For Harold Bloom*:

Can 35 Thousand Literary Critics and 3 Million Groundlings Be Wrong? Yes.

Taking arms against Shakespeare, at this moment, is to emulate Harry Potter standing up to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Simply opposing Lord V-- won't end him. The Shakespeare epiphenomenon will go on, doubtless for some time, as J. R. R. Tolkien did, and then wane. Or so one can hope.

The official newspaper of our dominant counter-culture, The New York Times, has been startled by Shakespeare's plays into establishing a new policy for its not very literate book review. Rather than crowd out the Grishams, Clancys, Crichtons, Kings, Rowlings and other vastly popular prose fictions on its fiction bestseller list, the Shakespeare plays will now lead a separate theatre list. William Shakespeare, the chronicler of such characters as "Hamlet" and "King Lear," thus has an unusual distinction: he has changed the policy of the policy-maker.

Imaginative Vision

I read new dramatic literature, when I can find some of any value, but had not tried Shakespeare until now. I have just concluded "The Comedy of Errors," purportedly the funniest of the lot. Though the play is not well written, that is not in itself a crucial liability. It is much better to see the movie, "The Wizard of Oz," than to read the book upon which it was based, but even the book possessed an authentic imaginative vision. "The Comedy of Errors" does not, so that one needs to look elsewhere for the play's remarkable success. Such speculation should follow an account of how and why "The Comedy of Errors" asks to be read.

The ultimate model for "The Comedy of Errors" is "Menaechmi" by Plautus, performed in Ancient Rome. The play depicts the mistaken identity of a set of twins named Menaechmus. But Plautus' play, still quite performable, was a Roman musical, not an Elizabethan comedy. Shakespeare has taken "Menaechmi" and re-seen it in the silly mirror of slapstick. The resultant blend of mistaken identities with cheesy Elizabethan idiocy may read oddly to me, but is exactly what millions of theatregoers and their parents desire and welcome at this time.

In what follows, I may at times indicate some of the inadequacies of "The Comedy of Errors." But I will keep in mind that a host are watching it who simply will not watch superior fare, such as Ben Jonson's "The Alchemist" or the "Tamburlaine" plays of Christopher Marlowe. Is it better that they watch Shakespeare than not watch at all? Will they advance from Shakespeare to more difficult pleasures? One doubts both possibilities.

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Rest is available at [http://wrt-brooke.syr.edu/courses/205...]

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*This review is a spoof of Bloom's attack on JK Rowling, which can be found here.

I should also mention that I love Shakespeare. I don't think he'll mind me bringing down his 4.75 average rating too much.

It's Shakespeare, great stories, difficult language? What more can one say about most people's favourite genius? He proves human nature hasn't changed over centuries and it's what we relate to that makes the best stories. This book stood me in good stead through Uni studies -6 or so in 101 and 12 to 14 of his Tragedies in second year. I only had to buy Hamlet as 1 professor keen on having the right page quoted etc.
I have not read it all - but Hamlet for HSC, Open Foundation, 1st year and 2nd year at Uni (so think I finally got it!); loved Patrick Stewart as Claudius in BBC version. What can I add to probably thousands of reviewers? I do enjoy Shakespeare when have to study him and have it explained by teachers and the critics etc. Still haven't settled in to read the ones I haven't yet. Sonnets were brilliant!
Midsummer Night's Dream easiest to simply enjoy.
Romeo & Juliet, star in so many films of American high school it must be embedded permanently in their curriculum. Othello, yes that took me by surprise. King Lear, I loved the irony. MacBeth, yes, in fact I think having seen it played live does add so much, even beyond movies with the "greats" of the acting world. The Merchant of Venice, takes me right back to high school in the sixties, maybe my first encounter with Shakespeare? To pick one as my favourite, Twelth Night I think. They all had their special moments and lessons.

A shelf book I've had since the 1980s, that I turn to occasionally. My favorite in the book is Macbeth.

It seems this Cambridge University Press edition is no longer in print. The content can be seen in other publishings, but the physical book I have is cherished.

Any edition but this.

Can't speak for individual volumes, but the text on the Complete edition is lousy, unglossed, often with intrusive editorial choices. One of their concerns is that the plays should be considered theatrical pieces. No duh. Problem is, this is a *book*, to be *read*, not watched. They presumptuously edit the plays as if they were scripts, when there are a thousand theater directors who are perfectly capable of handling that task. Ultimately, this leads to the splitting of some of the more famous works, like "King Lear". Pre-Taylor & Wells, editors simply indicated Folio or quarto provenance in the gloss, and properly conflated the text so that we could get all of Shakespeare's words. Shakespeare himself never bothered editing and collecting his plays (he was more fastidious about his long poems like "Venus and Adonis"). Evidently he didn't care about printing some kind of Ultimate Director's Edition of his plays, and he certainly had the time and means to do that. (Jonson & others did do that with their own plays.) Why Wells & Taylor are so concerned about it, when he wasn't, is mystifying.

The worst of it is that these guys seem hell-bent on stripping Shakespeare of authorship as much as possible. According to Wells & Taylor, half the plays are "co-written" by some lesser light, based on zero evidence. Their latest folly is attributing half of the "Henry VI" plays to Christopher Marlow, again with zero evidence. (Shakespeare's contemporary Robert Greene certainly "blamed" Shakespeare for those plays, but hey, what the heck did he know, right?)

If you want as much of Shakespeare's words with the least amount of modern literary quackery, try any other edition.

I have not finished this yet, although David gave it to me for Christmas about 15 years ago (clearly not the Kindle edition, but I can't seem to change that). Some of my favorites are Henry V, Hamlet and King Lear. I don't care so much for the comedies. I think everyone should read Shakespeare to know what good writing is, and to get an idea of the impact of human behavior for better and for worse. There are so many wonderful and relevant lines that I wish I could commit more to memory. During the recent burst of animosity over the BYU v. U of U football game I posted this quote from Fluellen of Henry V in our home:
If the enemy is an ass and a fool and a prating
coxcomb, is it meet, think you, that we should also,
look you, be an ass and a fool and a prating
coxcomb? in your own conscience, now?

That's what I call staying power. Written in the 16th and as relevant as ever. Lets us know how little human nature has evolved. Shakespeare is just full of memorable characters and amazing lines.

People always complain that the language is hard to read but, while it is easier to watch than read his works, the effort is worth the reward. The poetry and craftmanship of his words are magical. So emotive. He somehow speaks straight to the soul. Who else would be remembered so fondly after so long a time?

The Winter’s Tale: Misturaram as maluquices de Othello e King Lear mas com história tipo conto de fadas em que nada corre realmente mal nem nada é explorado a fundo. A Hermione compete contra o Harry Potter em dar nomes, porque aqui ela tem os filhos Mamillius e Perdita. Esta é a peça da famosa didascália "he exits, pursued by a bear".

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Recomendo grandemente conhecer no geral as peças de Shakespeare. Talvez não todas, e certamente não as lendo de seguida, mas o homem realmente era um génio de escrita e há muitos trabalhos posteriores e até contemporâneos que referenciam estas obras. As peças históricas são definitivamente um Must Watch por ordem genealógica das personagens, porque não só são bom drama, como também dão a conhecer momentos importantes da história inglesa, como a Guerra das Rosas. Richard III é um espetáculo para se seguir nestas peças que recriam momentos marcantes da idade média do país.
As tragédias são talvez as peças mais reaproveitadas de Shakespeare, com Hamlet a ser enfiada no The Lion King ou King Lear a ser reestruturada para Ran (乱). Até em fanfiction temos malta a referenciar esta série de peças. Lidas de seguida acabam por ser um bocado formulaicas (...e toda a gente morre no fim de maneiras malucas! wow) mas quase todas têm toques distintivos e exploram temas da sociedade na altura.
As comédias foram a parte menos interessante mas não por isso más. O humor porco e banter que Shakespeare usa é sempre lindo, e até nem está confinado a estas peças. Devido ao necessário final feliz e por serem um bocado mais coisa para pipoca, não exploram temas tão profundamente como as tragédias e tornam-se menos interessantes e distintivas.

Quanto a este livro em si, é mais algo para referenciar. Apreciei bastante as notas "introdutórias" às peças mas são sempre melhor lidas no fim delas, quando já sabes a que personagens se referem. Tem uma boa introdução ao homem em si e explicações das diferenças de pronúncia na altura e hoje em dia. Muita coisa rimava na altura que hoje já não pela evolução da língua. Apesar disto usei notas online das peças para as ir compreendendo porque realmente o inglês antigo é-me bastante alienígena e há bastantas referências a temas e mitologias que desconhecia.

Makes me feel sad that people dislike Will due to the way he was introduced to them at school. He’s one of the funniest writers ever. Sorry, clever, sad, empathetic. As you like it is still one of my fave plays ever.

As of today I have read all that shakespeare ever wrote! I couldn’t have done it without you Goodreads OOMFs.

To the Author

I plan to read many Shakespeare plays this summer. I won’t complete the full works, but finishing them all is one of my major reading goals. It might take me a few years to do it, but I shall get there eventually!

Here’s where I’m up to at the moment:

1 Two Gentlemen of Verona
2 Taming of the Shrew
3 Henry VI, part 1
4 Henry VI, part 3
5 Titus Andronicus
6 Henry VI, part 2
7 Richard III
8 The Comedy of Errors
9 Love's Labours Lost
10 A Midsummer Night's Dream
11 Romeo and Juliet
12 Richard II
13 King John
14 The Merchant of Venice
15 Henry IV, part 1
16 The Merry Wives of Windsor
17 Henry IV, part 2
18 Much Ado About Nothing
19 Henry V
20 Julius Caesar
21 As You Like It
22 Hamlet
23 Twelfth Night
24 Troilus and Cressida
25 Measure for Measure
26 Othello
27 All's Well That Ends Well
28 Timon of Athens
29 The Tragedy of King Lear
30 Macbeth
31 Anthony and Cleopatra
32 Pericles, Prince of Tyre
33 Coriolanus
34 Winter's Tale
35 Cymbeline
36 The Tempest
37 Henry VIII
38 Sonnets

There's so may greats on this list that I have to read soon!

Simply put, When you have The Complete Works of William Shakespeare you have one of the best works of literature ever written. I would definitely place it in the top 10 best works of literature of all time. I bought this book at special price from here:
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Works...