*injects some culture into the forum :P*

So ichigos, do you even like him? What's your favourite work, and why? The macabre Macbeth or the romantic Romeo and Juliet-let's hear those ideas.


I think I'm going to go for Sonnet 116:


Let me not to the marriage of true minds
admit impediments. Love is not love
which alters when it alteration finds,
or bends with the remover to remove:
Oh, no! It is an ever-fixed mark.
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
it is the star to every wandering bark,
whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
within his bending sickle's compass come;
love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
but bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.


It's quite simple to understand, just about love in its most ideal form, and is the kind of pretty thing I'd like to have read at my wedding~

Romeo and juliet is rubbish and only goes worse with the various remakes. I'm sure almost every one of us here has also been forced at gun point to read the damn plays and watch various versions of the films, while writing complete dribble about old hash with sumbtle hints and suggestions.
Macbeth is far better simply for the countless crazy people going loopy loop. The remakes do it justice too, such as having mercutio[sp] shooting the sea with a 9mm pistol in an attempt to stop the waves.

I'm not that familiar with Shakespeare to be honest, simply because I didn't grow up in an English speaking society so we never had that kind of stuff at school. I know some of the stories, well, the important parts of them anyway but I never actually read any work by Shakespeare.

Hamlet is a really deep play with many levels of analysis; it's definitely my favorite, though I've only read Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, and Hamlet.

I don't think it's possible to say I either like or dislike him as a whole. I have only experienced his plays and of those some I like, some I don't.

Romeo and Juliet is overrated trash, I liked Twelfth Night when we studied it- though it's pretty light and easy to understand. The Winter's Tale is probably the most boring Shakespeare play I have come across, Act 5 is a massive anti-climax. Much ado about nothing gets the same attitude I have towards Twelfth Night... Shakespeare for dummies is perhaps a good term for them both. My absolute favourite is Hamlet; within x amount of characters, Shakespeare summarises the whole expanse of human nature and emotion. Amazing stuff.

I kinda wish I had some Shakespeare stuff just to read for pleasure, im sure it doesnt seem as good with a batty old teacher sticking it down your neck.. xD

I'm not all that into Shakespeare these days, but if I had to choose, I'd say Hamlet is probably my favorite. I think it's because the title character is, of all Shakespeare's characters, the one I can really relate to the most, on a certain level. And no, my father wasn't killed by my uncle, and then married my mother, lol. No no, it's more like, his thoughts/feelings, his mentality, and his actions, I guess I sort of... feel in tune with.

I'd say the movie with Kenneth Brannagh was my favorite version. I've seen the play live too. But, like I said though, I'm not that into Shakespeare anyway, and it's been years since I read or saw a play (or even a movie). I used to go to the plays over in Stratford, Canada every year, but not anymore. I don't even have a valid passport right now, so I couldn't even if I wanted to.

I kinda wish I had some Shakespeare stuff just to read for pleasure, im sure it doesnt seem as good with a batty old teacher sticking it down your neck.. xD Same, all of Shakespeare's stuff were stuff I had to read for school. :x

But it wasn't all bad.

Most memorable moment of my Shakespeare experience: Mother I am slain D:

I suddenly remembered during english class we once had to do a play based on Hamlet. I was Hamlet's father's ghost. Wearing a white sheet and all :P

I started casually reading Shakespeare after we studied Romeo and Juliet, and also MacBeth. I probably would have liked Romeo and Juliet better if I had read the actual play or the seen it performed. Analyzing it wasn't fun, but I'll probably pick it up again in a few years time. Hamlet was quite enjoyable to read, more basic in the fact of how its written, but I find you can focus on the themes and stories better. I felt the movie or reading the play didn't do MacBeth justice. After actually watching the play I must say I found it quite interesting. Not as "enjoyable" as either Hamlet, however I would prefer to read this one due to how it presents itself.

My English told me about Shakespeare's comedies, and I must say I quite liked the ones I read. Measure for Measure was a bit of a mixed piece, since the comic relief of the darker tone of the story annoyed me' the story itself was quite interesting though. The Merchant of Venice is the only other I've read but it has to be one of my favourites. I don't know what I like about over the others, but I find the characters more appealing.

Shakespeare in his time would have been great; while I find most of his works good to read, I wouldn't go any farther than to call them good.

As for the use of Shakespeare in school's, 1 or 2 of his works are okay to look at, but basing large assignments on his works and trying to get a major program out of it is relatively useless. It's not that people don't understand the themes or the characters, its that Shakespeare is dated. People have more trouble understand what he is trying to say, even when its translated into modern english.

In my English class, we're starting to read Romeo and Juliet... Whoo~ My first time actually reading it in it's original language! :D Though this might be the only one that I might actually read from Shakespeare this year... I might get into his work sooner or later...

Elton John has the right idea. Romeo and Juliet with gnomes. Saw it mentioned on the news yesterday xD

It's funny to see so many people completely bombarding Romeo and Juliet negatively, and because of it's popularity. Sure, it may not be the best script ever, and definitely not one of Shakespeare's best, but I'm not going to say that it isn't one of the greatest scripts ever written, because it simply is.

I read Richard II in my early modern British lit class last term, and it was fantastic.

It's funny to see so many people completely bombarding Romeo and Juliet negatively, and because of it's popularity.

Only Thorn and Han bashed R&J, and neither of them really touched on its popularity except with "overrated trash". So I'm just going to guess you were referring to society as a whole.

Most people don't like the play because they are forced to read it in school, as others have previously pointed out. It's a play found within nearly every high school curriculum in America, probably because it is a very simple read and a good introduction play for studying Shakespeare.

We're watching Romeo and Juliet (it's the recent one... with guns instead of swords and it's in modern time) and it was okay. Though I've watched older version, I like a change of pace with the era. :)