I have a newfound appreciation for this guy and I'm just wondering where should I get started? I read over some Hamlet quotes and this one was my favorite: “Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love.” This man is a genius.
Depends on what themes you want to venture into. Love? Racism? Power? Fantasy? I'll have at a guess and say you'll enjoy Julius Caesar.
He was like a r****ded savant most of the time, but once in a while he gets it right and says something truly sublime and that's what people remember most. To be or not to be: that is the question, as an example of the sublime shakespeare. To me, most of shakespeare is forgettable.
No, Hamlet's more about power and revenge. In the order I would recommend reading his works: Romeo and Juliet, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard III and Julius Caesar.
His Saint Crispen's Day speech is one of the best militarty rallying speech ever written. It was writting in the vanacular of the day and would probably sound much better (to us) if translated to modern English. 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.
Some of the posts in this thread make me shake my head... I stumbled on this question on a different forum once, and a poster had a great suggestion. To paraphrase: Histories = chronolgical order. Tragedies = any order starting with Macbeth or Hamlet Comedies = random order.
