Shakespeare's Plays

[Gem]

I'd have to agree with Litany, I enjoy watching the plays more than reading them, although I have read quite a few of them. Admitedly this
could be because I always end up reading out loud, using weird accents.

But hearing the words spoken on stage is just something else, no matter how weak the story, the language just puts so much life and meaning into it.

I guess i'd have to go with (predictably) Hamlet as favourite, although Macbeth does come a close second. Any recommendations from his lesser known works?

[lady.cordelia]

speaking of shakespeare, this is a fun site!

[Phlebas]

I'm ashamed to say that I've been working with a client in London fo about a year who is just round the corner from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and I've never actually managed to get in to see one which I know is pathetic.

[Heteronym]

I prefer watching the plays, or the movie adapations, if they're good. I love Henry V very much because of Kenneth Brannagh's beautiful version. Kurosawa's Ran is also a good adaptation of King Lear. I'd say these two filmmakers taught me to love Shakespeare.

[ValkyrieRaven88]

Since I was only introduced to Shakespeare three years ago in my freshman English class, I'm not familiar with much of his work. But I'm a huge fan of him, and my favorite so far is Hamlet.

I could sympathize with Hamlet because he, like me, often seems confused about what course of action to take. He was a vivid, very three-dimensional character, and one that I cared deeply about.

I also have an undying addiction to angst, and this fed it well from all angles. There were even a couple of funny scenes, such as the one where Hamlet is being questioned about where Polonius is. (Can't you just see everyone's faces when he says, "At supper?")

[honeydevil]

My favorite Shakespeare play is Midsummernight's dream... I saw it a few years ago in a theatre.. It was played by students, they danced, sang and spoke it... they had a beautiful stage...
since then i love this play...

[Dayspring]

Originally Posted by ValkyrieRaven88

I could sympathize with Hamlet because he, like me, often seems confused about what course of action to take. He was a vivid, very three-dimensional character, and one that I cared deeply about.

My favorite play is Hamlet, and I really agree with you! I think the torments in his life infect readers greatly. And when he goes back and forth of if he should kill Claudius or not, he shows the interminable struggle in his mind.

Greek tragedy always shows the misfortune of life. Does anyone think it is this heaviness of life which makes the characters alive and meaningful? And does a easy life lead to pointlessness?

[Flor]

Originally Posted by Dayspring

Does anyone think it is this heaviness of life which makes the characters alive and meaningful? And does a easy life lead to pointlessness?

Welcome to the forum Dayspring . I think you're onto something with your above inquiry! Have you watched Little Miss Sunshine? Those very questions are approached spectacularly in that film.

Far as Will goes, The Taming of the Shrew is my favorite comedy, and King Lear or Othello my favorite tragedy. Or is it Macbeth or Hamlet, oh my such a tricky question!

[Dayspring]

Originally Posted by Flor

Welcome to the forum Dayspring . I think you're onto something with your above inquiry! Have you watched Little Miss Sunshine? Those very questions are approached spectacularly in that film.

Thanks for your reply, Flor. I've never watched Little Miss Sunshine, but I got the idea of this question from a book called The unbearable lightness of being by Kundera Milan. It is this book which asks me the question but I can't break through it for a long time.

I read Romeo and Juliet before I went to the play, and I feel it's not enough to just read the book. When the actors and actresses act through scenes, it's just amazing how the whole play become a living story with real characters in it.

[novella]

Originally Posted by Dayspring

Greek tragedy always shows the misfortune of life. Does anyone think it is this heaviness of life which makes the characters alive and meaningful? And does a easy life lead to pointlessness?

This question brings to mind Woody Allen, whose best characters are comics trapped in tragic situations. The outcome is either whistful or farcical, but never really tragic.

Some might say that comedy is just tragedy with a slightly better outcome, and that the same situation can be tragic for one type of character and comic for another.

In other words, tragedy does not build character, and comedy does not negate character, but character creates either comedy or tragedy.

For instance, Kurt Vonnegut dies after a lifetime of amazing work without ever having received a major literary award or recognition. For some that might have been a tragedy. For him, it was a comedy. I heard him interviewed about that, and he was extremely funny.


As for an easy life leading to pointlessness, what would Bertie Wooster say about that? His scrapes with bachelorettes and Auntie Whatever are matters of profound gravity.

[Dayspring]

Originally Posted by novella

In other words, tragedy does not build character, and comedy does not negate character, but character creates either comedy or tragedy.

Yes, I agree with you that it is the character's life which makes the story either comedy or tragedy. But I think you might misunderstand what I meant.

I meant the misfortune in character's life make audience feel the character is alive. The audience can compassionate the pain in the character's mind and feel with them, as all lives have sadness, frustrations in them.

[novella]

Originally Posted by Dayspring

Yes, I agree with you that it is the character's life which makes the story either comedy or tragedy. But I think you might misunderstand what I meant.

I meant the misfortune in character's life make audience feel the character is alive. The audience can compassionate the pain in the character's mind and feel with them, as all lives have sadness, frustrations in them.

We had a thread going on this some time ago, about how there is a prejudice that says tragedy is more valuable than comedy. Comedy is just character and fate triumphing over tragic circumstances. But yet there is the notion that tragic characters have more weight. It's a strange truth at is defied in real life.

In life, do we admire the person who succumbs to tragic circumstances or the person who keeps going, conquers adversity, and laughs in the face of ugly fate?

[BooknaMug]

Novella, when I read your first comment about tragedy being more valuable, I thought "That's so true," but by the end I was like "No, laugh in the face of fate!" This is an interesting little paradox.

My favorite is The Tempest. I didn't read it until my last year of college and felt like I'd missed out on something great.

[hockeycop]

Macbeth is my favourite, but I haven't read Hamlet or Othello. I plan to tackle these soon.

Julius Caesar is one of note too. It was the first Shakespeare play I read.

[Libra6Poe]

Othello is my favorite in general (but I've only read 9 Shakespeare plays though).
Iago's so evil...

Henry V is amazing out of the histories I've read. His speech at the Battle of Agincourt was very moving. I kept thinking of Lord of the Rings as I read that play.

Merchant of Venice is my fave out of the "comedies." The Antonio-Bassanio love is great and Portia's a tricky tricky bitch.