Simple Shakespeare

I don’t think this English class is ever going to fail to surprise me. First, I realized that black and white movies aren’t as terrible as I once thought they were, and now I find out that Shakespeare can actually be interesting, and not tedious to read!

                We just finished reading the Shakespearian play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and I thought it was a fairly enjoyable play. The only other Shakespearian play I have ever read is “Romeo and Juliet” in 9^th grade English class, and I found it very difficult to read. Maybe it was because I wasn’t really trying to take my time to understand the play, and maybe it really was just too hard for me to understand. Whatever the reason, reading “Romeo and Juliet” left me with the frame of mind that Shakespeare is a terrible writer and I would never enjoy reading one of his plays simply because I could not understand them.  This is why, when the class willingly chose to read Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” I was furious. I didn’t understand how anybody in their right mind would want to read something that that awful William Shakespeare had written. I went home that night, and started to read act 1, anyway, simply because I did not want to make a bad grade because I did not want to read a work. To my surprise, I did not find this act to be too terribly hard to read. In fact, I understood what was going on quite well. When we discussed this act in class, I realized that I could do this without a problem. Shakespeare was not that bad and could actually write an intriguing story. 

I read act one, two, and part of act three right out of the literature book  with only minute difficulties. I even took notes to better understand what was going on. I felt so proud of myself and was very happy that reading this play had not become a chore. I happened to be at Barnes and Noble one day, though, and remembered that the teacher said something about a book called “No Fear Shakespeare”, that had the Shakespearian text on one side and the modern language text on the opposite side of the book. I decided to buy this book. I finished reading the play out of this book, but I am sure I could have finished and understood the play without it. It was just an aid.

                My point being: Shakespeare is actually a good writer and is not too hard to understand if you take your time reading his works. While sometimes there is need for clarification, it is very easily do-able to read a Shakespearian play, contrary to my previous belief.