How to Read Shakespeare and Middle English

Struggling with Shakespeare? Hating your English teacher for making you read Middle English? Failing to see the appeal of the Bard of Avon? Understandable, but don't despair. Here are tips to vanquish that tragedy and laugh in the face of comedy.

Use your textbook lexicon . A lexicon is a reference guide like a dictionary that defines and explains word usage from different dialects, regions or periods. Many publishers include a lexicon in the form of references at the bottom of each page. Penguin and Dover also include lexicons.

Use a specifically- Shakespeare lexicon. A lexicon will make mincemeat of troublesome Middle English and put Shakespeare dialog into user-friendly terms.

Use Internet study guides. Many sites offer free study guides on Shakespeare's books and sonnets. They will include a character analysis, character web, plot timeline, major themes and chapter or verse breakdown, as well as an explanation of unfamiliar terms. Cliffnotes, Sparknotes, Bookrags, E-Notes and Pink Monkey provide great literary help.

Read the story as a narrative or children's version. Skip reading the play version until you have a feel for the actual story. Charles and Mary Lamb and Evelyn Nesbit have written beautiful story versions that are very readable for all ages. If you read it as a story without the confusing theatrical notes and dialogue, you'll better understand the gist of the story.

Read the dialogue aloud. Shakespeare is first and foremost a playwright. His works were written for actors in a theater. His sonnets were written to be read aloud as well. Read the lines aloud. Add the correct emotion (which the play will tell you in parenthesis). Try to get into the character. Reading aloud as Shakespeare's plays were meant to be read, will help you to understand the flow and meaning of the dialogue.

Visualize the similes and metaphors. Shakespeare was free with metaphor; to understand his phraseology is to connect with his metaphor.

Connect with the present. In Middle English, if it sounds like an insult, it probably is. Look for connections between the 1500s and today. Look for turns of phrase that we still use.

Use the dialogue cues. Written by each line of dialogue are cues to help the actors understand their motivation, movement and character. Use these cues to determine what is meant by a particular line. The emotion associated with each line helps with comprehension as does the blocking called for by the script.

Read an expository on the work ."Shakespeare without Tears" by Margaret Webster, and Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," make great resources.

Watch a theater or movie version of the play. Several Shakespearean plays have been made into movies and retain much of the dialogue: "Much Ado About Nothing", "Hamlet", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Othello", "Henry V", "Twelfth Night"). Listen to the way that the actors say the lines.

Shakespeare eminently quotable. Try dropping a few Shakespearean lines with friends (be sure to strike a pose). Most of all, relax and try to enjoy it. The Bard isn't so bad once you get to know him.