I love Shakespeare. I have almost all the plays. I'm missing about 5, probably. I haven't read as many as I would have liked yet, but I have read 3 all the way through, and bits of others.

I've read Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Cymbeline.

Surprisingly, I think my favorite is Cymbeline. I'm not sure why. maybe it's because it's the first one I've ever read. Plus I really liked Imogen and the devotion she had towards her husband. I really admired her for that.

Romeo and Juliet was great. I loved the nurse and Mercutio, although I didn't quite like some of the content of their dialogue, they are funny nonetheless. Shakespeares wit and wordplay, I think, is his best quality as a playwright.

I loved A Midsummer Night's Dream too. It seemed very different from the other two I read. The others I read were both very medieval drama/romance. Whereas this one could almost take place in Narnia, haha.

~Riella

I loved A Midsummer Night's Dream. I watched it once, and I was laughing practically the entire time.
Of the other plays I read, I liked Macbeth the best. It was chilling and creepy.

Ithilwen: Cymbeline sounds good. There is a lack of really excellent marriages in Shakespeare, so that sounds nice.

I took a Shakespeare class last term, so my list of works is fairly long:
Twelfth Night, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, The Winter's Tale, Henry VIII, Henry V, The Tempest, Richard III, Julius Caesar and I've seen Much Ado, Henry VIII, and Richard III performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Shakespeare in Stratfor-upon-Avon that was quite a disappointment. .

All three of the performances were wonderful, but I was a bit young for Richard III and got quite bored. They had Richard walking around on these crutches like a spider.

My favorite play is The Tempest. I love the atmosphere and setting and the pure fantasy of the plot. Caliban is such a wonderful character.

I LOVE Shakespeare, he's my favorite writer (or one of them, I have a good many)
I've read Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth in both English and Russian, Much Ado About Nothing, The Comedy of Errors and All's Well that Ends Well in English and Hamlet in Russian, I'm also reading through King Lear in Russian, I should like to read it in English too, but I have to download it, and I haven't got around to it yet
My favorite play would defiantly be Romeo and Juliet, I have a special love for sad love stories, I also loved the meaning in Romeo and Juliet, how hate kills love, and what family fueds can lead too

One of my favorite characters in Shakespears plays is Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing, I just love everything about her, I also loved Benedick from the same play

I've seen a theatrical muscial of Romeo and Juliet...but other than that nope I've never seen any of Shakespear's plays nor acted in them....I would love too though

Of movies I've seen two movies of Romeo and Juliet and I've seen a movie of Much Ado About Nothing

What do I like about Shakespeare's sonnets...well I'm not sure, I like just about everthing about them, I can't quite say what, but there is something special about them, at least I think so, my very favorite is Sonnet 116, but in truth I like just about all of them

I read some Shakespeare in high school. To be honest it was never really my thing, although I will readily agree that he had a huge impact on the English speaking world. I love battle poetry and his famous speech from Henry V is one that always "spoke" to me.

The titular character, Henry, is leading his forces at the Battle of Agincourt and things aren't going so well. His cousin Westmoreland opines that he wishes they had more English troops present to better their odds, believing them to be having an easy day back home.

Henry:
What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Well my experience with Shakespearean plays are as follows:

Julius Ceasar
King Lear
Love's Labour's Lost
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Hamlet
Macbeth
Titus Andronicus
The Tempest
Richard III

I've never actually seen a staged play, but I have seen a few of the films. The ones which come to mind are Titus Andronicus (the Julie Tamor version), and Love's Labour's Lost (the one with Kenneth Brannagh).

Of these, King Lear is my favourite play, due to the fact that it really shows the depravity of human nature. It shows just how foolish we are as individuals, and just how deadly pride is.

My favourite character would probably depend on which genre I was visiting. I love Cordelia as a tragic heroine. I love Lear's jester for hilarity, and I really love Tamora and Aaron, both of which are from Titus Andronicus.

The only Shakespeare movies I've ever seen were Taming of the Shrew with Elizabeth Taylor, and Romeo and Juliet with Olivia Hussey. Has anyone else seen those?

Surprisingly, I've never seen a Shakespeare play as a play...

Haha, on a sidenote, what do you guys think of the new Gnomeo and Juliet movie. XD

~Riella

I had my first day of my Shakespeare's Early Histories and Comedies class today. Nothing major, just getting the syllabus. This is the list of plays we'll be reading:

The Taming of the Shrew
A Midsummer's Night Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
Richard III
Richard II
Henry IV
Henry V
The Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
Twelfth Night
Measure for Measure

Previously I've only read Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice, plus bits of Twelfth Night and some of the sonnets, so most of the class will be new to me.

^^ What did you think of Hamlet and Merchant of Venice, Booky?

I was actually thinking of reading Hamlet next...

I've read bits of Merchant of Venice and Twelvth Night, but I haven't read them all the way through yet.

~Riella

I really enjoyed TMoV, but despised Hamlet. It was Hamlet himself that irritated me to the point of wanting to slap him.

•What is your favorite play? Why?
I haven't read all of the plays but I love Much Ado About Nothing. I like all of the bickering between Beatrice and Benedict. It's a funny play.

•Who do you think is the best character?

Again I haven't read all of the plays, but I tend to like the characters in the comedies. I don't really care for the tragedies as much, for obvious reasons.

•Have you seen a stage production of a play? How was it? Have you acted in one?

I've never really seen a stage production. I've seen PBS filmings of stage productions. I think I saw the Kevin Kline Hamlet PBS broadcast once. And some bits of the Macbeth and King Lear productions. I have never acted in a play and can't imagine ever doing so.

•What movies have you seen? Even The Lion King could be said to have its roots in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, so there’s plenty to talk about.

Much Ado About Nothing--with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson--I LOVED this movie.

Twelfth Night

Romeo and Juliet (the '60s one with Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting)--this was a beautifully done and sad movie.

I've seen an old BBC TV version of Taming of the Shrew many years ago and liked that (I think John Cleese played Petruchio).

Old BBC TV version of All's Well That Ends Well

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Most recent Branagh-directed As You Like It

•What do you like best about Shakespeare’s sonnets? Which ones are your favorites?

I like his sonnets, but I don't have good memory of them to exactly say which ones.

Oh...and I saw the trailer for Gnomeo and Juliet this past weekend and it looks to be a cute film.

•What is your favorite play? Why?

Hmm... probably Macbeth. I like the tragedies One I could never stand was Measure For Measure. If I could have back the month of my life I spent studying that play, I would

•Who do you think is the best character?

I'll have to second Kate for Caliban. Not that he's a favourite as such, but the most intriguing.

•Have you seen a stage production of a play? How was it? Have you acted in one?

Never acted in one, never will I've seen Macbeth, Othello, Hamlet and Twelfth Night performed. I was able to see Othello performed at Shakespeare's Globe in London and it really brought a new dimension to a play which before I had been not overly interested in, but on stage I couldn't take my eyes off it.

I can't remember any films off the top of my head... a recent highlight was probably the new adaption of Hamlet with David Tennant.

Shakespeare! He certainly has had a major impact on Western culture, for sure. I've only read a few of his works - The Comedy of Errors, The Tempest, and Much Ado About Nothing, along with a few sonnets.

•What is your favorite play? Why?

Much Ado About Nothing. I love the dynamic between the characters, especially Benedick and Beatrice.

•Who do you think is the best character?

Hard to say. Out of the few plays I've read, I'd say Prospero from The Tempest. He's a very mysterious and intricate character.

•Have you seen a stage production of a play? How was it? Have you acted in one?

Nope. Never acted in one... but I once wrote a sci-fi short story based on an outer-space re-imagining of The Tempest!

•What movies have you seen? Even The Lion King could be said to have its roots in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, so there’s plenty to talk about.

I've seen Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing. I saw it after I had already read the play, so I knew the storyline already. It was very enjoyable, hilarious at times.

West Side Story is basically based off of Romeo and Juliet, right? I've seen the movie version of that.

I really enjoyed TMoV, but despised Hamlet. It was Hamlet himself that irritated me to the point of wanting to slap him.

Spoiler

His dithering and hand-wringing was obnoxious enough, but then he ends up getting pretty much every named character in the play killed and his country invaded by foreigners.

Hello there! This is my first actual post (I don't think the one in the introductory thread really counts), so, I hope I'm not doing things wrong!

Even though you want to reach out and slap Hamlet in the face, I think all of us have a bit (or a lot) of Hamlet in us. Most of us would be hesitant (at best) on whether to take action to murder based on the advice of a ghost, and in all likelihood die, or to sit back, hope for the good, and disregard the warning of the supernatural. Hamlet is going off the faith that the ghost of his father was really telling him the truth (and wasn't some grand illusion or demon). Trusting a ghost is one thing, but actually killing your uncle based on its advice? Quite a different story!

I feel bad for him more than anything else, and I'm not sure I could do much better. But I agree, it is quite a tragedy. Or, perhaps it is just an elegant way of warning us against indecision?