The Shakespeare Thread.

I'm sure that Shakespeare's plays are produced in the US more than those of any other playwright. Except maybe Christmas Carol by Dickens - it's done by many companies yearly.

In high school, we studied R&J, JC, Othello, Hamlet, As You Like It and a couple of others I think.

It's unusual; over here, theatrical versions are almost never seen, which is quite a shame.

I like all of the plays that you listed-- in fact, the only ones that I don't like are HV and HVIII--. My best friend's favourite play is 'As you like it.' She thinks that Shakespeare's vision into humans is better unclouded by tragedy.

Fine, thanks. They found a tear in (and some delaminaton of ) the supraspinatus tendon. I now must decide between accomodation and surgery.

Just another of "the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to" as the sweet swan of Avon would put it.

When I was in high school we only studied two plays of Shakespeare, "Julius Caesar" in grade 10 and "Macbeth" in grade 12. It wasn't until my first year of college that I really developed an appreciation for him.

My Shakepearian high point:
I saw a production of "Much Ado About Nothing" in Stratford on Avon.

Hey, George:

It's nice to see you here again. My hopes and thoughts are concentrated on your recovery. Have you things decided yet?

What plays of his did you read at University? -- which ones have stayed with you the most? There comes a time, after studying Shakespeare, that everything clicks, the appreciation greatens.

Much ado at Stratford must have been great! I love the play more than all the rest of the comedies; the roles are well crafted, the comedy not exhausting but effervecent... and Beatrice is one of my favourite Bard characters. I played her once; it was great. What year did you see the production? Did you find all the cast good? Did anyone steal the show?

I saw it in 1976. They set the play in a British Colony (unspecified which) in the mid nineteenth century. Sometimes setting Shakespeare in a later time works and sometimes it doesn't. This worked beautifully.

Beartrix and Benedick were marvelous, but Don John stole every seen he was in. Dogberry was a disappointment, but I always thought that character was a bit over the top anyway.

BTW, I will never forgive Branaugh for his movie of that play. Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves as brothers? Yeah, I noticed the resemblance right away. And Michael Keaton as Dogberry was just painful.

The idea of putting it there sounds interesting, George. I think that some people are too ridiculous with their setting Shakespeare in different times-- like the biker-bar version of Hamlet-- and the play loses its character. But, usually, RSC changes are great. I saw a version of Coriolanus there, set in Imperial Japan. It was really interest.

I agree with you on Dogberry. He and Lavache (from All's well) never did anything for me. Would you say that Much Ado is your favourite play after seeing it?

(O, I've never seen the movie, but from reading the cast list, the adaptation seems painful. The Washington-Reeves coupling as brothers is almost as bad as making Viola and Sebastian from Twelfth Night (nearly identical twins) a guy from the Bronx and an Indian girl...) Some people don't put enough consideration in...

Favorite play is a tough one. I'd like to make an inspired, idiosycratic choice like, say, _Titus_Andronicus_, but I can't. _Hamlet_ bowled me over from the first time I read it and still does.

...and you?

I studied Shakespeare at school with one of the most brilliant men I have ever met. Very fond memories of that class, despite its intensity.

And, just so I actually add something to this thread, I'd say that my favorite Shakespeare play is King Lear.

I'm currently in AP English 4 at my high school. During my high school career I've read Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Macbeth, and I'll be studying A Midsummer's Night Dream within the next few weeks. With JC we listened to a tape as we read during my sophomore year. My current teacher has us pair up and read a scene and then summarize it and point out the lines which made the greatest impact on us, which ones confused us, etc. She shows us parts of the movies and points out disparities and those parts which really reflect Shakespeare's intention. I know I've learned more from Hamlet and Macbeth than I ever did with Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar thus far.

What makes Hamlet's third soliloquy "great literature&q
I have to write an essay over Hamlet in my English class, and the subject is "What makes Hamlet's third soliloquy 'great literature'?" I am writing that what makes it so great is that it is universally applicable, transcends time, and that it reaches people on an emotional and logical level. What do you think makes it such great literature?

"To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd."

rmrrose, I think you've got three great points there. Do you need more?

No I just need 3 for my essay. I was just wondering if they seemed logical and if there were any that I was missing that would be better suited.

ohh boy, I also took AP English Lit. in high school. It was as crazy as it can ever get. I spend much of my free time reading tons of short stories and books/plays and tons of writing. I regret taking that class. As I recall, we started reading "The Interlopers" which is a short story.
We read Richard II, Richard III, Hamlet, King Lear and Much A Do About Nothing, which she had us perform. We read lots, well I wouldn't say "read" because we literally didn't have time to read a play or a book, I would say more like speed reading , from one book to the next.....it was crazy.
One of the assignments was to write a Critical Lens essay using Richard III and Much A Do About Nothing.....now, you think about that lol