I never read anything by Shakespeare. It's probably high

>>9193816
watch two performances of a play before reading it.
watch this for a little bit of context before reading https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FF5K8VlcRI
if you struggle with reading in english read a translation first.
when reading an english text decide on a character (presumably your favourite) and read his dialogue out loud. Try to read them in one session (about 2 hours). Don't stop to read annotations unless you really don't understand what's going on.

>>9194013
also you dont have to, say, watch two of the same plays in a day then read it the next day. that would burn you out pretty fast. just watch a play here and there when you get bored, return to the text in the future. The plays are relatively short so go ahead and read them when you need a break from w/e tome you happen to be reading at the time.

>>9193816
1. Hamlet or Richard II
2. It's hard to say, it depends on how well you know English but be sure to read summaries and stuff alongside so you can understand everything
3. His plays have a ton of different ways you can read them because of the figurative language he uses

I would start with Hamlet (his magnum opus). Read it slowly with a good dictionary to consult regularly. I would also recommend buying a copy with lots of notes because there is a huge amount of subtlety that can be overlooked even by the most fluent of English speakers.

Read The Comedy of Errors. If I recall correctly, it's his shortest play, and it's damn funny too.

>2. Given that English is not my native language, should I still read it in English ?

Hell no. Shakespeare sounds much better in french. Read him in french, if you can.

>>9194496

>Read it slowly with a good dictionary to consult regularly

This is the sort of thing that I was forced to do in high school and it ruined Shakespeare for me because it can be so complex and hard to understand you'll find yourself stopping every other verse and looking things up. By the time you look up a dozen different things you've already forgotten what happened in the last scene. Fuck that. For a first time reading one of his plays you should just plow through and ignore everything you don't understand, and focus on the little things that you do. Take your time and put in the work looking things up on a second reading. This works much better and leads to a greater understanding and appreciation.

I would definitely not recommend Hamlet for somebody new to Shakespeare either. It's the longest and most complex of them all.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO READ HIM? IT'S DRAMA VERSE. I.E. SHIT. GO READ LYRICAL VERSES LIKE HIS SONNETS OR SOME OTHER SHIT.

TL;DR DON'T READ THEM EXCEPT FOR HIS SONNETS

THANK YOU

>>9194646

Go to Reddit with your faggotry.

OP here. Thank you guys. I'll probably read them in French. We have a bilingual edition though, so that's perfect. Starting with a short one (Comedy of errors why not, I have nothing against comedy), then heading to Hamlet if I like it and feel at ease.

>>9193816
Pretend it was an opera, the superior art form.

Don't read him. They're fucking plays and are supposed to be watched.

Reading Shakespeare makes as much sense as sitting around reading film scripts.

>>9196189
Dumb idiot I bet you don't read Greek tragedies and Faust part 2 either, die.

>>9196196
so what

>>9193816
I've bought the BBC DVD boxset that has accurate subtitles on each play, as well as a booklet that provides introductions to them.
Being French, I downloaded a free ebook of the translations (in this case, Victor Hugo Jr.) and I pause the DVD every time I don't understand anything at all.
Start with the late comedies with dialogues in prose. The versified plays are very hard to understand because the syntax has to be convoluted in order to place the rimes, plus the language itself is already a bit archaic.

Shakespeare got fancier as he wrote, so his earliest plays are the easiest, and of the three genres - history, comedy, tragedy - the history plays are the easiest. So you should start with the early histories, specifically the Henry VI trilogy and Richard III. Macbeth is a late tragedy, but it's fairly short and not too hard either.

>>9193816
Midsummer Night's Dream is my personal favorite, but it's probably his most out-there piece. Hamlet is the quintessential Shakespeare.

Reading in English is important, since his characters speak in poems pretty regularly.

He's good because he writes varied, engaging stories with genuinely universal themes that can be read in many ways.

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Good starts are Macbeth and Shrew. Read the text first--in one sitting preferably, but it's okay if you can't. Also, know that you're not going to pick up on nearly everything AT ALL. You will be rereading these plays again and again, and it'll be enjoyable if you put in the effort.

Read the text once, without worrying about understanding every single detail. Sit on it, think about it (the time you spend on this part depends on how good of a reader you are), and then read through it again.

Only after this should you watch a performance or a film adaptation. This way you don't always picture Richard III as Ian McKellen or Titus Andronicus as that one aged actor you saw at a college performance.

Honestly though just put your nose to the text and know that, at least until you're well-versed in Shakespeare, half of the fun is tuning into the play and trudging through it, evolving as a reader.

Henry V is pretty dope, somewhat easy to understand, simple plot.

Hamlet is a meme, don't fall for it.