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Favorite Shakespeare?

proteanmix

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What's your favorite Shakespeare play?

I just stubbed my toe on my Norton Anthology of Shakespeare and I went to kick it in anger but then I thought of:

Titus Andronicus
Romeo and Juliet
King Lear
Measure for Measure

and my anger subsided. :heart:

What's you favorite play (or sonnet) by Billy Boy?
 

Totenkindly

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MacBeth
Hamlet
Measure for Measure
King Lear
Othello
A Midsummer's Night Dream
 

Zergling

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I've only read three of them (for school.) I never got what the hype was about, but I did like Henry IV (part 1.)
 

Metamorphosis

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Overrated in my book. But then...I may just have a bias. Being forced to read anything tends to make me look at it unfavorably.
 

The_Liquid_Laser

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I've only read three of them (for school.) I never got what the hype was about, but I did like Henry IV (part 1.)

Shakespeare is not meant to be read. It should been seen in a performance. Ideally it's seen in a performance with skilled actors and not some high school play. Actually Shakespeare with bad actors is total crap, but Shakespeare with good actors is wonderful. :) Somewhere along the way English majors got the idea that Shakespeare is literature. I'm not really sure why since it's not good reading unless you are thinking about performing it.
 

Totenkindly

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Shakespeare is not meant to be read. It should been seen in a performance. Ideally it's seen in a performance with skilled actors and not some high school play. Actually Shakespeare with bad actors is total crap, but Shakespeare with good actors is wonderful. :) Somewhere along the way English majors got the idea that Shakespeare is literature. I'm not really sure why since it's not good reading unless you are thinking about performing it.

Uh huh.

The words spoken resonate; the words on the page do not. When I read Shakespeare, I speak it either aloud with my voice or aloud in my head, so I can "hear" it.

What is amazing is that you don't even totally have to understand all the words or their meaning, if the actors are good, because you still get a sense of what is being conveyed.

Beside that, Shakespeare is quite witty; many of the lines contain puns or spins or double meanings.
 

Ivy

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It would be difficult to decide between Hamlet and King Lear, but I think Hamlet takes it. Only by a fingernail, though.
 

runvardh

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In sooth I know not why I am so sad,
It wearies me, you say it wearies you?


The Merchant of Venice
 
O

Oberon

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My favorite bit of Shakespeare ever:

If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.


- Henry V, the St. Crispin's Day speech
 

Sahara

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Othello for me, nothing can beat that story for making me weep as if my own loved one had been killed. :cry:
 

Zergling

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Shakespeare is not meant to be read. It should been seen in a performance. Ideally it's seen in a performance with skilled actors and not some high school play. Actually Shakespeare with bad actors is total crap, but Shakespeare with good actors is wonderful. :) Somewhere along the way English majors got the idea that Shakespeare is literature. I'm not really sure why since it's not good reading unless you are thinking about performing it.

Even in play form (Which I have seen a few of), it doesn't stand out compared to other plays I've seen.
 
O

Oberon

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What I love about Henry V is that Agincourt really happened, and really was as heroic as the play makes it out to be (albeit the dialog was most likely rather more earthy at the actual battle).

Some historians relate that Henry's archers fought naked from the waist down. Once the archers had been positioned, they had to stay and fight regardless...a prospect made more challenging by the fact that they all had dysentery.
 
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The_Liquid_Laser

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Even in play form (Which I have seen a few of), it doesn't stand out compared to other plays I've seen.

For your sake I hope those plays you saw were high school or community theatre. If you don't like a Shakespeare play after seeing professional actors perform it, then all I can say is:


:headphne: :headphne: :headphne: :headphne: :headphne: :headphne:
 

raincrow007

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Coriolanus. Cymbeline. The Winter's Tale. The Taming of the Shrew. Much Ado About Nothing.
 

proteanmix

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Coriolanus. Cymbeline. The Winter's Tale. The Taming of the Shrew. Much Ado About Nothing.

I forgot about Coriolanus!

I notice that the higher the body count the more I like the play. Maybe that explains why I kinda liked Shoot Em Up.
 

tenINsFJ

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I've only read 3 of his plays so far, and just finished Othello(I know I'm behind on the time since that was supposed to have been read in like high school), and never really appreciated his works until now. I think I just about love his plays now and am going to read more. Like the title says, what are some of your favorites and why?
 
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