2020-11-10 4:28:59 ¶ ●

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I feel slightly uncultured for not having read any of these Stories you keep posting about, so I've decided I will read them. Where should I start?

Oh wow you’re the second person this week to allow me to drag them into the Shakespeare fandom

Ok so. Where should you start in the Shakespeare fandom? That’s such a good question. Well, all of his plays are fantastic (I mean. I’ve only read like 10 of them. But whatever).

So I’ve been posting about Hamlet and King Lear a lot because those are the ones we’re reading in school this year. But assuming you haven’t read any at all yet, (mainly because this ask implies you haven’t read Hamlet, which is read in nearly every english speaking high school, so I’d assume either 1- English isn’t your first language, or 2- you’re not in high school yet. Either way, I don’t think I’d recommend starting with either Hamlet or King Lear, since they’re both normally only taught after you’ve read a bunch of others first)

Anyway. The plays that I’ve heard of people starting as their first Shakespeare play would be

1- The Tempest

This play is about an ex-duke and his daughter. The ex-duke can do magic. They live on an island because of reasons that are explained pretty much right away. The ex-duke has this whole not-so-evil plan involving his daughter getting happily married to the guy she likes. Also there are these two guys who just won’t stop trying to kill the king.

2-Julius Caesar

This one’s about Julius Caesar. His friends get together and decide to murder him for stupid reasons. Then his other friend is like “oh wow. You just killed him. Now I’m gonna rile up the people and make sure they kill you guys.” So yeah, that happens.

3- Romeo and Juliet

Two teenagers fall in love with each other and impulsively get married. Their families hate each other and don’t know that their kids married each other. Six people die because none of the characters has even a shred of common sense.

All three of these plays are good, and I don’t know which one you’ll enjoy more. You can actually read all of them online for free, so yeah, enjoy Shakespeare!

(I can post more summaries of other plays if anyone wants)