/lit/ - Literature

What's the best edition of Shakespeare's completed works?

The greatest author in the English language read translations. Why can't you?

Since there was some expressed interest in a Shakespeare reading group, I think that it would be good to organize into one thread.
For each week, we will read one of Shakespeare's plays, starting with the tragedies, then the comedies, then romances, then his histories. A week may seem like a long time, but these threads are for discussion as well as reading, and some among us have not read The Bard's work. If you have already read the week's play, feel free to discuss it with others.
This week's play is his most famous and most beloved, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Next week will be Macbeth. Feel free to leave suggestions, post discussion, discuss commentaries, talk about Elizabethan England, post and discuss performances, and generally participate in discussions about The Bard's works.
Also, feel free to discuss sonnets and poetry from the man himself.
>Complete Works of William Shakespeare: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/

it was bound to happen eventually

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/12/14/students-penn-remove-portrait-shakespeare

Ok guys, redpill me on Shakespeare. Why is this guy relevant for literature?
I come from a country where English is not the first language and Shakespeare is not that studied, there.
But I am curious and would like to read hi,m. So, why is he important?

When will this meme die off?

In one of the first scenes in Romeo and Juliet, supposedly the greatest work of literature in the English language, a servant approaches Romeo asking for help reading a list, a list of names he is supposed to invite to the house of the Capulets, which triggers a tragic chain of events.
Does this earinged hack expect us to believe an illiterate servant walked out the door with the list in his hand, only to realize a while after that HE CAN'T READ THE GODDAMN THING?
Why is this shit lauded when it doesn't even follow basic reason?

Hey /lit/

I wanted to share with you a collection of books on and by Shakespeare that I have been collecting recently.

Although most of them you can easily find in Libgen or Soulseek, I thought having them all in one place would come in handy.

The collection includes, but is not limited to, Oxford and Arden editions, as well as Cambridge Companions and Introductions. It's a lot of material, so I hope you find something useful in it.

https://mega.nz/#!thsg0Q4S!3jxmsVHZqcaPMX_gwak4OSn7SVPOqWNWUuO2StcQAH0

I only ask for two things in return:

1.- That you share it and link to it if you find it useful.
2.- That if you have access to Bibliotik or other private servers, check whether they have the "Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare's History Plays" by Warren Chernaik, since that one is missing from the collection and would be a very nice addition.

Book sharing general, I guess.

PS One other thing. If you happen to have a pdf for Elyse Sommer's Similes Dictionary that you could share I would be very grateful.

>the bard

Why does no one write plays in poetic verse anymore? It's all boring realism nowadays. I want to see some modern movies in iambic pentameter, with some creative, heightened language.

Favorite play? Favorite lines?

You think he's jealous of not coming up with the Veni, vidi, vici line?

What does /lit/ honestly think of William Shakespeare?

RIP shakesphere

Best monologue written by Shakespeare?

Soliloquies count too.

For me it's the opening to Richard III, but that's probably just because all the actors who've performed it have tended to be really good ones.

Do all of Shakespeare's plays contain grammatical mistakes?

As I was reading Hamlet, I realised that there were many mistakes in his English and I started to wonder if this was even English at all. I couldn't understand what the characters were saying because of the bad grammar and awful vocabulary. And apparently Shakespeare creates his own new words? Like how am I supposed to understand anyone's writing if they just start creating uncommon new words from their bottoms?

An example of bad grammar:
"Horatio
Before my God, I might not this believe"


Like did Shakespeare even study English at all or did he just start writing because he was broke? Compared to a writer like John Green, his English is horrible. Why do we even have to study him when his English is below average? I know for sure that he wouldn't be able to pass any English test, except if it was for kindergarten child.

>Who's there?
>I am
Bravo Shakespeare, it only took 400 years for your joke to pay off.