I consider myself not very retarded but I could barely start

>read something
>teacher tells you what the fuck it means

>>7998034
>How do American teenagers read Shakespear in high school?

>prescribed text =/= actual reading

>>7998034
Woops, I meant Othello, not Hamlet.

>>7998034
Shakespeare can be difficult at first, but as you read more of it, you get used to it. You could try reading it through once to get a feel for Shakespeare, then again to actually enjoy it, or you could just read a Shakespeare play you aren't really interested in/don't care about enjoying as "training". Also, no shame in getting versions with side notes that explain archaic vocabulary words or concepts.

>>7998048

Is there any entry level Shakespeare?

>>7998053
>language is hard
try watching a performance of Shakespeare. It helped the language make more sense to me hearing it spoken naturally.
>entry level
Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliette.
His language never gets more modern.
>Also it seems like he says something in a paragraph that could be said in a sentence
The point, in part, of Shakespeare is the wordplay. It isn't an academic paper or an office memo.

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>>7998053

>>7998074
this is disgusting

Speaking of which, has anyone on here read the Histories? I've only ever read the tragedies, comedies and later plays, but the histories have never really attracted me for what I assume to be a mandatory crash course in English history with regards to the politics and social movements of their respective settings.

I've always heard that Richard III and Henry IV are on par with his more popular works.

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>>7998034

>not very retarded

let me go ahead and stop you right there. you may want to consider just reading something a little more modern

>>7998123

They warned me there would be people like you here, I didn't want to believe them.

>>7998109

I read Richard II -> Henry V. They're excellent and you should give them a look.

>>7998074
>All those Shakes books are copyright free
>Somebody had the idea of cashing on the plots
>Adapted the stories (barely) to sell to a young and stupid audience

As a business man I have to congratulate the person that came with the idea.
As a /lit/ man I want to find him and make him eat each page of the turd he publishes.

>>7998132
WHO WARNED YOU! WHO'S BEEN TALKING ABOUT US BEHIND OUR BACK?

>>7998153
Mostly /tv/

>>7998154
>/tv/
>slug-brained snot-farmers
>talking

have they figured that out now? my my

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>How do American teenagers read Shakespear in high school?

They have a teacher and an annotated edition which explains/translates the harder bits.

Solution: Get an annotated edition that's aimed at the average reader. Pic related is nice, to me it over-annotates so it should be good for the complete newcomer.

There's also http://nfs.sparknotes.com/

which has one frame "original" Shakespeare and one frame "modern translation", I don't like it too much because I have to struggle to not keep reading in the "modern translation" frame.

>>7998109
Richard III _is_ his most popular work.

And the Henriad features his best character, Falstaff.

>>7998109
>for what I assume to be a mandatory crash course in English history
not at all, they differ quite a bit from modern historician accounts of the times they represent. If Shakespeare was always catering to the current monarch and their royal house in his tragedies and comedies, what makes you think that his histories are going to be objective?

when the fuck did the barbaric Angles and Saxons ever care about truth wew lad

>>7998219
>>7998142
>>7998227
Alright, you've convinced me. I've been hungering to reread some of my favourite plays of his, and I'll finally give the histories a try.

While we're on the subject, what's your opinion on the Arden Shakespeare series?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg1qTs5pdeM&list=PLlfYT-Za_x2JuweuLmpYfi1AXhUNKz32g&spfreload=10

since this is essentially /shakespearegeneral/ thought you guys might like dis.

>>7998427
oops that link is to the playlist i don't really like Lumley. The Julius Caesar one is best

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>>7998034
>tfw you have been in a Shakespeare play, spoken in the original language

>>7998453
do you want a medal for going to high school?

>>7998034
Read it, nigger. Then read more Shakespeare and other old English writers. You obviously have to build up your vocabulary of archaisms. Use It's not that difficult, and I'm not even an anglo

>>7998431
>The Julius Caesar one is best

I didn't like it. It's a big speech to a big crowd, it doesn't have the same effect spoken with an "indoor voice".

I like Marlon Brando: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X9C55TkUP8

>>7998461
Twas in the university

>>7998034
>a play
>calls it a book

>>7998034
It's Shakespeare.
READ IT OUT LOUD.

It's that simple...

>>7998580
clap clap wow

>>7998145
>thinking that Courtney is a mans name
and you're on the board supposedly renowned for reading

>>7998453
Is this a big deal?

I've done Troilus and Cressida, Merchant of Venice, Othello, Anthony and Cleopatra and Hamlet. I thought Shakespeare was standard fare for actors (though I am a Brit)

>>7998034
Anyone have any recommended retellings of the play in book form? I'm not talking about movies or tv shows like the Lion King or Sons of Anarcy. Or shitty ones like the hamlet's dad rapes all the males and turn them into gays by Orson Scott Card.

>>8002144
*curtain

>>8002263
In the US it is. Most here know nothing about Shakespeare.

>>7999851
Had a friend admit he held a grudge for years when I corrected him at a party that Shakespeare didn't write novels.

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>>7998034
Get this version famagusta

>>7998034
Every single clause of this post is agonizingly and suicide-incudingly stupid.
Bravo. If this is bait, you've solved the concept of baiting, because this is the best that has ever graced the internet

>I consider myself not very retarded
Simultaneously a retarded way to introduce a statement and a retarded way to phrase your desired message
>but I could barely start this book
A ghost stalking men through the woods - one of the most intriguing Shakespeare openings - is untenable? You refer to perhaps the most famous play in the English language as a "book"?
>The language seems far too distant from today's English
It was 400 years ago. It's not even Middle English. If you can't wrap your head around this, how do you parse poetry at all? Half the shitposts on this site are tougher to crack than Shakespearean english. What do you do when you come across Chaucer, just sit and cry?
>Also it seems like he says something in a paragraph that could be said in a sentence
This takes the cake for dumbest statement I've read on this site (that appears to be unironic). Have you sunken so far into STEM oblivion, or do you lack the sheer mass of brain cells whose absence is required to not understand the basic concept of fiction? If you can't wrap your mind around the idea that one could use more words where one could use less, how do you explain the choice to write any work of fiction at all?
>How do American teenagers read Shakespear [sic] in high school?
Because even though most people aren't geniuses, most people also aren't literally brain-damaged and can parse the writings of the most famous playwright in their language

Fucking Christ now I know why I rarely come on this board anymore. The average /b/ poster could produce a more intelligent string of sentences

>>8002290

What. The very first production I was in was Much Ado About Nothing. The largest Elizabethan open-air theater is in Ashland, Oregon, a city which also hosts the second largest annual Shakespeare festival. Silly goose.

>>7998074
Fun fact: surprisingly they sell these at the Royal Shakespeare Company's theatre. Being the massive autist i tried to gauge someone elses opinion by standing near the rack. No one else seemed bothered.

Not sure how to feel

>>8003024
>Half the shitposts on this site are tougher to crack than Shakespearean english.
lmao 4chan is the newest literature medium.

Thank you for your wonderful content, Creators. You should each be receiving you 100K subscribers Silver 4chan Play Button.
Keep being awesome!

4chan Division
YouTube Entertainment Studios
Google, inc.

>>8003405
lmao that's pretty funny anon. Did you see a play there?

>>8003024
Btfo

>read
>read
>read
Does nobody else find this weird? I read Shakespeare in school because I had to, but since then I've got my Shakespeare by watching it. Because, y'know... plays.

I guess you can read as well (after watching though, I would think). But not even mentioning the fact that you're talking about things written for performance seems bizarre.

>>7998034
Read Shakes on school and English is not even my second language. You are just stupid.

Also, its really fun.

>>7998043

Maybe you are retarded anon.

Read it out loud

>>7998505
Shakespeare is NOT FUCKING OLD ENGLISH

>>8003024
Did this suitably sate your ego?

>>8003024

Is this real life autism in text form?