NationStates Jolt Archive

Sorry I couldn't include everyone's favorite ... I tried to include the ones I thought would be most popular.

The Tempest

I've only read The Tempest... don'thurtme! *cowers*

I've only read The Tempest... don'thurtme! *cowers*

i have only read a few, so your not alone. i actually think he's slightly overrated pleasedonthurtme *cowers as well*

I've only read two, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. Out of those two I would probably go for Romeo and Juliet. However, a while ago I saw a fantastic open air performance of The Tempest, so I would probably vote for that if it was on the poll.

Othello. Iago is the most Brilliant Shakespearean charachter that I know. He's evil, immoral, kniving, and smart as all Hell.

Second has to be King Lear, solely because of the Fool.

Othello. Iago is the most Brilliant Shakespearean charachter that I know. He's evil, immoral, kniving, and smart as all Hell.

Second has to be King Lear, solely because of the Fool.
The fool is always good.

Othello is my other default favorite, for more or less the same reason.

Midsummer nights dream is great to perform in. I reckon the people who voted for romeo and juliet just haven't read anything else.

Midsummer nights dream is great to perform in. I reckon the people who voted for romeo and juliet just haven't read anything else.

To true.

Do you perform?

Macbeth is the most brilliant psychological work while Richard III the most fun.

Richard III and MND are up on the "second-tier" poll. I still didn't get The Tempest up there, I'm sorry :(

Richard III and MND are up on the "second-tier" poll. I still didn't get The Tempest up there, I'm sorry :(

I'd love to play Richard III.

Titus Andronicus is the best by far. There's a marriage, a death, a kidnapping and a fight (I think), and that's just in Scene 1, Act 1!

I knew somebody was gonna pick that :D

I honestly do think it is the best.

To true.

Do you perform?
Yeppers, I'm a Drama student, have worked in theatre for about 5 years and did 4 seasons of theatre. *Deflates head*

Just finished doing Merchant of Venice, I was the younger Launcelot Gobbo. He's a fantastically sad character.

I played Macbeth in a school play once. Took me forever to learn all the lines.

But I prefer Titus Andronicus. Much more trashy and violent.

Tempest

Merchant of Venice.

Personally, I like Merchant of Venice best, followed by The Tempest, Julius Ceasar and King Lear.

Merchant highlights several issues that are pertinent to the day, and still pertinent to this day, and it has some good speeches. Not everyone (Christian) back then could portray a Jew as a human, and yet you have to sympathize with Shylock. The only way it would be better is if they hadn't screwed Shylock over so badly at the end. And if Bassanio had gotten his head chopped off, the stupid git.

I played Macbeth in a school play once. Took me forever to learn all the lines.

But I prefer Titus Andronicus. Much more trashy and violent.

Oh good, someone agrees with me. :)

None are. I hate reading poetry, especially ones that are so archaic as Shakespear. Besides, he relies too much on characterizations, and often on nothing else. This makes his plays a boring read.

Everyone knows that Christopher Marlowe is easily better than Shakespeare...

I voted Macbeth. Out of the Shakespeare plays I have read (Macbeth, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Othello, Hamlet), it captured my imagination. That dank, grey image of medieval Scotland, harsh and coarse, with endless plains and dark castles under a stormy sky were brilliant. And the characters are the best as well. Macbeth is never a 2D villain - he is pushed onto evil by his endless ambition, his maniupaltive wife and the infectious evil of the witches but in reality is a noble man. Even Lady Macbeth, the true mastermind of the play, is driven mad by her sense of guilt.

I think the worst I read was The Tempest because I really didn't like the setting or the magical characters of Ariel and Caliban.

Othello, just for Iago, though the last few 'lets spell it out for everyone' scenes drag. :headbang:
Though I must say that he is badly used in english lessons(that is english classes rather then British education), as plays are ment to be performed it is a shame that they style of teaching his plays tend to put people off shakespeare. :(

A Comedy of Errors

Shakespeare is highly overrated. Don't get me wrong, he's a great writer and everything, but everyone worships him as some sort of writing deity. He's not.

Why isn't Julius Caesar in the poll? Caesar is my favorite....I've read Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth, King Lear, Othello, and Midsummer night's dream. Julius Caesar is my favorite although it isn't historically correct.

Merchant of Venice.
Personally, I like Merchant of Venice best...

Really?

I love Shakespeare and have seen 21 of the plays, but I have to say the Merchant of Venice is the only play I don't like. I just can't get over the anti-semitism of the story. I've seen it done well (I saw performed in England by the Royal Shakespeare Company), but Shylock really gets screwed and I don't think Shakespeare was being ironic or commenting on social injustice.

I'm surprised the list is devoid of some of the best Comedies, including Midsummer's Night Dream, which I think is performed as often as any of the Bard's plays today. The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado are also terrific comedies.

Midsummernight's Dream! Without doubt! :)

Shakespeare is highly overrated. Don't get me wrong...

Saying that great people who have accomplished the almost impossible task of contributing something new and original to the world are overrated is itself overrated.

Four hundred years after his death Shakespeare's work is more popular than it has ever been, but he is overrated?

It is not possible to overrate Shakespeare.

Richard III

It's fun to see a right bastard at work and then watch him all alone and despairing in a battlefield come the end.

:eek: i have only read a few, so your not alone. i actually think he's slightly overrated pleasedonthurtme *cowers as well* :eek: :eek: :eek: :mad: :mad:

I'm rather partial to A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's rather amusing.

Shakespeare is highly overrated.
Concur

I have only read a few, so you're not alone. I actually think he's slightly overrated.
Shakespeare is highly overrated.
Concur
It is okay to not be familiar with Shakespeare. We all come upon different works or authors at different times in our lives. I'm pretty uneducated about French Symbolist poetry, but I recognize the lack is in myself, not Baudelaire.

I wish I could take back my vote for Macbeth now that I see Henry V as an option. That truly was one of the best I have read and seen preformed.

The Tempest
My friend made up a whole song about the butler, Stephano from the Tempest! Here it is:

Stephano! Stephano!
You're plotting with Trinoculo
You want to get rid of Alonso!
Where did you go?
I need to know

Ooooh, my Stephano!
Ooooh, I need to know

Macbeth by far and away.

Romeo and Juliet.

Love, to me, is the strongest sentiment - it can drag out all of the sentiments at a whim.

I would argue that this naturally is the one out of all of Shake's works that emphasizes this best - and so I chose.

Though this play is really rather simplistic compared to some of the others, I find its message the most complicated. It covers a lot of material without actually exposing it outright - I love that.

Hemmingway's concept of short story writing I think applies to media of Shakespeare's nature as well:

" the short story should be like an iceberg, with only one eighth of its substance visible, the rest submerged but palpably there, guaranteeing the momentum and balance of what is above the waterline. What the writer leaves out is what matters. It is the art of paring down."

;)

It is okay to not be familiar with Shakespeare. We all come upon different works or authors at different times in our lives. I'm pretty uneducated about French Symbolist poetry, but I recognize the lack is in myself, not Baudelaire.
Personally I don't think the plots in any one of Shakespeare's plays are entertaining or even coherent. I think his poetry is interesting, though.

Personally I don't think the plots in any one of Shakespeare's plays are entertaining or even coherent. I think his poetry is interesting, though.
The plays are entertaining if you get them or go see them performed.

The plays are entertaining if you get them or go see them performed.
I understand them and I've seen many performances both on stage and in movies but his stuff does not appeal to me.

The plays are entertaining if you get them or go see them performed.
yeah they are good to watch performed live, but other than that, they are lame

I understand them and I've seen many performances both on stage and in movies but his stuff does not appeal to me.

Agreed. He was a great writer. Not the best. Not nearly the best.

His plots aren't entertaining. At all. His archaic words aren't in use anymore. He flips his sentences around just to fit the scheme of his plays. It's difficult at times to understand. His attempts at humor are not funny. At all.

Antony Cleopatra youd know the one only one ive read it was good
Gay ass movie ruined R and J might have seen Macbeth but?

I liked the 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet because the chick had nice tits which she flashed on screen

My friend made up a whole song about the butler, Stephano from the Tempest! Here it is:

Stephano! Stephano!
You're plotting with Trinoculo
You want to get rid of Alonso!
Where did you go?
I need to know

Ooooh, my Stephano!
Ooooh, I need to know
On the same vien, this is how a buddy of mine sings "Mandy" by Barry Manilow-

Oh Ceaser, you came and you saw and you conquored.
But they stabbed you to death,
Oh, Ceaser....

I'd make fun of him for it, but I sing Green Eggs & Ham to the tune of Iron Man by Black Sabbath and everytime I hear Jaques Lacan mentioned I start going JaquesLacan....JaquesLacan..... letmefeelyouJaquesLacanletmerockyouJaquesLacan.....I'm seein' you....I-I think it is me.....

EDIT: I should mention that the Jaques Lacan thing is to that Chaka Khan song.

I chose Romeo and Juliet because i am a romantic, i am a sucker for a good love story. Aside from that, i have also read Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, Julius Ceasar, Richard III, Henry IV, and Henry V. I love Hamlet and Macbeth too, and i love his sonnets.

I quite liked As You Like It...Jaques is pretty cool

Richard II

Mine honour is my life, both grow in one. Take honour from me and my life is done.

Words to live by.

Personally I don't think the plots in any one of Shakespeare's plays are entertaining or even coherent. I think his poetry is interesting, though.
Agreed. He was a great writer. Not the best. Not nearly the best.

His plots aren't entertaining. At all. His archaic words aren't in use anymore. He flips his sentences around just to fit the scheme of his plays. It's difficult at times to understand. His attempts at humor are not funny. At all.
Interesting. I wonder what the failing is in each of you that prevents you from appreciating great literature.

Romeo and Juliet.

Love, to me, is the strongest sentiment - it can drag out all of the sentiments at a whim.

I would argue that this naturally is the one out of all of Shake's works that emphasizes this best - and so I chose.

Though this play is really rather simplistic compared to some of the others, I find its message the most complicated. It covers a lot of material without actually exposing it outright - I love that.
Funny... I don't think Romeo and Juliet is really about love. I think it's about human psychology, specifically how impulsive adolescents can imagine themselves more in love simply because it is forbidden to them. (Note, too, that Romeo is a guy who constantly imagines himself desparately in love - and I believe if Juliet hadn't been forbidden, then he would have soon found himself out of love with her just as he found himself out of love with Rosaline(that her name?) once someone prettier and more mysterious came along.)

And I think, too, it's a commentary about the stupidity of blood feuds.

Funny... I don't think Romeo and Juliet is really about love. I think it's about human psychology, specifically how impulsive adolescents can imagine themselves more in love simply because it is forbidden to them. (Note, too, that Romeo is a guy who constantly imagines himself desparately in love - and I believe if Juliet hadn't been forbidden, then he would have soon found himself out of love with her just as he found himself out of love with Rosaline(that her name?) once someone prettier and more mysterious came along.)

And I think, too, it's a commentary about the stupidity of blood feuds.
Like I said, its message is a complicated one. I do think that in the end the two were in love (it took a lot to convince me that it wasn't simply as you say - two impulsive adolescents) after all, remember how they met? It was love at a glance. I think this play gives hope to the Romeo/Juliet in all of us - the hopeless romantics out there. This play covers so much, I can't even hope to give the slightest expose on it inner workings, but I do think that the primary theme was love. It begs the question 'what is love?', it shows the extent that this 'love' can take, it shows the many borders it can cross (ie: feuds) and the limitless devotion one can feel to 'love'. The thing is, I'm not one of them people who thinks that you can only find 'true love' in that one special person - I think that this undefined 'love' can be found in a lot of the people we become attracted to if we nurture it and allow it to grow properly. I do however think, that it is fully possible to find someone that we can fall instantly in 'love' with as well. The world is a truly magical place, full of things we can never hope to understand - not the least of which is this 'love'.
:)

One who loved not wisely but too well

One who loved not wisely but too well
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
Romeo and Juliet, 3. 2

My personal favorite. ;)

He was OK, but hardly the greatest writer ever to live. George Lucas and Hideaki Anno were much better.

MacBeth!