/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.21267082]

I have never read a single line of Shakespeare

[Anonymous No.21267105]

>>21267082
Here is your award
>70 IQ<

[Anonymous No.21267106]

Actually, Shakespeare is so ingrained in the cultural zeitgeist that is is factually untrue. A commercial, an ad, quote in another book. You've read him.

Bitch.

[Anonymous No.21267121]

>>21267082
Wherefore art thou Romeo?

Now you have. Time to delete the thread

[Anonymous No.21267127]

>>21267082
Uvv erd ihm tho

[Anonymous No.21267265]

>>21267082
what made you drop out of school at age 9?

[Anonymous No.21267292]

>>21267121
But the author of the line is you, dear Anon, even is it a total copy of Shakespeare's line.

t. Borges

[Anonymous No.21267304]

>>21267292
>I wrote Romeo and Juliet
Damn I'm pretty smart

[Anonymous No.21267341]

>>21267082
A shitpost by any other name would smell as sweet

[Anonymous No.21267406]

>>21267341
>>21267105
>>21267106
>>21267265
>.t
Reading shakespear doesn't make you intellectually smarter than anybody it makes you look like a pathetic pseud. Kys

Op you're not missing out on much. Shakespear is culturally irrelevant when there is so much better material out there to read that shakespear himself would even laugh at all the pathetic hipster cocksuckers today that brings him up in book conversations to make himself feel smart. Fuck /lit/ and fuck pseuds I hope you all die.

[Anonymous No.21267417]

>>21267406
Reading Shakespeare and brining him up in conversations is not the same thing faggot. Most of this cucks have never read him.
>pseud
Go fuck yourself you contrarian cunt. What is non 'pseud'? The Shit from your mothers anus? Tongue my anus nigger.

[Anonymous No.21267421]

>>21267417
bringing* those mother's*
>inb4 haha
Language rules are pseud, dictionaries are pseud.
See how easy it is to be a twat?

[Anonymous No.21267442]

>>21267417
>>21267421
>gets called out as a hipster fuck
>proceeds to throw a temper tantrum on /lit/
I love putting a mirror up to you pseuds and making you squirm. You people are the cancer of /lit/ and need to kill yourselves asap

[Anonymous No.21267462]

>>21267442
Cuck. Go ahead, name your more 'relevant' works. Please. Enlighten me you non-pseud sage.

[Anonymous No.21267470]

>>21267462
>N-NO YOU
and just like that the pseud deflects and attacks like clockwork. You love to see it!

[Anonymous No.21267472]

>>21267470
Name the more relevant texts

[Anonymous No.21267482]

>>21267472
I'm not going to state the obvious retard. If you are so intellectually superior than all of your combatants you should be able to think for yourself

[Anonymous No.21267485]

great bread

[Anonymous No.21267507]

>>21267482
Kek. Don't be shy. You said they are more relevant and that Shakespeare isn't, I am too stupid to see that, so please, would you be so kind as to show me the light?

[Anonymous No.21267531]

>>21267507
>proceeds to act sarcastically and dumb
>proceeds to project his insecurities on to me

[Anonymous No.21267544]

>>21267531
Just name the texts. You say I'm a pseud and you aren't, why not actually name the text and defend your position? You are either shitposting or you have nothing. Or you are a pseud who thinks it isn't worth your time, or for whatever reason really do have knowledge but you are too cruel to share it. Just explain yourself. No sarcasm from me, I promise. I honestly want to know what you have claimed should be obvious.

[Anonymous No.21267550]

>>21267544
texts*
you*

[Anonymous No.21267560]

>>21267544
>you have to be a genius to know that all modern classics are better than 500 year old plays

[Anonymous No.21267567]

>>21267560
What are the modern classics? Why not read them and Shakespeare? Why are these two exclusive?

[Anonymous No.21267581]

>>21267567
>op makes a thread saying he has never read Shakespeare
>pseuds come out of the woodworks and insults him for being low iq
>I insult the psueds for being psueds
>psueds continue to have a temper tantrum.

[Anonymous No.21267589]

>>21267581
Just explain why Shakespeare isn't worth reading, what is worth reading, and why they are exclusive. Come on mate.

[Anonymous No.21267625]

>>21267589
Shakespear is outdated. All narrative structures he's created has already been done to death for better or worse. Just like this guy said >>21267106.

I could go so long why Shakespeare is irrelevant now it just seems so pointless. And you already know why you just want to act dumb.

[Anonymous No.21267635]

rangeban frogniggers already

[Anonymous No.21267643]

>>21267625
His work is beautiful. Aesthetics matter. Also, he is certainly relevant. His style of writing plays is still the best found in the English language and he has had a significant influence on English literature, and the English language itself. Furthermore, is having ties with your culture meaningless to you? Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers in the English language, and he has endured the test of time. It is not difficult to read him, or to watch his plays, and doing so can merely be a source of entertainment. His sonnets are beautiful, and works such as Hamlet and King Lear are among some of the best plays available in English. Do I suggest reading him and disregarding Marlow. No. Do you regard the Greek plays as irrelavent? Plato? Aristotle? The Presocratics? Cicero? Julius Caesar? Plutarch? Plotinus?

[Anonymous No.21267654]

>>21267643
Beauty is beauty and Shakespeare was writing plays. Many texts are in no way relevant to contemporary culture, but deserve to be read for aesthetic reasons. Broadway is rubbish. That is what I would call pseud rubbish.

[Anonymous No.21267681]

>>21267643
I read Shakespeare's plays multiple times and I feel nothing. Storytelling has evolved so much since then I just can't pretend I find his writings at all original or great as people say. He has placed himself as big part of history which I can understand and I appreciate him for being the seed of storytelling but I just can't find anything that is of great value because I wasn't born during his time.

[Anonymous No.21267690]

>>21267105
as usual, fpbp
>>21267106
second post, cutting it close

[Anonymous No.21267728]

>>21267406
given your proudly-worn hostility to literature, how did you end up on a literature board, my friend?

[Anonymous No.21268495]

>>21267681
Name one author that has surpassed Shakespeare

[Anonymous No.21268500]

>>21268495
Chaucer

[Anonymous No.21268508]

>>21267082
Read Hamlet, it's based.

[Anonymous No.21268545]

>>21267106
Without googling, name one culturally relevant thing that mentioned Shakespeare in the past 10 years, besides the adaptation with negro.

[Anonymous No.21268556]

>>21268545
Dr Who

[Anonymous No.21269507]

Every Shakespeare play is the same
>Oh fie, Thy needs money for thine purse!
or
>Oh fie, Thine eyes hath never beheld such beauty! (love at first sigth)
>woman gives speech about how men are treated better than women
>black guy goes on speech about how white people are treated better
>boring stuff happens for three acts
>final act everyone either gets married or dies

[Anonymous No.21269516]

>>21267625
cringe post

[Anonymous No.21269525]

>>21269507
nigger moment

[Anonymous No.21269735]

>>21267105
Based.

[Anonymous No.21269895]

>>21267082

[Anonymous No.21269977]

>>21268545
Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare's authorship
The Simpsons

[Anonymous No.21270141]

>>21267643
English isn't a very nice language though, nor is it interesting or mellifluous.

[Anonymous No.21270301]

>>21267082
Stupid frogposter.

[Anonymous No.21270353]

>>21267728
go back to starbucks.

[Anonymous No.21270390]

>>21267643
>he Presocratics? Cicero? Julius Caesar? Plutarch? Plotinus?
The problem with this analogy is that you're comparing these people with a Tudor Era equivalent of the person who came up with the idea for several ghostbusters remakes.

Very few, to none, of Shakespeares ideas or stories were original nor were expected to be taken as such at the time. This is compounded by the simple fact that he dabbled in propaganda in several of his plays, making all of his works immediately unsound to his contemporaries and to later observers.


Truth is, if England had entered a puritan phase we'd have been reading far better playwriters from the 1700's, but no, because they SAID RUDE WORDS AND SHOWED TITS we were forced to learn Shakespeare instead.

Fuck. Them.

[Anonymous No.21270404]

hahaha i mean,
> if England had entered a
if England had *not* entered a puritan phase.. and no I mean the Victorian one, not the Cromwell one.

Actually, a Cromwell theatre might've been far more resembling G.Wash on the eve of battle having his men watch Joseph Addisons Cato.

[Anonymous No.21270413]

>>21270390
>>21270404
Who let the chud out of /pol/?

[Anonymous No.21270459]

>>21270413
I resent the people who feel the need to social-signal on an anonymous forum by championing Shakespeare far more than I have any real thoughts beyond what I mentioned: Shakespeare's boring and there are better.

I mean, his watchability factor is poor. If you see each of his shows once you don't really need to see it again. It's irritating you keep dragging up his corpse and playing with his mummified balls like this. You're making him a Peterson and a Trump, and it's not really fair to him.

[Anonymous No.21270461]

>>21267406
Why do you refuse to spell his name correctly?

[Anonymous No.21270463]

>>21267442
1) all of these people (identifying to X) are operating on guesswork and no two of them are aware of the others actions or intentions,
2) more than likely these are predominately unconscious persons, rather than conscious persons,
3) unconsciousness is more often than not a creature led through the baseline impulses of petty short-term vice,

[Anonymous No.21270479]

>>21270461
oi anun, wuld theeey pref'r "Wilum Shorks-Peery" thooou coxcum'b theeeeeey

[Anonymous No.21270609]

>>21269525
Yet, it was clearly a non-black poster. You people, I swear.

[Anonymous No.21270619]

>>21267082
Read the famous speech from Macbeth (if you're unwilling to read the entire play). You'll probably love it (unless you've purposed yourself to hate it no matter what).

[Anonymous No.21270648]

>>21270619
which would that be, macbeth is generally very memorable

[Anonymous No.21270655]

>>21267082
I've never read a single page of philosophy and never will.

[Anonymous No.21270694]

>>21270648
The often quoted, "Life's but a paltry player upon a stage," speech.

[Anonymous No.21270702]

>>21270655
What a waste, anon. You're really missing a lot, and not only in philosophy, but in all arts and in the dimensions of human thought and perception which have shaped all we do.

[Anonymous No.21270758]

>>21270694
honestly i havent heard it quoted more than once or twice but its a good speech but im not very initiated into shakespeare though i have read macbeth

imo macbeth gets too good to put down as soon as macbeth and banquo get introduced and have their fortunes told

[Anonymous No.21270826]

>>21270758
That bit when macbeth stands up on the bookcase and shouts "quoth the raven" and the raven says "nevermore!" is all time best scene in american literature.

love that they parodied this in the simpsons.

[Anonymous No.21270885]

>>21270758
>>21270826

[Anonymous No.21271086]

>>21270758
I've heard it quoted often - not necessarily that precise part, but one fragment or another of the speech. Yes, it is really good. Hopefully OP will stop delighting in being counter-cultural, something far too often taken for a virtue in and of itself these days, and will give it a try.

>>21267082
Additionally OP, I recommend even just the opening scene of Hamlet. There are such powerful, masterfully crafted lines, even just in the opening! You'll hear in even just this brief part, the powerful voice of Lord Tennyson in Ulysses. Don't deprive yourself, OP. Why after all? You live in a rich age full of free literature and learning.

[Anonymous No.21271381]

>>21267681
>I read Shakespeare's plays multiple times and I feel nothing.

Now I know your either trolling, or a psued that was forced to read Bill Shakes against his will. I've started reading Shakespeare for pleasure, and in every play there comes a moment where I'm caught by surprise, I realize I'm emotionally invested in a character and can "feel" what they're going through...

- Antonio resolves to go under Shylock's knife, Portia offers to pay Antonio's debt tenfold
- Juliet is offended that her nurse thinks she should ditch Romeo since hes been exiled, and go with Paris instead
- Helena thinks everyone is fucking with here in MND since shes the ugly girl
- And of course, theres this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3zbGMcsCtjg

[Anonymous No.21271840]

>>21267082
Do I care?
To quote Hamlet III, scene III, line 87:
"No"

[Anonymous No.21271910]

>>21267681
And you never stopped to think that maybe YOU might be the problem?

[Anonymous No.21271911]

>>21270141
sounds like somebody hasn't read shakespeare!

[Anonymous No.21271917]

>>21267082
Good night sweet prince

[Anonymous No.21271924]

>>21270459
A large part of how Shakespeare first became 'SHAKESPEARE' was because of his valorisation by the Romantics and Idealists of the 19th century. Of course it is a more complicated process than that, but the important thing to remember is the historicity of each writer & their work, and the cumulative effect this can have on however we come to see them in our own times. If you don't find yourself getting much out of Shakespeare then that's fine, nobody is forcing you, but it is a bit trickier then to deny that nobody else should be able to either. In my own case, I certainly feel like there is something there, although there does not seem to be much of a qualitative reason as to why this particular writer should have been elevated over others; merely the weft of factors and historical human nuances that led to his being a favourite of the people who first championed him, with the weight of that historical reputation then bearing down on future readers so that they themselves may have felt more inclined to (under/over)value his work. Of course it's not for me to say you're missing out, perhaps the way your own life feels to you seems entirely separable from whatever it is that Shakespeare's banging on about, but maybe give him another try. Another anon mentioned his technical proficiency, which I think, at least, cannot be refuted. Maybe Macbeth?

[Anonymous No.21272028]

>>21267406

>intelectually smarter

this board should be deleted

[Anonymous No.21272196]

>>21271924
>Another anon mentioned his technical proficiency, which I think, at least, cannot be refuted. Maybe Macbeth?
I share the sentiment expressed by an earlier person, here >>21270826 in that it's "guff", as we say in my town, that is: it may as well have been anything that those people were shown and were told was 'the classical play' and they wouldn't have anything to compare it to and would just accept it at face value as being "the classic play", you know what i mean? If the vast majority have nothing to compare it to, and we don't when we're given this as young adults and kids, then we're not capable of knowing better,
>although there does not seem to be much of a qualitative reason as to why this particular writer should have been elevated over others
>but it is a bit trickier then to deny that nobody else should be able to either
ehh it was tricky but i managed it ;)

My greater point was that there were simply lots more and lots better plays produced in the 1700's - I suppose Shakespeare 'could' be said to represent an early point in English literature, in some way or another perhaps (somebody already mentioned Chaucer), but even then his works have to be viewed through the lens of a jobbing-theatre producer in our times producing the ghostbusters remake because he's sure it'll sell. There's nothing really special happening in that arrangement; you couldn't say that RomeoJuliet would have the same presence or imagination of, say, Atellan Farce or Menippean Satire - and they certainly don't speak to anything in the way that Aristophanes and plays of that sort were doing.

>technical proficiency,
Well I suppose so. It'd probably be a different story if people weren't forced to Shakespeare and his works could be taken on their own merits amongst a hundred others... but I think appraised like that you wouldn't find the contrived gushing over the stupid and miserable story of Romeo and Juliet... probably Othello stands up, Merchant of Venice is a little cheese-ridden but so-so for story... things like MacBeth would be viewed as unintentional comedy I think.. (plot-twist: but was it intended as comedy all along?!? if so then genius),

ok i've exhausted everything i had left to say about this subject

[Anonymous No.21272770]

>>21272196
Just jumping in here, though I likely have a fraction of your critical acumen:

Romeo and Juliet has a *very* different feel when you read it again in your middle age, after having kids and on the tail end of a broken marriage. It takes on new dimensions you dont fully understand when you're younger, age and experience seasoning it with decades of regret and broken dreams.

Professionally, I had my own personal Iago who I didnt truly see until it was too late. The good always underestimate the wicked.

Merchant of Venice: working in contract law (of a sort), it was very clearly a satirical look at how naively we give our word and make promises, and how hypocritical we can be when we try to break those contracts. Troublingly, isnt the expectation of mercy a social contract of itself?

Well worn paths that have been long trod by better minds, but wanted to point out theres depth to these stories even for a layperson. These stories have stuck with us for good reasons.

[Anonymous No.21272810]

If you are ESL you didn't lose out on much, he is first of all a wordsmith. His stories aren't THAT great, but they do have a huge cultural influence so I reccommend reading him either way eventually.

[Anonymous No.21272844]

>>21267082
>Double double toil and trouble
>Et tu brute
>something is rotten in the state of denmark
>to be or not to be

You're telling me you've never stumbled across any of these even accidentally

[Anonymous No.21272920]

>>21268500
Chaucer predates Shakespeare so storytelling couldn't have evolved backwards retard. I guess you were to much of a coward to name a more recent author because you know you are wrong.

[Anonymous No.21272943]

>>21270694
>"Life's but a paltry player upon a stage," speech.
are you retarded or just a pseud? Probably both.

[Anonymous No.21272945]

>>21268500
>>21272920
>Chaucer predates Shakespeare so storytelling couldn't have evolved backwards retard. I guess you were to much of a coward
hahahaaaahahahaha

Anon, he means that Chaucer was better 'before' Shakespeare, inc. during and after.

>retard
Mr. Dunning, I haven't seen your associate Mr. Kruger around as of late; how did that experiment of yours to sustain yourselves purely from sand turn out?

[Anonymous No.21272951]

>>21272945
Name an author that surpassed Shakespeare after his death or kill yourself

[Anonymous No.21272956]

>>21267082
It’s shit anyways. The anglx’s highest cultural achievement they have to parade in order to pretend they’re still relevant

[Anonymous No.21273019]

You have to keep in mind that people who are shitting on the likes of Shakespeare are ALWAYS politically motivated in doing so. Their goal is always to dismantle the established culture that they deem as inferior and oppressive. They couldn't care less about the actual merit of the work, they likely never even read it, it's all about politics for them.

[Anonymous No.21273050]

>>21267082
>80 replies
This guy's a master baiter

[Anonymous No.21273062]

>>21272951
>after his death
Why are moving the goal posts, Mr. Dunning? This suggests that you know you were in the wrong! Is that your intention? To indirectly admit that you were in the wrong? Mr. Dunning, clarify yourself.

>Name an author that surpassed Shakespeare after his death or kill yourself
Name all authors who wrote more than tragidramas after the early 1600's? That's thousands, hundreds at least who were very good.

I don't know their name but the author of Captain Underpants qualifies, to give you a hint of how low the bar is set by Shakespeare.

I don't know what the guy you were talking to would say, but he needn't bother falling for your trap.

Oh, I got a good one! PUNCH AND JUDY SHOWS :D


>>21273019
>You have to keep in mind that people who are extolling the genius of random persons they've barely read, the likes of Shakespeare, are ALWAYS politically motivated in doing so. Their goal is always to proclaim 'best ever' the established culture that they deem as perfect and unsurpassable. They couldn't care less about the actual merit of the work, they likely never even read it, it's all about politics for them.

[Anonymous No.21273069]

>>21272951
>Name an author that surpassed Shakespeare after his death
also, this guy, >>21270731 by far.

[Anonymous No.21273131]

>>21273050
>master baiter

OH OH
>>21272951
>Name an author that surpassed Shakespeare after his death
OH OH! OH ! OHHHHH I GOT ANUVER

CAPTAIN PUGWASH

[Anonymous No.21273185]

>>21273131
>CAPTAIN PUGWASH
The mightiest pirates off the land
are C'pn Pugwash and his band
thats, Prickly Pete and Stabber Jack,
One-Eyed Jane with pussy fat,
there's Eliphas the Crowsnest Boy
who drowns those who surrender, oy(!),
there's Roger who's the ships own cunny
and Ginger Jim who thinks he's funny,
there's Malachai who's skin's jet black,
and Castration Keith with his cocked hat,
but most fearsome 'bout the ship today

is the Little Lord of Fingal Bay
come let's see what he's to say
for he's surely, aye, the star of this weeks episode
and we join him now being force-fed a toad!

*sea chanty melody as camera zooms in on the ship of depravity*


*blue peter logo flashes*

[Anonymous No.21275001]

>>21272943
So I haven't memorized it. Who cares? A simple Google search of what I typed brings up the correct speech. It's snobs like you that have ALL arts in decline.

[Anonymous No.21276202]

>>21267082
Yes, and it shows, you stupid frogposter

[Anonymous No.21276222]

Only have read the Tempest