CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Winter Break has begun! Consequently, I am in need of something intellectually stimulating to prevent my brain from becoming a pile of grey mush. What better way to keep my brain away from such a sad fate than to fill it with something that is classic and that will help me become a more refined young man?

Anyways, with way more writings than I know about; I have no idea where to start. So I turn to you, CAA board members: where should I start?

read julius ceaser...that is a good one, either that or macbeth those are two of my favorites

mssthang_1 wrote:read julius ceaser...that is a good one, either that or macbeth those are two of my favorites

I second Macbeth. I really like that one.. =)

I just finished a Shakespeare course in which we read eight plays over the course of the semester: Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, and The Winter’s Tale. Apparently, these are the plays that my instructor felt most worth reading.

My own personal favorites (in general, not just from the course) are as follows:

From the tragedies, Macbeth, Hamlet, and King Lear. They’re all so good that I really can’t choose among them.

From the comedies: A Midsummer Night’s Dream is my favorite, although The Merchant of Venice is also excellent, and I enjoyed reading Twelfth Night.

From the romances: I personally love The Tempest for its mythical feel and overall poetic beauty (although my instructor hates it), and The Winter’s Tale, though less poetically rich, is notable for its great Christian congruences.

[spoiler=Winter’s Tale]Many critics believe that the scene near the end, where a statue comes to life, is an actual miracle, in which case the play carries out the cycle from death to resurrection.[/spoiler]

I can’t comment on the other two romances (Cymbeline and Pericles) or most of the histories because I haven’t read them, but this should give you a good start.

Macbeth man. read Macbeth. it's good stuff.

There's so much to choose from. I would recommend Julius Caesar or Twelfth Night, the latter being my favorite Shakespeare due to the comedy.

On a side note: like the Rorschach avatar.

If you are looking for an intellectual challenge... I suggest Hamlet. The wordplay is unparalleled.

Once you get done with Hamlet, look up the comedy Rosecrantz and Guildenstern are dead. It tells a certain part of the Hamelt story from the point of view of two if his childhood friends. It my help to have a working knowledge of Hamlet, which I only had a high-level understanding of when I saw it performed.

Many High School literature classes read MacBeth for their Shakespearean tradgedy for one simple reason - it's the shortest.

As for Romeo and Juliet - isn't more a comedy than a tragedy?

Oh Gosh! Shakespeare? Blah, I hate that man. No, that's harsh, actually I hate his works. So hard to understand, not relevant, boring etc

Warrior 4 Jesus wrote:Oh Gosh! Shakespeare? Blah, I hate that man. No, that's harsh, actually I hate his works. So hard to understand, not relevant, boring etc

Not Relevant? Shakespeare is the basis for most modern theater from Broadway to the movies to TV. The language may have changed, but the human condition hasn't.

There are only so many love triangles to be had.

Plots are not the point of Shakespeare, but rather the writing, the characters, their interactions, the poetry of the language and the way different directors and actors can do so many versions of the same story and still feel unique. The plots are however highly silly, but plots are beside the point in most stories anyway, at least for me.

I recommend Julius Caesar, Ikimasu. It's a good play, but sort of a given since it's the only Shakespeare play I'm intimately acquainted with. The Marlon Brando / James Mason film does not do the play any amount of justice.

Shakespeare, eh? You've come to the right place. Shakespeare has something for everyone. I am going to give you a few of my favorites:
Probably my most favorite is Hamlet. It is the most tragic of the tragedies and has the best characters with a good balance of romance intrigue and comedy relief (Polonius the medler and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern the first and last victims of Hamlet's -real or feigned- madness. Hamlet is well balanced and a good read.
Henry V is by far the greatest of the Histories. It is both powerful and inspirational and it is a good coming of age story as Henry's youth is compaired to his current life as king. Julius Caesar is fine but henry V is a better story any day.
Next to Hamlet, my favorite tragedy would be Othello. I believe that Iago is Shakespeare's, and one of litterature's as a whole, greatest villian.
As far as comedies go, the big ones are Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet...That's right I consider Romeo and Juliet as a comedy. Yes, it does contain elements of tragedy and teen angst, but it is filled with rich comic elements that make up the greater portion of the story. I can go on for a long time about this so I'll stop here if you want to know more about my reasons feel free to ask.
Finally the Tempest is brilliant; probably Shakespeare's most intelligent work. It really transcends the traditional categories of his work and, in my opinion, one of the earliest examples of the fantasy genre. There you have it...I could go on ad nauseum about shakespeare but there are my top reads. Enjoy :-)

Shakespeare has something for everyone?
Please explain how.

I don't find any of them funny in the least and I had to do one each year in High School until year 12.

Midsummer Night's Dream - Year 8
Twelth Night - Year 9
Romeo and Juliet - Year 10
Macbeth - Year 11

I sure hope there's none of Shakespeare's works in Heaven.

Wow... lots of responces. Thanks everyone for your help. It looks like will be heading to my local library and swooping up a copy of Macbeth. After that; I'll have to return to this thread for reference.

Beware The Ides Of March!

Warrior 4 Jesus wrote:There are only so many love triangles to be had.

This from an Anime fan

Warrior 4 Jesus wrote:I sure hope there's none of Shakespeare's works in Heaven.

You don't like Shakespeare? Fine.
You don't understand the comedy? Fine.

The title of this thread is not "Do you like Shakespeaer?" or "Is Shakespeare funny?" It's a thread for someone who is interested. So why are trolling it? I don't understand this behavior from such a long standing and good member of this comminity whom I trust and respect.

The Sonnets

MacBeth

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Henry V

Hamlet

The Tempest

Much Ado About Nothing

Two Gentlemen of Verona

The Merchant Of Venice

A Midsummer Night's Dream

termyt, I'm not trolling, at least that wasn't my intention. I was just trying to explain that I didn't enjoy it. Sorry, if I came across as a troll.

*Leaves thread*

O_O How. Did I. Miss. This thread?!

Out of the (too many) Shakespeare plays I've read, far and away my favorite is Hamlet. It's Shakespeare's longest play, and I think it tackles more philosophical issues than your average Shakespeare (not to say his other plays don't). And as an extra bonus, a LOT of common phrases that we hear today come from Hamlet (yes, outside of "to be or not to be"). Yay Hamlet.

After Hamlet, my favorites are probably Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Julius Caesar, in no particular order. :3 I'm also working on The Tempest right now, which looks like it'll end up on that list as well.

And...*high fives johnyouth* I think we need a "Iago = Evil" club here on CAA. XD

Warrior 4 Jesus wrote:Oh Gosh! Shakespeare? Blah, I hate that man. No, that's harsh, actually I hate his works. So hard to understand, not relevant, boring etc

I recommend you check out the No Fear Shakespeare books. I use them and I LOVE them. Because I can't understand a WORD of the oldy-middle english that shakespeare writes in. So it's translated to modern-day english for us not-so-smart people!

I recommend Hamlet, as I really liked it. It's a good revenge tale that tackles moral issues. A very good read I say!

I do NOT recommend Romeo and Juliet. A piece of crap tale of two irrational pre-teen infatuaters. I was sickened by the immature and illogical decisions that each character took. They were like pre-modern emos!

mssthang_1 wrote:read julius ceaser...that is a good one, either that or macbeth those are two of my favorites

Exactly what I was going to recommend. Those two are my favorites hands down. My sister also really likes A Comedy of Errors. I haven't read that one, though, so I can't comment on it.

Mr. SmartyPants wrote:
I do NOT recommend Romeo and Juliet. A piece of crap tale of two irrational pre-teen infatuaters. I was sickened by the immature and illogical decisions that each character took. They were like pre-modern emos!

Yes, it WAS horrible :/ And we had to watch the 60's version of the movie in class (the one with a few seconds of nudity in it :/)

Although, Gonzo (I think it is) is making an anime adaptation of it... I'm wondering how that'll go? Maybe I'll watch it if it's like, anime and stuff AND different and not like... THAT.

Shakespeare was usually quite boring for me... We only got to read some in school, like Julius Ceaser, R&J, and King Lear. With the teacher I had when we read King lear, she made it sound SO good! It's probably my fav. I really do like stories like that better, once it's all been picked through and translated and all^^ Oh, and I did read through half of The Tempest before I found out it was optional :/ Best to avoid stuff like that when I don't have to^^ I'm just not an olde Englishy person :/ (Even though Shakespeare DID invent many modern-day words...)

Tenshi no Ai wrote:Yes, it WAS horrible :/ And we had to watch the 60's version of the movie in class (the one with a few seconds of nudity in it :/)

OH! The one with Olivia Hussey? We saw that too. Even though I didn't really like the book, I must admit the movie was excellent in retelling Romeo and Juliet. That one is considered by many to be the best Romeo and Juliet film adaptation.

The only Shakespeare that I've ever read was Romeo and Juliet, which as some of you have mentioned, not so good. I would however like to read more, since many people regard him as one of the greatest, and he is firmly in the literary canon. The only problem with all that is that I can't bring myself to read an abridged or "modernized" version. Many times the meaning, puns, ect are changed to be far different than the author/playwright intended.

Anyway, plays aren't really meant to be read, but rather watched. Or atleast recited. That's why I'm going to wait till I am required to read Shakespeare's other plays in school, since classes almost always act the plays out, instead of just reading them.

Needle Noggin wrote:Anyway, plays aren't really meant to be read, but rather watched. Or atleast recited.

IMO, I think reading AND watching is the best path. Seeing a Shakespeare production is a wonderful experience (I was blessed with the opportunity to see a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Antony and Cleopatra), and it's so exciting to see the words on the page brought to life. But in the theater the lines come and go, and it's difficult to really analyze and hold on to those lines. That's where the reading comes in, and I think it gives you a whole new insight on the play that you may have missed before. ^^ I know I wouldn't have been able to wrap my mind around the entirity of Hamlet had my first experience with it been in the theater.

And I must second that Romeo and Juliet was. >_> Yeah. The saving grace of that play, I think, was Mercutio. :3

Whenever I see a play I usually have the script to read along with.

I do agree though, that seeing it makes it much better.

Kokoro Daisuke wrote:The saving grace of that play, I think, was Mercutio. :3

Without a doubt my favorite character in that play.
[spoiler]Too bad he gets killed by Tybalt (which is a cool name by the way}[/spoiler]

Heh. Your opinion of Romeo and Juliet is identical to mine.