Shakespeare--A Long Time Friend

I wrote about my experiences with Shakespeare in my very first blog. I still appreciate and enjoy reading Shakespeare. My interest in Shakespeare originated with one of the most commonly known Romeo and Juliet. From there, I have also enjoyed Othello and Hamlet especially. Many Shakespearean tragedies have always been some of my favorite reads. I have not really read any Shakespearean comedies, so I look forward to reading those this semester.

Along with the reading I enjoy, I have seen many performances of Shakespeare. I have seen Macbeth, Othello, and Hamlet at theaters such as the Herberger. Though the performances are wonderful, I do prefer the book form because it allows for the reader to imagine how they want to picture such characters as Hamlet and Rodrigo.

I also attended the British literature trip that Dr. Carter led my sophomore year. During this we went to the Globe theater and took the tour. We learned about the ceiling, the hidden compartments, the groundlings, and the social attractions of the theater. This was one of the most interesting parts of the trip for me because I was able to see the history behind the writing and performing of so many famous plays.

First semester in English IV, we read Hamlet. However, for me it was more of a re-read because I had read the play on my own about a year ago and had seen the play. It was my favorite read of the semester because for some odd reason I usually can just click with Shakespeare. It was pretty easy for me to identify motives, underlying issues, and repercussions and I also enjoyed the subtext assignment. With the preview I got from the first semester’s approach to Shakespeare, I look forward to an interesting new point of view from the Shakespearean comedy (305).