# We all love Shakespeare right?



## godisthyname (Sep 23, 2003)

I have to keep arguing with people I know about how great Shakespeare is.  Very few people I know really appreciate His genius you know.  When I went to Gordon Ramsay (the restaurant) for my birthday earlier this year with my family we talked about Shakespeare for half the time we were there.  Those who don't like Shakespeare are a bunch of philistines.


----------



## Rage2Fury (Sep 23, 2003)

Personally, I love Shakespeare's works. But I have never read them for myself.  I have seen plays and things of that sort.


----------



## godisthyname (Sep 23, 2003)

Well I think you are missing out hugely here.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, Shakespeare is probably better read and studied than watched.  This is only because there are so many god awful productions out there - I recently saw the Olivier production of King Lear, and good god it was terrible, the only redeeming feature was a flame haired Jeremy Kemp play Cornwall - best damn thing in there (steely blue eyes as well).  I think it was Harold Bloom (bloody great critic) who said that he had never seen a production of The Two Noble Kinsmen nor did he ever wish to.


----------



## Sir Joel of Cardwell (Sep 27, 2003)

Watch Shakespeare in Love

It turned me on to Shakespeare (again)

It also plays around with the concept of genius

Which I find pretty funny


----------



## kinetickyle (Sep 28, 2003)

_Hamlet_ is the only one of Shakespeare's works that I like.  Not that I have anything against Shakespeare, mind you; I recognize his genius and innovation, it's just that he doesn't appeal to me...


----------



## AdamR (Sep 28, 2003)

kinetickyle said:
			
		

> Not that I have anything against Shakespeare, mind you; I recognize his genius and innovation, it's just that he doesn't appeal to me...



I agree. His writing can be learned from, and I have, but I am not a fanatic of all of his work.


----------



## godisthyname (Sep 28, 2003)

what about henry iv? that is supposedly his most read and best loved work - just because of plump jack of course


----------



## Fantasia (Sep 29, 2003)

I thought his most read is Romeo and Juliet?

I enjoyed his popular work (of course): Romeo and Juliet (of course), 12th Night, Turning of the Shrew, Merchant of Venice, McBeth... I'm still thinking about Comedy of Errors.


----------



## Lily (Sep 29, 2003)

I would also say that Romeo and Juliet is his most read work . . . I know that it's required reading for the schools around me at least sometime through high school . . .

Myself, I don't like _reading_ Shakespeare, though I do enjoy watching it. To date, I've seen _Measure for Measure_ and _The Taming of the Shrew_, both of which I just loved.


----------



## Willyshakespeare (Sep 29, 2003)

Stop it, stop it, already, you're all too kind . . . Oh, you mean the other one.

Yeah, he's good too.  His imagery and turns of phrase are unmatched in the English language, you ask me.  Historically speaking, he was perhaps the first to deliver multi-dimensional characters. (I suspect he was inspired in this by reading his contemporary, Montaigne.)

An irony of history: the poetry is what was considered serious lit in his day, not so much the plays.


----------



## Fantasia (Sep 29, 2003)

Willyshakespeare said:
			
		

> Stop it, stop it, already, you're all too kind . . .


X'D


----------



## DesignerJim (Nov 14, 2003)

Okay, first, can I just say this:

"Shakespeare in Love" was total crap.

Okay, that off my chest, I have to agree with godisthyname - Shakespeare did things with the language that have yet to be matched. Absolutely brilliant.

And if you dig Shakespeare and haven't read "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" by Tom Stoppard, drop what you're doing right now and go read it. Doubly brilliant. Check out the film with Gary Oldman and Tim Roth too. Great.


----------



## The Admiral (Nov 17, 2003)

Shakespeare is one of my favorite authors (and my favorite poet).  Reading his works will do wonders for a writer trying to write any type of poetry.


----------



## DesignerJim (Nov 17, 2003)

*Not only poetry...*

Agreed. And I think reading Shakespeare can inspire and teach anyone writing any sort of story, not just poetry.


----------



## The Admiral (Nov 17, 2003)

Definitely, but poetry in specific.


----------



## goyanks (Nov 17, 2003)

Shakespeare was most definitely an incredibly gifted poet and wordsmith--"Sonnet LXXXVII" *sigh*

My personal favorite has always been _Julius Caesar_.


----------



## The Admiral (Nov 18, 2003)

I'm reading _Julius Caesar_ right now.


----------



## Sneaky (Nov 18, 2003)

I had to read him in school while learning english. hard job. might try him again, who knows


----------



## Kimberly Bird (Nov 18, 2003)

Remember when reading his poetry, much of his work was for his male lover.  So if you want to annylize it, keep that in mind.

Kimberly


----------



## claire_marie (Dec 8, 2003)

personally i love shakespeare. when i was about 6 my mother took me to the globe theatre and we saw a play but i cant remember which one it was, i think a midsummer nights dream. ever since then ive been totally hooked on shakespeare and love his works. i have to say that the best thing ever is actually standing in the peasant's area (lol yes im just a mere peasant damn it) at the globe and watching a play. man your feet ache by the end of 4 hours but its certainly worth it. the atmosphere is wonderful and it almost takes you back to the tudor times. anyone else here been to see one of his plays at the globe theatre?


----------



## Lily (Dec 8, 2003)

We certainly don't all love Shakespeare, but that doesn't mean he's not great. My parents and I went to see Henry IV recently at Lincoln Center. While I thought it was an excellent play and very well acted, my parents hated it and insisted on leaving early. The problem wasn't that they didn't like the play, it was that they didn't _understand_ it . . . they're not native English speakers, you see, so for them it's virtually impossible to understand a Shakespeare play. Ah well  :?


----------



## Kitten Courna (Dec 8, 2003)

Having just finished tech work for a production of Love's Labors Lost that nearly killed myself and all of the actors and crew, I felt it was perhaps an opportune moment to comment.

I feel for your parents, Lily, Shakespeare's a hard man to understand if you're in that situation.  I was surprised, however, at all of the native English speakers coming from a reasonably educated background that couldn't understand even the basest of his jokes.  I mean really, yes he's difficult, I could understand having hard times with Hamlet and the serious ones, but LLL?  It's a series of innuendo and crude jokes rather than a play, and we had whole audiences that barely cracked smiles.

*grumbling over*

Shakespeare as a writer?  Fun guy.  Unbelievably fun.  Definitely worth the time and honor he's given these days.  *grin*.

-Kitten


----------



## darkheartedwanderer (Jan 1, 2004)

I'm a shakespeare fanatic....I love his work and have read quite a few so far....  Personally I agree with the opinion that Shakespeare is better read than seen.  Also....highschool English classes tend to murder Shakespeare because everyone reads him wrong....ie gets the wrong punctuation and such.  Personally my favourites are Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream and Taming of the Shrew...

Oh...and Designer Jim....I would have to agree with Shakespeare In Love being one of the worst movies I have ever seen.  

~ Wayne Ser ~

"It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all"


----------



## Capulet (Jan 2, 2004)

Kimberly Bird said:
			
		

> Remember when reading his poetry, much of his work was for his male lover.  So if you want to annylize it, keep that in mind.
> 
> Kimberly



Keep in mind as well that this is a VERY debated subject.  I'm surprised someone would tout it as fact; very inconsiderate to the people who aren't as versed in the circumstances surrounding the topic.  I'd hate to be the one who walked into a college lit class pronouncing the above.

Al Rowse was an incredibly well noted authority on 16th-century English literature, and he denounces the rumours of W.S. being gay.  Considering the writings fell within his narrow specialty, and that Rowse was himself openly gay, I find him a very credible reference on the subject.


----------



## overheadalbatross (Jan 3, 2004)

Not to get off-topic, but a school in my city put on a great production of "Measure for Measure" and people were actually laughing at it. It was pretty impressive to see an auditorium full of people keeping up with Shakespeare.


----------



## rcallaci (Jan 4, 2004)

Shakespere is one of the greatest writers in the english language no matter if he be gay or straight. When I read his poetry what does it matter if he's writing about a male or female lover it's beautiful never the less. His poetry should not be judged by his sexual orientation but by the message that it conveys of longoing, desire and love . Love is Love be it straight or gay and poetry is poetry is poetry no matter the target of it's desire.

My favorite plays of W.S are Hamlet, McBeth, Ortello and Midsummer Night"s Dream although I love the rest equally as well. He's really quite easy to understand once you make it a point to learn the vernacular. 


warm regards,
Bob


----------



## Guineapiggy (Jan 4, 2004)

Why would I like a guy who couldn't even spell his own name? 

Seriously though, Shakespeare was good but he wasn't _the master of the English language_ as many people seem to make him out to be. He was witty, he used bright, vivid language and well portrayed characters for theater but that's a world apart from being comparable to a skilled novelist. 
I also take a great interest in the theory that Shakespeare actually had a ghost writer within courts but I don't really think that matters either way.


----------



## Lily (Jan 4, 2004)

I thought the theory was actually that Shakespeare took credit for the plays that Francis Bacon wrote??


----------



## godisthyname (Jan 6, 2004)

Hahahahaha, lets try not to turn this into a question of authorship and conspiracy.  I've heard of numerous different writers who hold this prestigous honour, I think it is better to simply take for granted that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare.

Anyway, I've been wondering about criticism and Bardolatry, in particular who were the best Shakespeare critics. Myself I would say that Harold Bloom with his book "Invention of the Human" is the top of my list right now, but I'm open to suggestions and recommendations.


----------



## Kimberly Bird (Jan 6, 2004)

Guys, sorry, I had a weird sense of humor that day.  I was just trying to get a bit of controversy going because I was bored.  I wanted to see if any would refute that claim.

No hard feelings I hope 

Kimberly


----------



## godisthyname (Jan 7, 2004)

It is an interesting idea that Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare but most of the "evidence" is so ridiculously circumspect and specious as to not warrant any real skepticism on my part.  Though it is interesting to see that most collections of Shakespeare's complete works don't include "The Two Noble Kinsmen" or "Edward III" or any reference to what survives of Cardenio.

Edward III, Bloom dissents from attributing to Shakespeare because to him it contains nothing in it reminiscent of the poet who wrote Richard III.  Bloom attributed The Two Noble Kinsmen to Shakespeare, as does the 'Arden Shakespeare' and I think so does the 'Norton Shakespeare'.


----------



## Jp (Dec 3, 2005)

I would have to say, no serious critic could assume he intended to have all of his works published. __and then I must laugh, looking to all his works sitting right beside me. I personally find his works great--I mean, this man said things that truly occupied uncertainties, mysteries, and doubts, that is, without any irritation afterwards. However, though I have no dispute, I can understand how one could see such negative capability as remaining in half-truths. So, I guess up for the reader; are you the type that likes the strait forward; or are the type that needs to be told more than words say.


----------

