Shakespeare

[DixieGal]

Hey guys, I'm proud of you for broadening your reading interests. That is one grand benefit of e-reading and the ease of access to many different genre of books.

Remember, Shakespeare's plays were meant to be enjoyed by the masses. They were not snooty. So my advice is to skim through the footnotes to familiarize yourself with the history or myth the play is based upon. Then sit back and read it. If you don't understand every line, just skip it and keep going.

The point is to be entertained, not become a Shakespeare scholar on your first reading.

Happy reading!

[adityadubey]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

If you don't understand every line, just skip it and keep going.

The point is to be entertained, not become a Shakespeare scholar on your first reading.

I couldn't agree more! I think Shakespeare's work has acquired this aura of being tough reading which scares off many people. Going with the flow and just ploughing on with it you can enjoy the lyrical beauty if nothing else I remember reading a Midsummer Night's Dream and enjoying it thoroughly although I'm sure I completely missed out on plenty of subtleties.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by adityadubey

I couldn't agree more! I think Shakespeare's work has acquired this aura of being tough reading which scares off many people. Going with the flow and just ploughing on with it you can enjoy the lyrical beauty if nothing else I remember reading a Midsummer Night's Dream and enjoying it thoroughly although I'm sure I completely missed out on plenty of subtleties.

I think it's pretty essential to have a version with footnotes, since a great deal of the language and allusions won't otherwise be understandable to the typical modern reader.

[neilmarr]

***Thanks for sending Shakespeare's Will, Neil!***

You're more than welcome, Moe et al. If anyone else would like to take a look pre-release (Nov 28 is release date), please just email me your format preference and I'll be happy to send the ebook version as an attachment. It's a lot of fun -- and chock-full of surprising historical detail. Cheers. Neil -- ntmarr@bewrite.net (but use the @ sign)

[Moe The Cat]

Originally Posted by neilmarr

Cheers. Neil -- ... (but use the @ sign)

Oh oh, you already did use the @ sign, Neil! Beware of spambots!

[ziegl027]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think it's pretty essential to have a version with footnotes, since a great deal of the language and allusions won't otherwise be understandable to the typical modern reader.

So, do you know of any e-book versions that have at least SOME footnotes? I don't need a whole debate about whether Shakespeare used "nunnery" in the religious or very non-religious sense, but it was nice to know when I was reading along in high school that "nunnery" could mean "brothel" as well as "convent" in that period of time.

I understand that Shakespeare wrote for entertainment for the masses, but I'm a Twenty-first century American and I just don't "get" some of the references. I'm sure Shakespeare wouldn't get phrases like "Master of my Domain" or "shrinkage" since he hasn't seen Seinfeld, either.

[neilmarr]

***Oh oh, you already did use the @ sign, Neil! Beware of spambots! ***

Everyone loves a smart cat, Moe. Thanks for noticing. I get hundreds of spams a day (sometimes hundreds an hour), so I'm careful when pos ... but I'm very, very old and very, very busy, so I do drop some terrible bollox from time to time. This slip counts as one of my minor sins. Hoots. Neil

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ziegl027

So, do you know of any e-book versions that have at least SOME footnotes? I don't need a whole debate about whether Shakespeare used "nunnery" in the religious or very non-religious sense, but it was nice to know when I was reading along in high school that "nunnery" could mean "brothel" as well as "convent" in that period of time.

Do Penguin Classics do Shakespeare? Their eBooks are generally pretty good, with lots of notes and other explanatory text.

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by jgray

Time to confess my guilty little secret -- I've never read Shakespeare :-) Over the years, I have watched several film adaptations and enjoyed most of them. I particularly liked Kevin Branagh's "Henry V".

Another excellent movie is Ian McKellan's Richard III. Details here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...281995_film%29

Also, Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing is an absolutely delightful film.

[jgray]

Originally Posted by jgray

I went ahead and purchased "Shakespeare After All". I'll let you know what I think of it.

So far, I like "Shakespeare After All". It delves into the characters and their motives, as well as providing background information and relationships to other Shakespeare plays. It does not appear overly analytical or academic (so far).

My comments are provisional, as after reading the lengthy introduction, I did not proceed to the first play chronologically, I jumped ahead to "Henry V".

The one thing this book does not provide is an annotated reading of the plays. This would have been helpful. Let me cite just one example from "Henry V", which is what I am currently reading. In the prologue, the Chorus says "Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, assume the port of Mars;". Now, obviously "port" is not meant in the nautical sense. So, I'm left to wonder how it is meant. I thought that perhaps "portrait" was close, as a similarity in character between King Harry and Mars (the Roman god of war) is intended, but that didn't quite fit.

After looking on Google Books, I found a 1901 volume titled "The Richard Mansfield Acting Version of Henry V", which explains it thus: "That is, deportment, carriage. From the French porte'e".

Such explainations of what may at first appear to be simple words add immeasurabley to my understanding. Many such words are no longer common (at least to this American) and a dictionary lookup often does not produce the meaning meant by Shakespeare.

Joe

[jgray]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Do Penguin Classics do Shakespeare? Their eBooks are generally pretty good, with lots of notes and other explanatory text.

It seems that Penguin does have most of Shakespeare. However, I don't see any evidence of ebooks.

Joe

[crich70]

Lawrence Oliver's Hamlet made way back in 1948 is one of my favorites. It was one of the first video tape productions I believe. Long before home units were even conceived of. And still as fresh today as the day it was shot (IMO). And there was Orson Welles MacBeth as well which was well done I think. Not sure how many of the plays have ever been put on film or video but there have been a few good ones I think.

Originally Posted by cassidym

Another excellent movie is Ian McKellan's Richard III. Details here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...281995_film%29

Also, Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing is an absolutely delightful film.

[neilmarr]

Even Mel Gibson took a run at Hamlet. Wasn't at all bad, either. Neil

[boydcarts]

jgray- If you like Henry V, you should give both parts of Henry IV a try. It's interesting to see the change in Hal's character as the plays progress. Also, Falstaff is one of Shakespeare's better characters IMO.

[ctol]

Originally Posted by ziegl027

I'm interested in being pointed toward some annotated versions of The Bard, too. Some of the language usages and historical references are just too obscure for me. I can figure out the gist from context, but I always appreciated the footnotes in the books that I recall from High School.

Try these

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/sear...ds&query=25743