My mum enjoys watching Shakespeare's plays but she finds them difficult to read. I can totally understand that, especially since English is not even her first language. She thinks that part of the reason why I enjoy reading the plays as much as I enjoy watching them, is because I've been 'taught' to read them. Coming from the UK, we pretty much study Shakespeare religiously. The first play I remember reading was Romeo and Juliet. My English teacher was incredible. He would give us all a part to read and we would even be allowed to act scenes out in class. He also encouraged us to analyse the plays in terms of their context and their significance to us, as modern students. I think that this is when I fell in love with Shakespeare. I realised how clever Shakespeare was, how he embedded sonnets into certain scenes (in particular the ones about love, since sonnets are regarded as romantic poetry), how he used humour and wit and how he invented many new words.
My favourite play is King Lear. I love the character of Edmund so much! He's a Machiavellian villain and he's so evil! This is what makes him interesting (I'm really not a fan of soppy, romantic, wet characters) and he has to be one of my favourite characters of all time. Interestingly, in terms of Shakespeare's characters, I also like Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet and Iago from Othello, who are both also Machiavellian villains. I think there's something attractive about a selfish and ambitious character, maybe because their behaviour is rather removed from anyone I know in real life. And I think I must have a masochistic streak in me because I much prefer tragedies to comedies. I think King Lear is my favourite Shakespeare play because I found it so devastating. In the beginning of the play, King Lear decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters. He declares that he'll offer the largest share to the daughter who loves him best. However, his youngest, and favourite, daughter Cordelia refuses to play her father's game because she says that there are no proper words that could possibly express the love she has for him. She speaks bluntly, but honestly, to her father. Because of this, Lear becomes angry and banishes Cordelia from the kingdom. Lear's need for his daughters' affections become his downfall as things turn from bad to worse, and by the end of the play, most of the characters are dead. As well as this, there is a sub plot with Edmund and his half brother Edgar. Edmund is a bastard son (his parents were not married when he was born) and so when his father dies, Edgar is the only one who will inherit (due to the ancient law of primogeniture). This makes Edmund understandably angry and he comes up with a clever, but evil, plan to get his fair share. However, by the end of the play, he too meets a sticky end.
I think this play is so exciting. So much goes on and the character interaction is great. There are several points when we, as the audience, know things that the characters do not which adds to my appreciation of the play. If you haven't really read many Shakespeare plays before, then maybe you should leave this one till a bit later because I did find it a bit difficult to get into. I think that Shakespeare's comedies are much easier to read than his tragedies, even though I do prefer the latter.
Hopefully this post has made you think about picking up a Shakespeare play soon. Even if you're not a fan of reading plays in general (I understand that's it's quite hard because plays are meant to be watched, not read) maybe you can try watching a play either on stage or on the screen. There are many great movie adaptations. The Hollow Crown series for instance covers Shakespeare's second tetrology (which contains: Richard II, Henry IV Part 1 and 2 and Henry V.) This series has amazing reviews and brilliant actors, so definitely look into it if you can.
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