As a young person, reading all of Shakespeare was never an ambition of mine. My grandfather’s Shakespeare collection book sat unread on my shelves for decades, just like it had on his. But one day I gathered some reading friends and offered, “let’s read all of Shakespeare - a play a month”. I had some takers, and we started picking away at the plays, one month at a time. No real order, except the history plays we’ve read in chronological order. One month is a comedy, the next a tragedy, then a history, and it’s all just set on a “repeat cycle” until we hit the end. And so that’s been going along for the past two years. Every month, another play, another group of characters, another plot, another link made in the long chain holding literature, history, and the art of writing. In fact, we’re still going, I think 2027 is when we will finish?! - but honestly I don’t want it to!
I’m a real big fan of going in blind when reading a “new-to-me” author. You just jump in to the water and start swimming. It may not be beautiful olympic level swimming but you won’t drown and you’ll learn something about yourself - nothing is ever as complex as it looks from the side of the pool.
As I mentioned in last week’s Thursday Reflection (“Sweet Swan of Avon”), I’ve got some thoughts on whether to read, watch or listen to Shakespeare - regardless, however you get into Shakespeare is valid and probably won’t be the same for every play.
Best thing I ever did in my journey of reading Shakespeare was ditching the tools - the academically created videos, the Folgers annotations for every word, the “crack Shakespeare” guides. Shakespeare wrote words - we all know how to read - so let the consumption and digestion commence!
Just get on with it! We all know Shakespeare is a genius, but we aren’t going to turn into Tudor playwright scholars in one reading of The Tempest! So quiet the noise of the “experts”, the academics, the Oxford scholars and just take it in, like you just discovered this guy Shakespeare’s stuff while shopping for a beach read!
The benefit of ditching the “expert’s” opinion is you get to listen to your own thoughts, informed by your own life experience to weed through the catalog of characters and plots to find the ones that you really connect with, understand, are intrigued by, and from there have new thoughts about your here and now. The “expert’s” opinion changes on Shakespeare’s works as frequently as social fads do in our society today, and those are changing at break-neck speed!
Having too many opinions, or should/shouldn’t(s) in your head when you first encounter a Shakespeare play is like going on a first date with someone and the whole time you never get to actually talk to the guy because your friend, mom/dad, brother/sister, waiter, and valet all are in your ear letting you know what they think “your date” is all about!
(By the bye - the great thing about a date with Shakespeare is it isn’t expensive, doesn’t present any physical dangers, may be a nice long 3 hour chat or a few one hour lunches over a week. It’s real casual and a no pressure kind of vibe!)
Once you silence all the outside world’s thoughts on these plays and just listen to your gut and inform your digestion of Shakespeare with your present world, I guarantee the plays will seem like they were written in the 1900s, not 1590s.
After the reading/watching has happened, what do you have? - a head full of characters, settings, plots, motivations, actions all chaotically scrambling around like gremlins waiting to hop-frog to the front of your thoughts in your mind. Remember, they’re there lingering because Shakespeare wrote some good stuff, and good stuff sticks around in your head, like the memory of a really great meal eaten at a little restaurant off the beaten path that was either going to result in a night in the bathroom or one of the best experiences of your dining life!
Quite quickly, all the leap-frogging slowly settles into the rhythm of a slow cafeteria line, as you reach a new station new options are awaiting you. Now Richard III slithers like a snake through your daily tasks of washing and cleaning. Henry V gives you the push to get over the piling real and imagined problems in your life. Portia reminds you of the power of clear-thinking that we all strive to attain daily. Volumnia, mother to Coriolanus, is the mother all too easily inhabited, and a rather good reminder that your own ambition should mean nothing to your child’s well-being.
Eventually your gut lets you know which plays are keepers and one’s that you may just permanently park on the shelf. The keepers though - oh they will slowly become treasures! Slowly you’ll see the quotes on Etsy products and relish the context; comedy skits with a hunchback Richard the Third will either make you laugh or remind you why he is such an “ick” dude; song lyrics will shout their Shakespeare lines at you. Wonderfully, the world will open up a bit more, life moments will become more and more prone to Shakespeare character references.
Just a little side confession - just you and me! - I say this way too often, especially to my friends - “I wish I was a minimalist”(shocker to anyone - I’m the exact opposite), “because I could see how in some iteration of my world I could be quite content with just a complete collection of Shakespeare, beautifully worn and read over and over again on my bookshelf”. I’ve got the collection, now I need a minimalist space - maybe in a little lake-side cabin - just little’ ol’ me, nature and Shakespeare - I guess that makes him my “deserted” island pick, “deserted” being the key word - I don’t want to be shipwrecked on an island with Prospero and Caliban!
“Can’t get you off my mind!”…Shakespeare! - Now a couple years into enjoying Shakespeare more regularly, I find that when my brain is grasping for a friend/cohort/devil’s advocate, “Ol’ Shakes” has got someone to offer, and the list is usually long! Sure occasionally, I shutter to think that there are people today who speak with silver tongues while they are murdering their family members in the shadows, or cheating at their jobs, but that’s when I pull out the mental drawer filled with the lighter fare - Puck, maybe even Falstaff (though he isn’t very much to laugh at, more pathetic than comical!).
Biggest advantage I’ve experienced by reading with your gut is taking back from “the experts” the key to the door of the room in your head, where all the “biggies” are hanging out - the Shakespeares, Prousts, Joyces, Coleridges, Dostoevskys, etc. - you know the room, the one bolted up back when you were in school and the teachers/professors spoke with great authority and arrogance about Shakespeare….!..!..!
The “biggies” are happy to finally see daylight and hear about what you think, maybe they’ll mingle together a bit and offer a word or two, which you may or may not enjoy to hear, but that’s all up to you and your thoughts - and it’s all good!
I hope you’ve enjoyed my reflection this Thursday. Shakespeare certainly seems to be hogging these articles quite a bit!
But I just… “Can’t get you off my mind!”…Shakespeare!
Brittany