I was looking around, and I couldn't believe that this thread hasn't been started yet!

I've believe Shakespeare to be a genius of the English language. Whether it comes to his comedies, romances or tragedies, his work is amazing.

I've always been partial to the tragedies: my favorite work of his has to be MacBeth.

So what about you? What do you like/dislike about Shakespeare?
What is your favorite play/sonnet?

He is actually called a Genius of Literature. I've only read Romeo and Juliet but his work is so soft, unique, and perfectly balanced. I base my poetry off of his!

Bwaa. I have his complete works sitting on my bookcase. And it's all been read for the hell of it. His stuff is awesome. My favoritest character ever is the gravedigger from Hamlet. Or Mercutio. He was awesome.

I really enjoy Shakespeare. I love his comedies more then his tragedies/histories, though. My favorite play of his has to be "Much Ado About Nothing", although I also enjoy "A Midsummers Night Dream". Outside of the comedies, "Antony & Cleopatra" is my favorite.

There were other good writers at his time, though, he just gets the most credit since he wrote such a vast amount of literature. I like John Donne's poetry more then Shakepeare's.

I loveelove Shakespeare innuendos and puns.
And how he lets the reader analyze and determine emotions.
Whatever, Shakespeare is so clever in his writing. He's good with both tragedy and comedy.
I laugh a lot at times while reading his plays. XDDD

Hamlet and Macbeth were really good. :3
I could care less for Julius Caesar though.

My favorite is Much Ado About Nothing, mostly because of the secondary characters. Shakespeare is wonderful, truly, and I also have his collected works sitting on my shelf.

I'm also a fan of Sonnet 130. Best sonnet I've ever read, and I still adore it to this day. It's one I recommend to everyone.


I have to confess, however, I've never even tried to read any of the Richard plays. I probably should. <_<

I guess... I'm the only one thus far who doesn't like him? ^^;; He's certainly good, but I find that I haven't copious amounts of respect for him, really. I think I've read... seven? Of his plays, and a few of his sonnets--which isn't very much, I'll admit--and I'm just not as impressed with him as I am with other playwrights.

For one, his style gets a little tiring after a while. It's just my opinion, though. ^^;; When your teachers are stuffing iambic pentameter down your throat on a daily basis and chanting (not literally), "Read Shakespeare. You love Shakespeare. Read more of Shakespeare. He's your friend. He is legend. You shall adore him," you can't really help but dislike him, even just a little.

It didn't really help that we read Marlowe's Faustus straight after like two consecutive Shakespeare plays with gratuitous "analyzing," and my friends and I were all cooing, "Christopher Marlowe, Christopher Marlowe~~ I'll marry you and have your child, just get me out of Shakespeareland~~"

And then, of course, the ideas for many of his plays are taken from outside sources. Othello was based off of an Italian (I think Italian) novel by somebody else. Twelfth Night seems to have come from a combination of an Italian play and an English novel, or something. There are others like that, but I can't remember them all. ^^;; His historical plays come from... history (which isn't altogether bad, but the ideas still aren't entirely his, you know?). It doesn't exactly impress me. I do respect him for having developed these ideas very well, however. His genius definitely lay in that.

That said, I think my favorite play of old Bill's is Macbeth. "Double double, toil and trouble..." It's a fabulous play.

I also dislike Shakespeare. I like very few of his plays, those being his lesser known/taught works.

I dislike just about everything about his works from his style to his use of language and his pacing. It just grates on me.

I like Shakespeare so much that I tried to join a class dedicated to his work this year. Unfortunately, there weren't enough people to join the class and so it was dropped T_T
I don't know why I like Shakespeare actually... I guess it's mostly because of the stories. Reading the old English isn't really easy but I still read.
I'm currently reading Hamlet in my English class. I kind of like the tragedies. Always makes things so much more interesting. MacBeth was pretty good. I'm not a fan of Romeo and Juliet.
Though my favorite play is a tie between The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

I've only read Romeo and Juliet..I know..shame on me.
But I'm about to read The Twelfth Night so..

I watched a modern version of A midsummer Night's dream called Fools in Love, and it was so entertaining. =]

Currently, I still have to rely on -gasp- sparknotes for some parts because I have trouble understanding the phrases and puns that he incorprates into his work, due to the fact that I don't have much knowledge about that period of time. I do like the way he makes his plot so dramatic yet so fun to read. Hopefully, I can better understand his works later on..

Just a question though..would Romeo and Juliet be considered a tragedy or romance...?

I love Shakespeare and have a lot of his works. I love Sonnet 130 (My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun). I also like the fact that no one knows whether there was more than one Shakespeare and the fact that there is controversy surrounding him. I think my favorite character is Lady Macbeth because I love the hand washing monologue.

I think Shakespeare is amazing, but I don't think it should be performed, unless it is modernized in some way. Shakespeare has given us some of the greatest storylines of all time, but they're just not meant to be shown in entirety to the public of our generation. We can't appreciate it, because the language is too flowerly, and his works are often three and a half hours long. In short: Shakespeare should be studied, not performed.

Originally Posted by Criminal Kiss

I think Shakespeare is amazing, but I don't think it should be performed, unless it is modernized in some way. Shakespeare has given us some of the greatest storylines of all time, but they're just not meant to be shown in entirety to the public of our generation. We can't appreciate it, because the language is too flowerly, and his works are often three and a half hours long. In short: Shakespeare should be studied, not performed.

I'm afraid I have to completely disagree on this point. I think it's really only in the performances that you can understand the true meaning of his messages. I'm more a fan of stage acting than film acting myself. I think the comedies are hysterical. It'd be great if the plays were watched first and then analyzed for double meanings and references. The gist of what's going on is still evident to first time viewers.

i've read Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, MacBeth, and the Merchant of Venice. and i only read those because i had to for school. at times, the language confused me. and the class got to go see Othello as a play. they left stuff out, but it was still good.

It's too bad that you dislike him simply because us English majors simply adore him so much, and cram it down your throats.

But I think you don't realize the reason why his works are so glorified. His works may have came from different areas, but Shakey added an element that has withstood the sands of time. "Hamlet" obviously being the work that he is most famous for, came from the ideas of "revenge plays." However, with Hamlet's inaction made it different from all those other plays, and most famously asked the viewers why we act at all. Etc, etc..

However, I know Shakespeare isn't everyone's cup of tea. But there is magic in his words, I think.

The language is hard to get by, but why don't you like his plots? I adooore it. XD

I also agree that Shakespeare is something that must be seen rather than simply read. It is so wonderful to see it live and actually playing through; even as I watched a simply "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in High School, the words just danced out of the actors' mouths.

I do believe Shakespere is a genius of literature. It's an art of what he had wrote. He wrote such plays, that were funny and at the same time unique. People now read his work over and over, each time figuring out some new view. I've read Romeo & Juliet a few times, each time figuring a line meant a different meaning. Of course everyone has different views but I believe his work is very amazing.

I am also a fan of poems in writing, such as sonnets. I love the work he has done with these poems.

Originally Posted by Alegretto

Bwaa. I have his complete works sitting on my bookcase. And it's all been read for the hell of it. His stuff is awesome. My favoritest character ever is the gravedigger from Hamlet. Or Mercutio. He was awesome.

MERCUTIO!!! He was grand. Cassius was awesome, too. *has only read Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar, but adored them both*

I MUST put my two cents in here. I adore Shakespeare personally. On top of being a literary genius he was a very interesting man.

I think one of my favorite things about Shakespeare is the fact that one of his most famous sonnets: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day..." You know the one that is always put in mushy cards and stuff, was written about a duke he was in love with. A very beautiful young man. And in some of his sonnets he references a "black Lady" whom he has little love for. That was his wife, to whom he left his second best bed. It makes me giggle. You want to get to know Shakespeare as the man he was, read his sonnets.

Which is not to say that his plays aren't absolutely wonderful! It is true that Shakespeare copied and rewrote many other plays. In those times there was no such thing as a copyright and nearly everyone copied off the work of another. What better way to make sure your show is a success than to copy a tried and true play?

To those of you who complain about reading Shakespeare: I'm sorry, go see the play. His plays were meant to be seen, not read. Analyzing Shakespeare may not be the most fun thing, but at least if you see it before you have to analyze it you can be vaguely amused by all these characters running around in your head while you read it.

I haven't actually sat down and read a whole lot of Shakespeare. Luckily, I haven't had to. I work for Shakespeare in the Park, as a costumer. So I get to sit back and enjoy the shows, though I don't often get to actually watch them because I am backstage. I have worked Macbeth, Comedy of Errors, Romeo & Juliet, and As You Like It. All very terrific shows. I also saw Twelfth Night and several other plays. I performed in Hamlet ((and lets just say Ophelia doesn't require a lot of acting for me)). So Shakespeare is a great playwrite as well as a very fun man. Otherwise I would not be so involved in his works a few centuries after he kicked the bucket. Go see it!

Originally Posted by Sojuku_Yume

MERCUTIO!!! He was grand. Cassius was awesome, too. *has only read Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar, but adored them both*

Mercutio got on my nerves a lot for some reason, as did Tybalt. Not really that sad about his death in the end. He's like the polar opposite of Benvolio. *nods* I really liked Benvolio in the play, only character in the entire play that didn't annoy me to no end.

But Benvolio is like the most morally ambiguous character ever. He annoys me to no end because he can't pick a bloody side and then he just kind of disappears.

• What do you like/dislike about Shakespeare?
  I get bored after awhile of reading his plays. I find the way they wrote/talked a bit confusing at times too. >.<
  
  What is your favorite play/sonnet?
  I don't have one, actually.
  
  We've been reading Romeo and Juliet for the last week or so, and we just finished today. It was boring at times, but it got pretty exciting when they fought and such. xDD
  
  <3

I love Shakespeare. His wit, his humor, the way he says things, are all brilliant.

I think my favorite play is The Taming of the Shrew, but that might be because it was the first one I read.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is by far my favorite, but I also have a fondness for The Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet. I love Shakespeare. <3

I love how he incorporates so many poems into his plays, its so seemless. My favourite has to be a toss up between King Lear and Macbeth, although I really enjoyed the Merchant of Venice as well. He works irony in so nicely, for both comedy and tragedy plays.

The younger branch of the KY Shakespeare Festival is performing Taming of the Shrew this summer. I'm excited cos I get to help with the costuming. :squees: *ahem* Sorry. We did Romeo & Juliet last summer. It was a lot of fun. We did actual swordfights! Well, not me because I am just a lowly costumer, but it was a lot of fun to watch. I don't know what the older company is doing this summer. It will be a tragedy though. Which makes being backstage all the more fun because we get to make fun of it. ^_^

O! Yay for kyshakes.org! We are doing Measure for Measure...does anyone know what that's about? I haven't read that one yet.