Writing Is Shakespeare that bad?

[Braidless Baka]

Well, I've been studying at least one Shakespeare play a year for at least four years now and I've got to say that, although I don't really like studying texts, Shakespeare isn't half as bad as everyone makes him out to be.

Right now I'm studying [i]King Lear[/i] for the second time, and I'm quite enjoying it to be honest. There's a lot of depth in the play, whether Shakespeare meant for it to be there or not. I've also had the "pleasure" (?) of studying [i]Othello[/i] (which I wasn't overly impressed with) and [i]Romeo and Juliet[/i] (which has been branded as bad, but I didn't think it was all that bad)

Has anyone else got any ideas about Shakespeare? Any favourite characters / plays etc? I can't be the only one who thinks Shakespeare is intriguing O_o;;

[Zen]

What do you mean 'bad'? Shakespeare has been dubbed the worlds greatest play write. Do you mean hard to read?

[Braidless Baka]

Well, I guess I'm refering to students. Lots of students I've talked to absolutely [i]hate[/i] his work because there's so much to it. So much to unravel. Which is what I like about it ^_^

So, yeah, when I say "bad" I guess I mean "hard to study"

[James]

[color=#707875]I never found his work "bad" as such, but I did occasionally find it boring.

Having said that, Romeo & Juliet is one of the biggest masterpieces ever written. When you read it for yourself and you interpret what Shakespeare is saying...the way he uses language to convey emotion and thought is really unmatched.

He can talk about one tiny little thing...and object or a small gesture and use one sentence to reveal the eternal significance of it. I can't explain it without going into great deal, but, Shakespeare has always greatly impressed me whenever I've studied his work.

I personally found Romeo & Juliet to be better than Macbeth...which I found incredibly boring. The reason I found it boring, however, is largely because we watched an old movie of it at one stage...and the movie was pretty bad in my opinion. So I lost interest. It would have been better to just focus on reading it, I think.[/color]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[size=1]Shakespeare's problem in things, I believe, is that it's meant to be acted. If you have to read it for yourself, without other people saying other parts, you lose half of the meaning.

Actually, Shakespeare can be a pretty sick guy -- he's quite good with vulgar meanings, and it slips in there quite well.

I've studied [u]A Midsummer Night's Dream[/u], and I quite liked it. I don't see anything wrong with his work, although I can't speak for the more serious plays.[/size]

[Ares]

I'm trying to read some of his works because I think he was the best playwrite, but it's a bit difficult to understand at times, I believe. Because he uses old English and all.

[terra]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Lady Asphyxia [/i]
[B][size=1]Shakespeare's problem in things, I believe, is that it's meant to be acted. If you have to read it for yourself, without other people saying other parts, you lose half of the meaning. [/size] [/B][/QUOTE]
I disagree. One of the things about Shakespeare is that his dialogue can mean a ton of different things depending on the inflection of how it's read. So, the actors' voices sort of restrict you to the one meaning that they choose. Reading the plays allow you to see the (often many) other posibilities of how that speech could've gone, etc.

According to my professor this is part of Shakespeare's genius, that you can read so many different interpretations into his work. Sometimes I'd wonder, though, if that wasn't a sign of some kind of weakness ... because you're not able to know definitively what he wanted to say. Eh, well it seems most people are on the "genius" side of that argument.

I do agree that occasionally he can get a little boring, if you're not totally into it at the moment that you're reading it. Over the summer I took a Comedies and Romances Shakespeare class, so we read a ton of his ... comedies and romances. By the end it sort of seemed like they were all the same, even though they obviously weren't.

[Dagger]

Shakespeare's plays are really beautiful, but you have to be in the right mood to read 'em. I think that most people dislike Shakespeare because their only experience with his work is through school.

Although Shakespeare wrote a decent number of plays, he re-used the same few plot devices in just about all of them. So while the storylines of the plays may not be staggeringly original, the language more than makes up for it.

Ares, not to be nitpicky, but Shakespeare didn't write in Old English. It would be impossible for any of us to read, much less understand, true Old English. Beowulf (untranslated) is Old English. Chaucer is Middle English. Shakespeare, odd though it may seem, is Modern English.

~Dagger~

[Mitch]

[size=1] He's a God.

That is all I have to say...

Nah, lol. Damnit, and here I wanted to be all cryptic lol.

I actually haven't read too much of his stuff yet...but the way he uses the language is [i][b]amazing[/i][/b]..I do not understand why most people totally loathe him. He's amazing.

People hate the archaics of his writing the more of anything I'd say. This is one of the reasons I love it...otherwise I wouldn't at least have some archaic in my vocabulary.

And he just uses the language amazingly. AMAZINGLY.

All I have read is [i]Julius Caesar[/i], [i]Romeo and Juliet[/i], and [i]The Tempest[/i].

Since for last Christmas I got [i]an entire set of all his sonnets and plays[/i], I read [i]The Tempest[/i] alone. Reading his plays alone is a lot harder than in class...since in these books, there isn't notes that tell what things mean, so I have to look them all up in the dictionary. But this isn't to say I didn't enjoy [i]The Tempest[/i] so much. I just found it harder to read at this time lol. But I'm sure once I finally get my butt in gear and really crack down on this crap...something should happen, like me knowing as much archaic vernacular as I want lol.

Right now I am rereading [i]Julius Caesar[/i] for the second time, since I enjoyed this play most of them all. So far I am really enjoying it...I mean...I can't even begin to explain how he uses the language. I don't even compare to him, in my opinion, as a writer. The only one I'd put in his league as this much of a genius is my other God, Poe. God Poe is great....oh my God. [i]I LOVE POE[/i].

Okay. That is enough...[/size]

[DeathBug]

Shakespeare was an excellant writer, but modern audiences have to be willing to put in a little work to understand/enjoy his plays.

This creates a problem, because if you dislike the play, you're also going to be frustrated with your effort going to waste. If you like the story, though, you won't mind putting in the extra effort for comprehension.

I personally enjoyed Julious Ceaser, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and MacBeth.

I wasn't too fond of King Leer, and I absolutely hated Romeo and Juliet.

[Eclectic]

I think what most people mean by 'bad' is that many think he didn't write his own works and some are hypocritical of others. I don't really care. Everything I've read so far has been quite good. And I found out in class a week or so ago that he doesn't use Old English. It's called Modern or Modern Middle or something like that.

[Avaris]

I loved Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado about nothing.

You have to get into "Shakespeare mode" and learn "Shakespeare language" but once you do it's worth it and you get the beauty.

Favourite character: Tybalt- just loved him.

[Trowa_fan]

I like Mac Beth it was a good play. I was good because of the thought put into it. The betrayal of the king by his own knight under the influence of his wife. The wife going insane. The defeat by a freind. Truely a work of art.

[Mitch]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Trowa_fan [/i]
[B]I like Mac Beth it was a good play. [/B][/QUOTE]

[size=1] Please put more thoughts into your posts. Tell [i]why[/i] you liked Mac Beth....and tell if you like Shakespeare.

I hope to see an improvement.[/size]

[Haze]

thank you!!! i have been saying for years that shakespeare is not "bad" or "hard to understand" but people look at me like i am insane. i think they think it is so hard to read is because he uses language that is all but gone in the present day. its sad. he also uses alot of description. . . not what some people do today (that "the sky is big and blue" crap some authors use. shakespeare goes into extreme detail about it.) i honestly love shakespeare. he is amazing. . . and i wish i knew how to write like him. i think his best play has to be Hamlet. that play was awesome! i found Macbeth to be horribley boring. i didnt like it to much. but yes, it is better when acted out. . . but then you loose the ability to interpret the text for yourself. like those little phrases that can have several meanings. . . some very clean. . . others quite "vulgar" to put it nicely. i like reading it alot, but i also like to see how particular directores take what he says. is you ever get the chance go rent kennith branagh's version of hamlet. whoo! its great. not only does he star in it but he directs it as well. it is very well done. well i suppose i have ranted on for too long.
~haze

[Ellerby]

[size=1][color=green]

Yes! Finally some good ol' billy fans. Heh. But anyways, I recently just saw a play at the theatre called "Midnight Summers Dream". I quite enjoyed it and I have to say that.. Puck the elf is too cool to be true. :p But yes, Shakespeare is a wonderfull Poet and Author. Lot's of students enjoy him.. you just gotta look in the right places. ;)


-Lrb[/size][/color]

[Whiteblaze]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=darkblue]I?ve been wanting to read King Lear for a while, but I?ve had so much to do that I haven?t really had the chance, sadly. It appears very interesting and I remember a quote from that play that I thought was very funny, well, to me anyway.
I really don?t think I find his work hard to understand.

I also love [I]Julius Caesar[/I]! I?ve only read a couple of the scenes and they were very entertaining! I need to read through all of it, but one of the things I really like are the speeches given by a few of the characters because they are usually so dramatic.

I really like what some of Shakespeare?s characters say because it? so dramatic and I get so caught up in the scene that I for get everything around me. I think I would also like to read, [I]Macbeth[/I]. I?ve heard good things about it that really make me want to.

One character I really like is, Mercutio, because to me he is sort of the witty jester that plays tricks and comes up with something half-way intelligent every once and a while. Also, he?s just the funniest thing to me sometimes.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Pagan]

I hate Shakespeare but I have to read him for school. I don't like romances so that cancels out half of his works, I don't like comedys so that is the other half, and I don't like Elizabethian English so that takes care of all of them. The only book by him I liked was the Tempest and that is just because of Caliban.

[Guest Ariana]

I personally like Shakespeare... i liked Hamlet the best... not sure why, it just is my favorite out of all the plays i have read of his. I have seen two versions of the movie for Hamlet but I would love to see it in a play. On Romeo an Juliet... i guess i have read it so many time i really do not like it anymore..

[maikiratori]

I love Shakespear... He's one of the best playwrites out there.. and not just plays but sonnets alsow... he's just a really cool dued...

[piccolo]

I haven't read all of Shakespear plays yet. I enjoyed the most are Hamlet and McBeth. I love the self-conflict that Hamlet has to go through. He's like insane. For McBeth, I love Lady McBeth, she's so evil. :D I don't enjoyed Romeo and Juliet that much, I don't like the theme of that play.
-some of his Sonnets are great too. "Shall I compare thee to the summer's day"(If I remembered it correctly) I love that sonnet. :D

[eleanor]

[size=1] I really respect the man for his obvious talent, but I actually disliked [b]Romeo and Juliet[/b] and [b]A Midsummer Night's Dream[/b]. I have no idea why. I just didn't feel with it, nor did I enjoy reading it.

But I really enjoy [b]Hamlet[/b] and [b]Julius Caesar[/b], probably because it wasn't focused around romance. :p[/size]

[KarmaOfChaos]

[font=arial][color=deeppink]
Aya...Shakespeare.

Now you've picked a subject I could truly rant on all day about. When people say that they hate Shakespeare, it's usually because they can't understand the language. As a student of theater for over 4 years, I understand it and love it. Sure, when I'm reading a play, there are times when I'll go 'wait? what was that?' and have to go back and reread the passage a couple times to get all the meanings. But that's half the fun. If you can get over the language barrier, Shakespeare is truly amazing.

My favorite play would have to be Hamlet. Insanity, horror, tragedy, all that good stuff. I loved the characters. They were so...real. Nothing fake, like being the hero or something. Hamlet was severly depressed and driven over the edge. His mother was a fool, and his uncle was a powerhungry person, driven by his greed. Hamlet's friends try to console him, but they honestly don't know what they hell they should do either. This play was simply amazing...the reality of it all. The pure truth that humans are driven by many different things, and not all of those things are good. Hamlet is by far my favorite. If you're having a hard time reading it, I [i]highly[/i] recommend the 1995 version of the movie Hamlet with Kenneth Branaugh. His ability to play the role of Hamlet blew me away, and the rest of the movie was so beautifully done. The actors were really superb.

My other favorite would have to be The Twelfth Night. The gender switching and the love triangles/pentagons/dodecagons. A truly lovely romantic comedy. Aya...I haven't read it in awhile. I really should. I just don't have the time...

And their are other great ones as well. Macbeth, A Midsummers' Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, The Tempest. And his poems and sonnets...at this rate I'm going to be here all day. So I think I'll stop here. I love Shakespeare, he owns, you all get the message. ^^;;

Please don't brush him off just because of the language! His plays are worth picking through it!:D

[i]-Karma[/i]
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