Poll: What is your favourite play by Shakespeare?

[Citrus]

I hated Romeo & Juliet. I hated MacBeth even more (seriously, MacDuff's mom got a C-section and therefore he's not "of woman born"? What the fuck kind of plot twist is that?).

Hamlet, however, I love. It's actually a great story with great characters. I think Shakespeare is vastly, vastly overrated, but all things considered, I'd consider Hamlet the best play ever written.

I think you may have entirely missed the point about "not of woman born".

The play is, in part, about superstition, about finding any excuse to get power, about self-fulfilling prophecies - Duncan only died because Macbeth and wife went loopy after hearing the "prophecy".

Thus, Macduff is not LITERALLY magically imbued - but because Macbeth has sold his mind to superstition, he is horrified to find his worst enemy is precisely the sort of man he was told would kill him.

I think you may have entirely missed the point of my post.

Who ever suggested that Macduff was magically imbued? The witches made a prophecy that no man of woman born would kill MacBeth, and then the "loophole" in that prophecy was that MacBeth's mother had a C-section, and therefore that somehow made him not "of woman born", thus resolving the prophecy. That's what I thought was a stupid twist: that a C-section makes you not of woman born. I really have no idea what you thought I was talking about.

 

[Jharry5]

My favourite play I've read/seen is Hamlet, some of the speeches in that are really good. I liked Othello a lot as well, mainly for the character of Iago; same with Richard III.
The only play of his I really didn't 'get' was The Tempest... something about it just didn't sit right. It felt rushed to me.

 

[Mythbhavd]

A Midsummer Night's Dream

 

[Valksy]

Like most British people I have studied a fair bit of Shakespeare in my time and remain of the opinion that the best way to handle the material is to view it as a performance rather than read it in a classroom.

Hamlet remains my favourite although I could do without the "play within a play" bit as it slows the action down (yes, I want to take a red pen to Shakespeare). It also contains one of my favourite quotes and bits of personal philosophy "This above all - To thine own self be true".

 

[Enkidu88]

Meh, I don't like most of Shakespeare (plagarist that it he was) but Much Ado About Nothing was pretty hysterical (by Shakespearean standards).

 

[Tomster595]

Haven't read very many, but I'd have to say Romeo and Juliet. Macbeth does come in close second place though.

 

[Harmondale2]

King lear, I love it so

 

[AquaAscension]

My college had a rule about doing at least on play by the bard every year. While I enjoyed being in them the lines were terribly hard for me to learn because of my dyslexia so I wasn't always aware if what i said made sense or not. That being said I have played:
Tybalt
Cornwall
Iago
Edmund
In high school I was Oberon
Notice a pattern here? Apparently the people who directed plays I was in had some ideas about what Tall and solidly built people are like.

I've always liked Hamlet though. I especially like the king fu movie version.

also i think i butchered there names and i apologize.

It doesn't matter Axe Cop doesn't have time for proper spelling.

There's a Kung Fu version of Hamlet? Hah, best ever.

On topic: A Winter's Tale, King Lear, and I'm sure a few more but can't recall names right now. I also had a great teacher though. Or professor as it were I suppose.

A Winter's Tale because it was one of the first that didn't stay on tragedy, it kind of invented this new thing which my professor called a "Romance" which wasn't about love and such but just about getting over tragedy. It also has best stage direction ever:
"Exit pursued by a bear" and that was the only stage direction Shakespeare wrote. I think.

 

[Acier]

Twelfth Night is filled to the brim with win.

I actually really enjoy Shakespeare, except Romeo and Juliet. It's meh.

Since his plays are so varied, it's not hard to find one that's just As You Like It.

What you did there, I see it.

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

I've done a Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth for school, and I really hated Romeo and Juliet but thoroughly enjoyed the other 2. However, we once went on a field trip to see one of his comedies, the name of which I can't recall, and it was hilarious. So the mystery play is my favourite.

This, almost word for word.

 

[haruvister]

Hamlet is pretty awesome, kinda setting the template for our modern-day patriarchal gangster movies, but in terms of that lush Shakespearean language, Romeo and Juliet owns.

Must say, it's a bit of a redundant question asking if one "likes" Shakespeare's work. The fact is that without his canon, the narratives of our favourite works of fiction, and in fact the entire English language, would probably look/sound quite different.

 

[Lady Nilstria]

I'm going to have to read Richard III. Sounds hilarious.

I only know a couple, Midsummer Night's Dream and MacBeth. I'd have to go with MacBeth.

I played in a MacBeth spoof once. Lady MacBeth died by eating a raspberry filled Duncan donut. Interesting thing was that Lady Duncan apparently made the chain Duncan Donuts.

Myself and my father both agree: We hate Romeo and Juliet. (It's been done so many times...try something else already! Like Othello or Hamlet! Anything but R&J!)

 

[ace_of_something]

I've always liked Hamlet though. I especially like the king fu movie version.

There's a Kung Fu version of Hamlet? Hah, best ever.

On topic: A Winter's Tale, King Lear, and I'm sure a few more but can't recall names right now. I also had a great teacher though. Or professor as it were I suppose.

A Winter's Tale because it was one of the first that didn't stay on tragedy, it kind of invented this new thing which my professor called a "Romance" which wasn't about love and such but just about getting over tragedy. It also has best stage direction ever:
"Exit pursued by a bear" and that was the only stage direction Shakespeare wrote. I think.

[a href=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465676/]Legend of the Black Scorpion[/a] okay it's more of a Kung Fu movie based on Hamlet. It's still awesome.

 

[setsunafseiei]

The Merchant of Venice.

 

[OwenEdwards]

I think you may have entirely missed the point of my post.

Who ever suggested that Macduff was magically imbued? The witches made a prophecy that no man of woman born would kill MacBeth, and then the "loophole" in that prophecy was that MacBeth's mother had a C-section, and therefore that somehow made him not "of woman born", thus resolving the prophecy. That's what I thought was a stupid twist: that a C-section makes you not of woman born. I really have no idea what you thought I was talking about.

Well if the problem is as simple as THAT, then an even simpler answer awaits. No lit crit, no comprehension of plot themes, etc.

Just this: back in the day, they didn't have C-Secs, basically. Caesar's kid got out that way, and it was considered that the child had not been born properly; it went against all they thought they knew of medical science. So to have been delivered by C-Sec was not a standard operation, but a way of completely bypassing the normal and correct way to do it. So it is both an impossibility to Macbeth (no man is not "born") and something which makes Macduff lucky and monstrous (he impossible because he has broken the laws of nature).

 

[OmegaXzors]

I FUCKING LOVE LITERATURE.

Ahem...I have all of this brilliant man's work in one giant book with teeny tiny writing, gold trimmed, all nice and shiny.

Macbeth. I really loved this whole play. I read it like five times. Romeo and Juliet can jump off a cliff though. It's in my opinion, his worst play.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I hate Shakespeare... his conflicts always seem forced to me. Although the writing style is definitely interesting, the actual stories are full of things that normal people wouldn't do... like take Romeo and Juliet for example. There is no way that any two people could fall in love so deep that they would take their own lives for each other within a week, then instead of having any sort of backup plan, Juliet decides to just tell one guy what she was doing and she shouldn't have even done what she did in the first place... it was full of so many dumb mistakes that just put it over the top.

But, my favorite would just so happen to be Romeo and Juliet because at least the '68 movie was interesting to watch if you pretended like more than a night had passed before they started making googly eyes at each other and getting married within two days of meeting...

[a href=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465676/]Legend of the Black Scorpion[/a] okay it's more of a Kung Fu movie based on Hamlet. It's still awesome.

Is this in the same sense that the Lion King is a lion version of Hamlet?

 

[RatRace123]

I enjoy Macbeth, but that could be because I did a video project on it where me and a few of my classmates totally ripped on the logical flaws present in it.

I can't think of it seriously now anymore.