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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
[Exit, pursued by a bear.]
I see why this moment is iconic.
I initially wanted to read The Winter's Tale in English. Previously I've only read Shakespeare in translation. But at 8% mark, during this piece of dialogue:
Why, that's my bawcock. What! hast smutch'd thy nose?— They say it is a copy out of mine. Come, captain, We must be neat;—not neat, but cleanly, captain: And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf, Are all call'd neat.— [Observing POLIXENES and HERMIONE] Still virginalling Upon his palm?—How now, you wanton calf! Art thou my calf?
I gave up. It was just too confusing, so I resumed reading the Russian translation.
The plot seemed to be set in motion by nothing in particular - Leontes's bout of jealousy came out of nowhere. After my initial surprise, I just rolled with all the impossible and improbable stuff happening.
Still, Shakespeare's ability to change everything in the final 1-2% of the play gave me whiplash. The ending seemed too abrupt - I wanted to find out more about Hermione and the statue. I even thought my ebook was cut short by mistake.
Overall it was an okay read. Didn't affect me as much as other works by Shakespeare.
It took me a while to get into this play. And while I finally got a handle on the characters and the overall plot, sometimes I read an entire monologue and had no clue what was just said.
At some point, any play will have challenges when someone is just reading it, because it is meant to be performed. I am sure if I watched the movie, or more importantly, watched the play I would get more out of it. Especially because there is a part of the play where songs become part of the narrative. As I read it I tried to imagine it as a play, but it was difficult to do.
By far not my favorite of Shakespeare's plays, but parts of it did make me laugh, especially with Trinculo and Stephano. Hopefully as I look into different adaptations and commentary, I can gain a better appreciation of it.
At some point, any play will have challenges when someone is just reading it, because it is meant to be performed. I am sure if I watched the movie, or more importantly, watched the play I would get more out of it. Especially because there is a part of the play where songs become part of the narrative. As I read it I tried to imagine it as a play, but it was difficult to do.
By far not my favorite of Shakespeare's plays, but parts of it did make me laugh, especially with Trinculo and Stephano. Hopefully as I look into different adaptations and commentary, I can gain a better appreciation of it.
I don't know how to rate Shakespeare, the writing is obviously beautiful and the stories have stood the test of time for a reason... This story wasn't for me, though, and great writing is lost on me, so I gave this my enjoyment rating as usual.
There were interesting concepts, but sometimes the way they were conveyed didn't resonate with me and I was kind of thinking today you would do more exciting things with that concept, maybe.
I just read this because I wanted to know how well I understand Shakespeare now and cause I didn't really know the story and it sounded fun, but the whole "the characters are symbolic for types of people and not really real people" thing wasn't for me. Still, the writing was awesome and it was enjoyable.
There were interesting concepts, but sometimes the way they were conveyed didn't resonate with me and I was kind of thinking today you would do more exciting things with that concept, maybe.
I just read this because I wanted to know how well I understand Shakespeare now and cause I didn't really know the story and it sounded fun, but the whole "the characters are symbolic for types of people and not really real people" thing wasn't for me. Still, the writing was awesome and it was enjoyable.
My absolute favorite Shakespeare play. Many thanks to a great English teacher in junior high for turning me on to Will's works.
This just bumped Midsummer Nights Dream as my favourite Shakespeare play... why does no one talk about this one? It’s so good! It captivated me from the very beginning and had me on the edge of my seat (especially the first half). I was so into it and though the main guy was so insane that I had to call my best friend in the middle of reading just to tell her about it.