How to Read Shakespeare's Plays

Shakespeare: One of the most controversial authors in the history of literature. Some love him, some hate him. But almost every high school student in America has to read him. I have heard time and time again from high schoolers that refused to acknowledge Shakespeare's brilliance, simply because of the "outdated" language and the "annoying" poetic style. If you are one of these students, or if you are finding your most recent assignment of Hamlet to be incredibly challenging and even seemingly impossible, here are ten tips for reading the greatest playwright of the modern world.

1. Pay attention! When I talk to students who hate Shakespeare, it is a recurring theme to hear "I hate this because it makes no sense to me", but these are the same students that read only the first few paragraphs of an assignment, or just the summary. Unfortunately, Cliffs Notes will not make King Lear more interesting unless you actually plan on reading the assignment. While reading essays or notes on the piece at hand can get your mind going and help you to understand the literature a little better, they will never replace the actual work. The only thing left to do is pay attention and read the entire thing.

2. Keep a notebook handy. When it comes to writing about literature, nothing helps more than having all of your thoughts and ideas handy after reading the piece. The only way to do this, of course, is to take motes while you're reading. Keep a notebook handy and take notes, just like you would when you're listening to a lecture. Creating a time line of the play is also very helpful. Write down a list of characters and their actions in coordination with your time line. You will be amazed at how well you connect things in the storyline by seeing them written out. Marker boards or chalk boards work very well for this. In fact, you can fill an entire chalk board with a simple "who-killed-who" list/time line of Titus Andronicus.

3. Never underestimate the power of discussion. A great way to get the most out of the literature you are reading is to discuss it with other people. All through history, literature and story telling has been used as a way to connect people. If you have a really tough assignment, schedule a discussion night with friends from your class, preparing medieval refreshments and speaking only in old-English. If you don't have time to do that, you can just participate in class discussions.

4. Take your time. One of the worst mistakes you can make while reading Shakespeare is rushing yourself through a fantastic monologue just to go watch your favorite television show. Sometimes, reading takes time-- especially if you are reading medieval English. If you're having a hard time understanding something, read it again and slow down.

5. Don't be afraid to read out loud. One of the best kept secrets in literature homework is reading your assignments out loud. Most student don't do this because they think it will make them look silly or distract the people around them. However, a lot of pieces of literature were written to either be read aloud or to be performed. If you are reading a play with a smaller cast, try getting a few of your friends together to read it in a sort of performance. Not only will you connect more personally with the story, you will be able to visualize what is going on in each scene.

6. Cross reference the things you read. Literature throughout the ages can be cross-referenced into a large structure that links pieces from 100 BC all the way to 2007 AD. Since Shakespeare is one of the most read authors in history, there are many things that are either influenced greatly by his work, or direct results of it. There are also some playwrights that were contemporaries to Shakespeare, such as Christopher Marlowe. It is both fun and helpful to compare and contrast the works of these authors, as well as other plays-- both modern and ancient. Not only does this help you to understand what you're reading, it also gives you great ideas to write about when the time for finals or response papers comes.

7. Annotate the literature you read. Annotating is simply writing down your thoughts when you're reading. The difference between annotating and taking notes is that when annotating, you don't have to be academic. Write down your first reaction to the characters and their actions. Ask questions, make exclamations, write anything you want. Not only will this give you reminders about what you were thinking as you read the piece, it will also help you to connect with it better.

8. Block-schedule your reading. If time is an issue for you, you might have to schedule your reading in blocks of pages. Make a schedule. Write out when you are going to read, and how much you will be reading at a time. This will save you time, and it will make you far more comfortable and relaxed while you are reading. Plays are easily scheduled if you read them one act at a time, or-- if need be-- even one scene at a time.

9. Find your reading atmosphere. Reading is a lot less daunting if you are comfortable while you are doing it. Try different atmospheres to read in. Put on some music, read by candle light, read outside-- whatever it is that you enjoy most.

10. Compare and contrast the fiction and the film. A lot of people frown upon watching the movie in order to understand the book, but visualizing the story and characters of a Shakespeare play can help personalize the literature for you. Films of Shakespeare's works have been in production since the beginning of motion pictures. Many repertory theatres also put on productions of Shakespeare plays inexpensively or even at no cost at all!

I hope these tips will be helpful with your next scary Shakespeare reading assignment. Happy reading!