William Shakespeare-it was Greek to me

[bac]

A place to discuss all things William Shakespeare, his writings and movies that have been made from his writings.

[vampyre_princess]

Yeah, 1st post!

Okay so I have studied numerous plays (set and choice) and some of his sonnets.

I am astounded at the amount of people that do not understand Shakespeare... I am the only one in my current class (we are studying King Lear) and all my other classes I have ever studies Shakespeare in that managed to understand it all!

So what's your favourite play?

[bronzehairedmiracle]

^^^My favorite play is Macbeth since I am a fan of the macabre
Next comes Romeo & Juliet but for the beauty of language, not the story.

[dandyvampgirl_13]

I prefer The Twelfth Night myself, for obvious reasons. I'm in it.
Next comes all the tragedies, since I have a... thing for dead people. Its ironic- I like irony.

I really don't understand how people don't get Shakespeare. In my mind, it sometimes makes more sense than normal English. Its just sad, that its hard for other people to see the story beneath the archaic terms of Shakespeare.

My favorite movie version is Baz Loherman (how ever you spell it)'s version of Romeo and Juliet. Mostly for Leo DiCaprio, but also for Baz. He's an amazing director.

[debussygirl]

I am definitely not a Shakespeare buff, but I've studied 4 of his works. I loved Hamlet, and liked Othello. The Taming of the Shrew was okay, but I really didn't like Romeo and Juliet.
I plan on reading Midsummer Night's Dream in the upcoming months, though.

Of course I love to see them performed more than read, because that is how he intended us to see his works.

[pennybug84]

I really don't understand how people don't get Shakespeare. In my mind, it sometimes makes more sense than normal English. Its just sad, that its hard for other people to see the story beneath the archaic terms of Shakespeare.

I wish I could be more like you! I unfortunately am one of those people who have a really hard time understanding anything. The only 2 I remember reading was Romeo & Juliet my freshman year (about 10 years ago) and A Midsummer's Night Dream (my junior year.) And both times I had a really hard time understanding him & would have to go to class the next day & have the teacher explain it for me to know what was going on.

I actually was thinking about Shakespeare a while back & how I have a hard time w/it & it reminded me of the movie The Prince & Me. There's this part where the main girl can't understand Shakespeare either & the prince (who she doesn't know is a Danish prince at this point) agrees to help her understand in exchanging for helping him do his laundry. And it made me think I wouldn't mind having a cute guy helping me to understand it!

So since we're discussing it, that line that's at the beginning of NM what does that mean? (I'm too lazy to go find it right now! )

[bronzehairedmiracle]

^^ The quote is:
"These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume"

These lines were said by the Friar in the play. Here, the wise and old man is telling the young lovers to exercise a little caution and not act rashly, giving themselves over completely to their overwhelming feelings. He says that they must be patient if they are truly in love for impulsive and reckless love destroys itself. Thus the analogy of fire and powder 'consuming' itself.

That's just my interpretation. If I am incorrect, please feel free to correct me.

[dazzledBrit]

Yeah, I think that's about right. All consuming love.

I always got Shakespeare at school and was one of the few that did. I think it's because I'd always read a lot of books set in different times so I was more used to different styles of speech. Shakespeare's words can seem stilted on the page, but they're very musical, lilting and they have a real rhythm...after all, the plays were written to be performed, not read as books.

Midsummer's Night Dream was always one of my favourites and it's a great fun play. I adored Much Ado About Nothing when I was younger too...the Kennth Branagh/Emma Thompson/Kate Beckinsale film was my favourite movie for a long time. I adore the music in that. Anyone else seen it?

Taming of the Shrew is one of my least favourites. Way too misogynistic!

[bronzehairedmiracle]

Shakespeare's words can seem stilted on the page, but they're very musical, lilting and they have a real rhythm...after all, the plays were written to be performed, not read as books.

That's exactly what I have felt many times while reading some of his works. The rhythm of the prose is very soothing and calming.

On an off-topic note: Have you read A Thing of Beauty By J.Keats? It has a similar calming effect.

[vampyre_princess]

I've studied A Midsummer Night's Dream (about 7 years ago), Julius Ceasar (about 5 years ago), Macbeth (4 years ago), Romeo and Juliet (3 years ago - but have re-read it since), Hamlet (I read after being told I would be studying it this year, but we aren't ) and King Lear (this year)

I have always wanted to be in a version of one of his plays, but never been able to get to the auditions

I have always help out those who couildn't understand it in my classes, I get the language as I like older literature so I am used to read books in old english. But I don't get why people don't understand it and it really is a shame as they then don't get the complete story