Shakespeare. Boring or not?

Answer 1

"Seduction, Treachery and Deceit never go out of style."

I Stage Managed for Kentucky Shakespeare Festival last year, and that quote was on one of their t-shirts. I have to say I must agree.

Given competent actors and a director with even a modicum of vision, Shakespeare is still relevant and interesting today. And while he stole nearly every plot line he ever penned, he crafted them so beautifully that no one seems to care.

His use of language, his excruciating attention to detail, rhythm, the way words sound phonetically when an actor spits them out, all are signals of his mastery.

His bawdy clowns and **nudgenudgewinkwink** double entendres are signals of his humanity. Somehow it seems a little less dirty when Shakespeare says it. ;-)

After all, who has never been in love, had a broken heart, dealt with treachery, mourned the loss of a loved one. His works continue to touch the human sould because they are honest, visceral and true the core of human experience.

So, in answer to your question, no, I do not find Shakespeare boring in the least. Would I be satisfied with a regular fare of Shakespeare alone? Absolutely not, but the Bard definitely has his place in today's theatrical scene.

Answer 2

Definitely not boring!!! Unless you consider murder, sex, witches, revenge, suicide, and men pretending to be women pretending to be men boring... Some of the plays might take a little work to get through though, especially if you're not used to it. Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with using sparknotes. Read the play, and when you get stuck or confused, read spark notes for an explainer.

My favorite play... the one I truly ENJOYED most... is "Much Ado About Nothing." It's genuinely funny.

I think it's amazing how, when you read Shakespeare, you will realize how much we've TAKEN from his writings. I.e., "The Sound and the Furry" is from "King Lear", or "Brave New World" is from "The Tempest" or "There's something rotten in Denmark" is from "Hamlet" and the list goes on and on and on! I think it's just amazing.

I really enjoyed my Shakespeare class in college.

Answer 3

Absolutely not. I used to think Shakespeare was the most boring thing in the entire world, but it was all due to language. Once I took part in one of his plays I fell in love with Shakespeare. He's truly amazing. It might help is you read the 'Fear Not' versions of his plays. They come with a page to page modern english translation. It helps a lot, because as soon as you get stock/not understand something you can just look over to the page next to it and read what's going on in english you use everyday.

Answer 4

Certainly not! I have seen A Midsummer Night's Dream 5 times at the theater and I have seen it many more times on TV. I've also seen Macbeth a lot of times.

I will admit that Romeo and Juliet didn't hold my interest at all. Also, I am not sure I'd recommend reading Shakespeare, but seeing it performed live and performed well, that is a must for everyone before they die.

http://www.jacksblog.co.uk - Free daily music, weekly freebies, now with daily suduku!

Answer 5

Honestly, like all plays, it depends on who is teaching or performing it. In actual content, he isn't boring. His stories are vivid and exciting. However, it is SO easy, due to the language, to make them seem dull!

I'm not a huge Shakespeare fan myself, but I am willing to say that most of the modern faults come from those who are trying to portray the meanings.

Answer 6

Sometimes artists have to grow on you before you can really enjoy them. I don't know how I got to enjoy Shakespeare except that I was gradually exposed to his writing. Now I feel that he was an absolute genius, head and shoulders above the next greatest man/woman of letters. Though there are many writers whom I admire greatly, none of whom seems to have the tremendous depth and control of language which Will S had. Boring? by no means to me. I find the way he expressed his thoughts and ideas to be incredible. Why, I cannot explain.

Answer 7

There are no bad shows, only bad performances.

That said, I have yet to see or imagine a good performance of Hamlet, but all of the rest of Shakespeare's works have come to life effectively in one way or another for me.

Answer 8

because of the fact his language is archaic and unnatural and multiple human beings submit-1800 only won't be able to relate to it. that's especially stylized and poetic yet no one definitely ever talked that way not even in Queen Bess's day and so as for this reason the glories of yank cinema we've a diverse aesthetic and what constitutes lifelike communicate. And specific the performs are overlong and overwritten and could be fairly uninteresting and tiresome and yet a ingenious production with an incredible forged can deliver them lower back to lifestyles.

Answer 9

In my opinion no I happen to own the complete published works of William Shakespeare and I love it I have read so much of his work that I can actually understand it pretty fluently, you just have to learn over time how to understand it. I like the idea of page to page translations.

Answer 10

Not boring just different, its an acquired art form. You have to have a taste for dramatic tragedies to fully enjoy the ingenious mind of William Shakespeare.