima, the person you replied to (with an indirect insult toward me).

Reply 146

22DubDub

I love Hamlet! Also saw a great production of Two Gentlemen of Verona, which was hilarious!

Reply 147

username944192

I love Shakespeare! I think Macbeth is my favourite but I do love Romeo and Juliet too, plus A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, The Tempest...he's brilliant, how can anyone not like him? :frown:

Reply 148

Aleandcynicism

My favourite Shakespeare is Hamlet. It's just so good (I really love Kenneth Branagh's version). Other favourites include Macbeth, Midsummer Night's Dream and The Merchant of Venice.

Reply 149

dougturnsy

I would happily watch all of his plays, not read them though, they were written by the stage, for the stage.

Reply 150

Blake-inator

Measure for Measure is easily his best!! Love that play! read it all the time! can even quote a lot of it :tongue:

Reply 151

Chammy1

I hate Shakespeare with a passion. It's nothing to do with the way he writes or what he writes, but by my school experience of it.
I found it very difficult to understand any of his plays or stories. I didn't get what my English teachers were going on about, I didn't find any story intriguing because I was too busy trying to understand what he was trying to say in the first place. Reading anything by Shakespeare in English class was an excruciatingly painful experience. The story was never explained fully because of lack of time which was spent trying to write an essay on an aspect of the story nobody saw or understood. I spent hours going through the plays until I memorised key quotes and wrote some rubbish about its meaning. My English teacher seemed more interested in what rubbish we could concoct for an essay about it. Everyone in my school hated Shakespeare.
I can appreciate he was revolutionary in the world of literature. I read my copy of Romeo and Juliet once my exams were finished, and when I took the time to work the story out and ponder on the way it was written, I enjoyed it a little. But school tainted any classical works by the way it forces you to plough through a story and tear it to pieces for the sake of a grade.

Reply 152

Roshniroxy

when reading and analysing Hamlet I feel like i'm trying to un-code, uncover and process the fundamental problems of humanity. There's a strange rush I get because everything in that play is so essential, so eternal and Shakespeare through Hamlet delves into the crux of so many of our basic problems so fantastically. I get this rush I can't explain :colondollar:

I love As You Like It, i haven't read the play but i've watched it being performed and it was brilliantly wonderful, i'd like to say cute but that might not be appropriate to describe Shakespeare's work :P

And how can one possibly not like Macbeth ?! It's got everything, witches, violence, lady macbeth with her killer soliloquies, honestly ?!

I wish I knew more plays in depth ! I've read a midsummers night's dream, taming of the shrew and romeo and juliet and i remember enjoying them at school, but can't remember much about them.

Reply 153

Ahhhhstress

I love the Merchant of Venice it's completely relevant to modern day. Shakespeare was amazing!

Reply 154

s.a.u

I am tied between Much Ado About Nothing and Othello for my favourite, they are both pretty brilliant. Also, Midsummer Night's Dream is excellent.

Reply 155

TritonSails

Original post by Kgooding

So, wanting to be a literature student, I've had to read Shakespeare, and write about Shakespeare, and learn about him, pretend to like some of his things, analyse them to the point of breakdown and basically know everything there is to know about certain works.
Now I love The Taming of the Shrew. I also love the film with Elizabeth Taylor but that's not the point.
I hate, as in absolutely detest, Romeo and Juliet. The films are OK but the written play, I hate it. I also don't really like A Midsummer's Night Dream, but remember this is only my opinion.
So, as the title says, do you like Shakespeare? And if so, what do you like? His sonnets, his plays, what?

Shakespeare is the best writer in the language.

Hamlet, Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear, Tempest are all great. All the plays, in fact, are really good (though I'm not so keen on the comedies myself.)

Reply 156

Plantagenet Crown

Shakespeare's amazing! My all time favourites are Richard III, Macbeth and Hamlet! :biggrin:

I hate it all.

Twelfth Night is my favourite play. The ambivalent comi-tragedic elements to the play- should we laugh, sympathise or even feel guilty about Malvolio's treatment. Feste and indeed the entire play seems to be an attempt to manipulate the feelings of the audience. It incorporates an audience even now so that one feels part of Malvolio's punishment and this can be hilarious or very uncomfortable. I think this is one of the masterpieces of his work, they are so adaptable, so much freedom is given to directors to alter and change to give an alternative view of a character. Also, his comedy and beauty of language in all of the plays I have read written by him are insurmountable.