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/lit/ - Literature

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3881815 No.3881815 [Reply] [Original]

I never read a play by Shakespeare. Where to start?

>> No.3881818

Othello

>> No.3881821

A Midsummer Night's Dream seems like a good place to start.

And don't worry if the language seems very dense at first; the more Shakespeare you read, the easier it comes.

>> No.3881819

Midsummer Night's Dream, in my opinion. But you could just as easily start with Romeo and Juliet, the Merchant of Venice or Macbeth.

All these plays are pretty basic, well known and their stories stand alone.

>> No.3881824

Also, is the language too difficult to understand? I'm not an English native and struggle a lot with "archaic" English.

>> No.3881826

>>3881819
Midsummer's is a great start.

After that, I suggest Macbeth, and then Hamlet or Othello, then the other. After that go for Much Ado about Nothing, then Henry IV, both parts. Once you've gotten a taste of his tragedies, comedies, and histories, then you can pick from the rest.

>> No.3881829

>>3881824
(I could find a translated version easily, just want to know if I'll miss out)

>> No.3881834

>>3881824
The good thing about English is that, relatively speaking, it's changed very little in the past 400 years. For example, it's a lot harder for me to read a play by Joost van den Vondel (a Dutch playwright from the same era; Dutch is my mother tongue) than it is to read Shakespeare.

>> No.3881837

>>3881829
Translated Shakespeare?

I'm pretty sure that would lose everything.

>> No.3881840

>>3881824
At first it will be. I'm glad I learned to read Shakespeare with a good teacher.

>> No.3881856

>>3881834
>>3881837
I guess I'll get the English version then.

>>3881819
>>3881821
>>3881826
Midsummer Night's Dream first then.

Thanks, guys. Screen-cap'd the thread.

>> No.3882286

>>3881815
Watch David Tennant's version of Hamlet and read it afterward. If that doesn't get you excited about Shakespeare and wanting to read more, I'm not sure what will.

>> No.3882298

>>3881815
Macbeth is a pretty good starting point.

Also, is it true that American English has words pronounced similar to Shakespeare's Early Modern?

>> No.3882306

Be a man and read Coriolanus

>> No.3882318 [DELETED] 

>>3881815
the best play by shakespeare is...hmm...let me think about....oh, MAYBE THE ONE ABOUT THE NIGGER. DUH.

>> No.3882326

Twelfth Night.

>> No.3882330

macbeth is the most dense language wise

>> No.3882344

>>3881815

go to the fucking theatre. who reads a scripts meant for actors? that's fucking retarded. shakespeare would slap your shit if he was still around to witness retards *reading* a god damned play. holy shit.

>> No.3882353

>>3882306
Coriolanus is badass. My fav by far. Also it's the gayest, but whatevs.

>> No.3883918

Hamlet.

>> No.3883938

>>3882344

i would beat his bitch ass if he tried that fag shit on me

>> No.3883976

Othello

>> No.3884193

>>3882344
3/10

Gotta consider the whole issue of comprehending four hundred year old English text.

>> No.3884209

Hamlet was bomb.

>> No.3884229

I studied Julius Caesar in 10th grade. Still my favourite.