Shakespeare?

Warbsywoo

Warbsywoo

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We all know him, but that doesn't mean we necessarily love him...
What do you think of his numerous plays?

I think they're all great pieces of literature and I only discovered that recently since I got a copy of Hamlet with a little modern translation on one side with the original text compared on the other so it was an easier read that those other ones like Julius Caesar that we had to read unassisted.

Oh...parodies:

http://www.angelfire.com/oh/Pretzel/
 
I love Shakespeare with a burning, fiery, and slightly unhealthy passion. If he were alive, I would most definitely be one of his groupies (assuming he was straight...). The man was a literary genius and his plays are completely unrivaled. Hamlet is one of my favorite pieces of literature ever. Much Ado About Nothing is hilarious, even today-- now that says something. He was so funny that his wit is still fresh 400 years later. His plays not only have amazing plots, they are written brilliantly, and have so many hidden meanings and puns that I wonder how one man could be so intelligent. God, I love him XD

</end scary obsessive fangirling over Shakespeare>
 
I love Shakespeare! He is one of the writers who truly takes writing to the level of high art. His use of language smacks of wild innovation and one can't doubt the enormous influence his works have had in Anglophone pop culture (it certainly goes farther than awful high school renditions of Romeo and Juliet).

My favorite of his comedies is Much Ado About Nothing - I honestly felt like the love between Benedick and Beatrice is much more plausible and ironically more star-crossed than Romeo and Juliet ever seemed. Frankly, I always considered Romeo and Juliet to be one of the Bard's worst. But perhaps it's just that hermeneutic gap that makes me balk at Renaissance concepts of love.

In most cases, however, Shakespeare's works go beyond the context of his time into the true realm of classics. And if one is intimidated by his plays, at the very least read some of his love sonnets - they're amazing as well.
 
Yeah, I can't really say I have much of passion of readin Shakespeare as much as eisprinz and Erythritol up here, but he's still a great writer.

Do you guys think that The Lion King is the Disney version of Hamlet? Think about it. ;)
 
Same with SapphireStar. I've read several works from him, and I did enjoy some, but I'm definitely not a huge fan. Stuff like that usually bores me to death.
 
I'm quite fond of Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Othello. I only have done them in school and haven't really thought of reading them at home. I did enjoy them though and am very fond od Shakespere
 
Lion King is such a blatant rip-off of Hamlet D: That's why I don't really like it. After reading Hamlet and then seeing the Lion King again I was like "wait a minute....this is Hamlet....with lions! Disney, you thieving bastards!!" *Shakes fist*
 
I take Lit but I'm not really a fan of Shakespeare. Some of his plays tell good stories, and I'm really enjoying Measure for Measure at the moment in class, but he's not my favourite writer. He's over-rated. :P

Erythritol said:
Lion King is such a blatant rip-off of Hamlet D: That's why I don't really like it. After reading Hamlet and then seeing the Lion King again I was like "wait a minute....this is Hamlet....with lions! Disney, you thieving bastards!!" *Shakes fist*
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Wow, what an observation, and very true too! Disney! And they're so selfish in terms of money, too. ¬_¬ But, sorry to say, Lion King > Hamlet. :lol:
 
I absolutely love Shakespeare. I think he was a genius. And like Harold Bloom says, "Shakespeare created the modern man." If you analyze Shakespeare's plays, you'll notice there were absolutely so many things that he had put in there to make you wonder exactly what are you doing with your own life. I have not read Hamlet, though I know it's inspired from the loss of his son, Hamnet.
 
I have read Midsummer Night's Dream and Macbeth and a bit of Romeo and Juliet, and I have seen Midsummer Night's Dream and Merchant of Venice in theatre. I find the language quite hard to understand, and only really get it after having it explained by a teacher. His work is genius though, once I can understand the language.
 
I've probably said this before, but ...

Romeo & Juliet = GARBAGE. It is NOT an epic love story. Seriously, I don't understand why people like it so much. Plot, characters, everything was so bloody awful! >_<
 
Grand Lethal said:
I've probably said this before, but ...

Romeo & Juliet = GARBAGE. It is NOT an epic love story. Seriously, I don't understand why people like it so much. Plot, characters, everything was so bloody awful! >_<
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Well, it does have its merits. One has to acknowledge the different concept of love in that period of time, as well as courtly love from medieval times. And I do think the characters are quite interesting.

But I really have to agree that it's not the most relevant love story to our time, and definitely not Shakespeare's best romance nor tragedy, let alone one of his better plays. I don't know what keeps it on high school reading lists - possibly just the canon and the pop-culture reference.
 
Well, it is well known. I happen to love the characters--Tybalt, Mercutio, other people I sadly don't remember...

I understood it better than I did Hamlet, at least. What I really want to read, though, is Macbeth. The cursed play. *cue scary music* Ooh, spooky.
 
Macbeth is all right, a bit overrated but i like it when he murders all of macduff's family. Othello is in my opinion his best play. but i think he is a bit overrated and that oscar wilde and george bernard shaw are better
 
The End said:
Macbeth is all right, a bit overrated but i like it when he murders all of macduff's family. Othello is in my opinion his best play. but i think he is a bit overrated and that oscar wilde and george bernard shaw are better
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I think Othello is one of his weaker plays. Iago is a very unimpressive villain. When asked why he hates Othello, he simply says, "I hate the Moor." He is such a one dimensional villain. Othello is also rather one dimensional, and bit of a walking stereotype. He is quick to anger; instead of asking Desdemona about the lies that Iago is feeding him, he simply kills her. Oh, and the whole Desdemona being smothered to death, but first saying a few dying lines...that was ridiculous.

Me, I think Hamlet is his greatest work.
 
i like hamlet. but i think your wrong about Iago. he is his best villian, he manipulates othello into destroying himself. he is so good that shakespeare makes up the hanfkerchief thing so that he can be caught. which is totally out of character for Iago
 
The End said:
i like hamlet. but i think your wrong about Iago. he is his best villian, he manipulates othello into destroying himself. he is so good that shakespeare makes up the hanfkerchief thing so that he can be caught. which is totally out of character for Iago
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Manipulation is so easy. Anyone can manipulate someone into doing what they want. All Iago had to do was lie to Othello and have his wife steal a hankerchief. What makes villains well-written is depth, which is what Iago lacks completely. He is completely one dimensional. He has almost no motivation, no redeeming qualities, nothing. He's such your run of the mill, "I'm EVIL BECAUSE I'm EVIL!" villain. There is nothing complex or interesting about him. Thus, he is poorly contrived. Why is Macbeth so popular? GOOD VILLAINS. Lady Macbeth is really interesting. She feels guilt for her actions, as it evidenced by her continuous washing of her hands. Iago...pfft. Big deal, he manipulated a deeply flawed character into killing his wife. It wasn't really much of a feat. All it took was lying. He also killed his own wife. His only reason to hate Othello is jealousy. He shows no remorse and has no redeeming qualities. He is one-dimensionally evil and uninteresting. Definitely not Shakespeare's greatest.
 
he is clever. better than lady macbeth who only got macbeth to kill duncan because she wanted to be queen. macbeth just turns into a psychopath and lady macbeth goes mad and kills herself.
 
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