# Favorite Shakespeare Plays



## Trout (Apr 11, 2011)

William Shakespeare... you may have heard of him. I, myself, am slowly making my way through his works, so I may eventually be ready to vote. But for now, I still live to say, "This thing's to do."

So what are your favorites and why? Any on this list you don't particularly like? Thoughts on any adaptations? I would love to know.

Apologies for overlooking some plays that I know many enjoy more than the ones presented and for the lopsidedness of the poll with 6 tragedies, 6 comedies, but only 2 histories. I thought about squeezing one of the Richards in there somewhere, but I wasn't sure about which one to bump.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I simply voted for all the ones that I've actually read: Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Midsummer Night's Dream. I loved them all, but as for the rest, I've not read them, so I can't make judgment on them. Although I'm sure I'd like them too.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

I voted for Macbeth, Hamlet and other (Merry Wives of Windsor).


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I've voted Julius Caesar and Henry IV. The first is magnificent and elevated, the latter plain hilarious. I also have great sentiment for Coriolan and Cymbeline, which I've used to read along with Henry IV as kid. They made me Shakespeare nut I am. The masterpieces are masterpieces - of course, but the favourites are the favourites. Pardon my taste.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

I liked Hamlet, Macbeth, Otello, and Julius Caesar. Midsummer Night and Twelfth Night are both on my "to read" list. Not a fan of the Tempest, and Romeo and Juliet makes me gag. I forgot to select other and add Titus Andronicus just because it's so over-the-top bad that it's good :lol:


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Henry IV and V, and _Much Ado About Nothing_. I quite like the recent Joss Whedon _Much Ado_ film.


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

My favourite tragedy is Hamlet and my favourite comedy is Twelfth Night. That may have a lot to do with the fact that I recently attended excellent productions of both plays in Stratford.

My other favourites are Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra, perhaps because I have a soft spot for anything relating to ancient Rome.

I'll admit that the Histories are an area I haven't much explored, however. Maybe one day.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Hamlet and Macbeth. King Lear, honorary mention.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Cosmos said:


> I forgot to select other and add Titus Andronicus just because it's so over-the-top bad that it's good :lol:


it's like the xmas tree or the kitchen sink all right.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Cosmos said:


> I forgot to select other and add Titus Andronicus just because it's so over-the-top bad that it's good :lol:


The Ed Wood side of Shakes, eh?


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

ahammel said:


> The Ed Wood side of Shakes, eh?


The finest moment in that play, in my view, occurs when Lavinia carries a severed hand off the stage in her mouth (her hands having been removed by this time). Surprisingly, some critics disagree with me:



> In his 1998 book, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Harold Bloom attacked the play on numerous occasions, calling it "a howler", "a poetic atrocity", "an exploitative parody, with the inner purpose of destroying the ghost of Christopher Marlowe" and "a blowup, an explosion of rancid irony." Bloom summates his views by declaring "I can concede no intrinsic value to Titus Andronicus." Citing the 1955 Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production, directed by Peter Brook and starring Laurence Olivier, which is generally agreed to have provided the impetus for the twentieth century revaluation of the play, Bloom said that the audience laughed several times in scenes which were supposed to be tragic, and he sees this as evidence for its failure as Tragedy. He particularly focuses his criticism on the line when Lavinia is told to carry Titus' severed hand in her mouth (3.1.281), arguing that no play which contains such a scene could possibly be serious. He thus concludes the best director to tackle the play would be Mel Brooks.[56]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_Andronicus


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

R and J......................


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

As an ex-English teacher, I have read all Shakespeare's plays, but *Titus Andronicus* & *Pericles* are ones I won't ever bother reading again. I don't remember much about the *Henry VI* cycle, either. 

My overall favourite is *Hamlet*: it has such remarkable things to say about 'being a person'. Other favourites are *Henry IV*_ *Part One*_, *Julius Caesar* & *Twelfth Night*. And I love almost all the others too.


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Tragedies: King Lear
Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I have read R&J, Macbeth, Othello, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Much Ado about Nothing, a Midsummet Night's Dream (also played the part Egeus yay I always get typecast as grumpy old men) and Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night is the best, all te characters in it are brilliant (and in some cases very bizarre), the subplots driving the action forward and making it all that more complicated (but never too much), and it gives more importance to music than any other Shakespeare play (starting from the very first line!)


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Interesting to see that the Dane and the Scotch play are in top closely followed by King Lear. We saw an outdoor production of the Scotch play in the gardens of Durham castle in a mild drizzle - decidedly atmospheric. Talking of which, this is too good to omit:






I voted for all of them plus some of the others such as Merry Wives of Windsor, Taming of the Shrew and Two Gentlemen of Verona, Richard III. Too difficult to decide - like a glorious Christmas pudding stuffed with goodies - or a well stuffed Turkey with Titus Andronicus & Pericles coming in as the Parson's Nose.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Trout said:


> William Shakespeare... you may have heard of him. I, myself, am slowly making my way through his works, so I may eventually be ready to vote. But for now, I still live to say, "This thing's to do."


If you're doing this on your own initiative, then good on you! Apologies to anyone who's heard me say this "ol' man" story before... but I wasn't particularly enthused about Shakespeare as a Collegian. However, I did take an honors-level course in Shakespeare, simply because I felt it would be sort-of-wrong for a college student- particularly a college student in an English-language-speaking nation, to graduate with little to no exposure to Shakespeare. So- in spite of a self-indulgent Professor, I eventually developed some rudimentary understanding. And... with understanding came appreciation. Doubtless I learned more about Shakespeare via auto-didactic self-inquiry AFTER the course than I learned _during_ the course.

Relieved to discover that you can vote for more than one!

So- among tragedies, _King Lear_- along with its case for the best sub-plot in the history of man's written expression. Among comedies- _A Midsummer Night's Dream_. Certainly not in the same category- but an under-appreciated Shakespeare history play is _King John_. [The Henry VI series, upon further review, probably DOES deserve its relative neglect. It's not *my* favorite revisionist history. My favorite revisionist history is Costain's _The Last Plantagenet_. Long story- possibly different thread.]


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## Guest (Jan 20, 2014)

Have acted in a number - school, college and am-dram productions - so need to add _Comedy of Errors_ and _Love's Labours Lost_ to the 'others' as I have fond memories of performing in them. The best production I've seen is _Twelfth Night_ at Stratford-On-Avon (1980, I think) with Cherie Lunghi, John Woodvine and Gareth Thomas (Blake of _Blake's 7_). I had hysterics. Watched _Cymbeline _immediately after - even with Judi Dench, it just wasn't so much fun!.

Mind you, I had raging toothache, and when I got back to college, I had to have an abscess sorted!


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## Fortinbras Armstrong (Dec 29, 2013)

One comment on Shakespeare. He often doesn't read very well. When I was in my early 20s, I read _Twelfth Night_ and thought it was overblown and tedious. A couple of months later, I saw a good professional production of it, and loved it.


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## Guest (Jan 20, 2014)

It's a toss up between _Hamlet_ and _King Lear_. _Hamlet _is more human and personal, but the way Shakespeare pushes everyone (characters and audiences) to the breaking point in the cosmic vastness of _King Lear_ is just devastating.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Romeo and Juliet because I am a hopeless romantic when no one is looking.

Much Ado About Nothing - still funny after all these centuries. 

The Tempest - because the 20th centurey remake, Forbidden Planet, is way cool.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

MacLeod said:


> Watched _Cymbeline _immediately after - even with Judi Dench, it just wasn't so much fun!


I prefer the corrected version, myself.

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301031h.html

*p.s.* Much as I love Shaw, it just occurred to me to be relieved that he wasn't so self-confident at composing music. I'm glad not to have his revisions of Brahms!


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

On your list, I was going to pick _Twelfth Night _or _The Winter's Tale_. But, I decided to go for "Other", since _As You Like It_ is probably my favorite.

I loved the old BBC productions from the 1970s. Helen Mirren in _As You Like It _just edged out Felicity Kendal in_ Twelfth Night_, for me.


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

I simply voted other, for the one play which I can remember reasonably well - that being *Measure for Measure*.

It was one of the texts in the second year of my English Literature A-Level - the Same year as _A Clockwork Orange_ was set oddly enough. A good year on the course and I did enjoy this play, much more than I expected to.

I know I will have read Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet before but I don't remember enough to legitimately vote for them. I would have to re-read them and at some point I'm sure I will.

*Edit - in hindsight I should have voted Macbeth too, but Measure for Measure is still my strongest choice. So although I cannot add it to the poll, I would add Mabeth to my favourites list.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

_Hamlet_ and _Othello_ are the two that I'm most familiar with and consider to be his greatest, although "The Taming of the Shrew" is the only one I've actually acted in


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