You can read Shakespeare. Here's how.
a video experiment
As an experiment, I made a short video with some of the main points from my piece “How to read Shakespeare” which I put up nearly two years ago when we started the Shakespeare book club. I get this question all the time—how can I read Shakespeare. The aim of the video, and the piece, is to give you the shove you need to just pick up one of the plays and start reading. (I am reading Macbeth at the moment, one of the very best.)
Some of you have read Shakespeare for the first time in this book club, or the first time since school. Based on the messages I get, and the feedback on the calls, you have loved it. And you should be proud. Many of you have now read more Shakespeare than most English Literature graduates.
So let’s spread the joy of Shakespeare as far as we can. You can watch the video right here, or on YouTube. If you enjoy it, share it, like it, help other people find it, and hopefully help them pick up Romeo and Juliet or Twelfth Night and step into the wonderful world of Shakespeare.
As a recent convert from Shakespeare Non-Appreciator to Shakespeare Appreciator, I can list a few things that helped me.
1) Shakespeare's sentence structure and vocabulary are incredibly vibes-based. You might say he was a vibe-scripter. Channel your inner LLM and use fuzzy logic.
1a. Do read a nicely annotated copy for unfamiliar words, but don't get too hung up on it.
2) The iambic verse meter was unfamiliar to me, but is absolutely crucial to the vibes. So while reading, *literally* mumble the words like "bah-DUM-bah-DUM-bah-DUM" until you get a feel for it.
3) You can talk back to the characters. Just because a character says something, even if they say it eloquently, doesn't mean it is true or even supposed to be true. The character might not even think it is true, or they might change their mind about it in the very next line.
Some of these things you should probably not do in public.
In college I would rent a player with headphones and the Shakespeare play in audio format from the media library, and I’d sit and listen to the audio performance while reading along in the text and make notes (I’m partial to the Folger edition myself). Of course, nowadays I can probably listen to any play on Audible with the likes of Ian McKellan narrating while reading along in various formats (hard copy, phone, Kindle reader). In one week I see my first Shakespeare performance (Twelfth Night at the Globe)!