What is your favorite play by Shakespeare?

marissa_in · Post by **marissa_in** » 13 Oct 2013, 18:03

Titus Andronicus was absolutely fantastic. My school didn't require the students to read it, but this was Shakespeare's most gruesome play. There were multiple twists and turns that we're not expected. This is a must read play written by Shakespeare.

Jenn+books · Post by **Jenn+books** » 14 Oct 2013, 01:58

marissa_in wrote:Titus Andronicus was absolutely fantastic. My school didn't require the students to read it, but this was Shakespeare's most gruesome play. There were multiple twists and turns that we're not expected. This is a must read play written by Shakespeare.

I agree--gruesome play! What age students are you talking about? I read it in a graduate-level Shakespeare class. It is a good play. It has lots of interesting elements and themes. The female and the black characters are particularly interesting. It's not read as much as the others, probably because of all the violence, but it is definitely a thought-provoking edition to Shakespeare's oeuvre.

prican11 · Post by **prican11** » 17 Nov 2013, 14:52

Gosh that's a hard question. Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and The Tempest are probably some of my favorites. I do love his comedies but I think A Comedy of Errors was my least favorite of his plays.

Craigable · Post by **Craigable** » 18 Nov 2013, 11:22

Hamlet.

K-katastrophe3 · Post by **K-katastrophe3** » 21 Nov 2013, 16:29

I am going to have to say (though i have not read them all) A Midsummer Night's Dream would be my favorite play by Shakespeare. It is about four yAthenian lovers and a group of amateur actors who are being manipulated by fairies in the forest of which the play are. It is a very interesting tale, and one that has always held my attention. Something about it just calls to me.

Mom2Grey · Post by **Mom2Grey** » 21 Nov 2013, 16:52

Macbeth!!!
Its delightfully creepy and love the witches in particular.

RebeccaRossWrites · Post by **RebeccaRossWrites** » 21 Nov 2013, 20:03

MagicofBooks86 wrote:It's hard for me to pick between Macbeth and Hamlet. I love both pretty much equally.

But I also do like A Midsummer's Night Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, and Twelfth Night. I really need to read some of Shakespeare's history plays (since I love the time period). I recently watched The Hollow Crown series (with Jeremy Irons, Ben Whishaw, and Tom Hiddleston) and that series got me interested to physically read the plays.

You got my three favorites - A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, and Twelfth Night! I much prefer a Shakespeare comedy to a Shakespeare tragedy. What can I say, I'm a sucker for historical humor!

hasmartz · Post by **hasmartz** » 09 Dec 2013, 11:00

Much Ado about Nothing has always been my favorite. I try to see it whenever it's being done near me. I also enjoyed Joss Whedon's take on it.

robertcjgraves · Post by **robertcjgraves** » 11 Dec 2013, 11:30

It's impossible for me to pick just one. My favorites are:

Macbeth
Hamlet
King Lear
King Richard III
Henry V
Titus Andronicus
Othello

FNAWrite · Post by **FNAWrite** » 11 Dec 2013, 12:21

Looks like it's a run-off between Hamlet and Macbeth. I think I'll go with Hamlet too, but it's close.

Richard III is just an awful man, nobody has mentioned A Comedy of Errors - I fall on the floor.

robertcjgraves · Post by **robertcjgraves** » 11 Dec 2013, 12:31

FNAWrite wrote:Looks like it's a run-off between Hamlet and Macbeth. I think I'll go with Hamlet too, but it's close.

Richard III is just an awful man, nobody has mentioned A Comedy of Errors - I fall on the floor.

Funny -- unless I'm mistaken Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest and Macbeth his shortest.

Nathrad Sheare · Post by **Nathrad Sheare** » 17 Dec 2013, 05:56

I would tie "Hamlet" and "The Merchant of Venice." Oh, and "Othello" was a force to be reckoned with! I am also a sucker, yes, for "Romeo and Juliet." I almost cry every time I see the scene of Romeo in the tomb. Oy... I can' choose... Now, as far as movies go, I think the highest quality production of anything Shakespearean was the Al Pacino movie, "The Merchant of Venice." The score was great. The acting was impeccable. Wow...

louisemwilcox13 · Post by **louisemwilcox13** » 20 Dec 2013, 18:33

It's a tie between Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing for me. I love the gorgeous language in Hamlet and the dialog between Beatrice and Benedict is positively hilarious in Much Ado About Nothing.

Nathrad Sheare · Post by **Nathrad Sheare** » 20 Dec 2013, 20:33

Those are WONDERFUL choices! Ever seen the Zefirelli production of "The Taming of the Shrew" with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton? Hilarious. "Othello" has probably the most beautiful language of any Shakespeare play I've seen or read. The BBC production with Anthony Hopkins is SMASHING!

Fictinfreak90 · Post by **Fictinfreak90** » 22 Dec 2013, 13:02

In general, I'd say that my favorite Shakespeare play is A Midsummer Night's Dream, simply because I've always been a fan of fantasy and the supernatural. I also like the way everyone becomes confused and ends up loving the wrong person. I thought Shakespeare especially did a great job with the character of Nick Bottom, writing him as a fool (literally an "ass", or "Bottom"). Puck's line about how foolish humans can be is also amusing to me.

I would have to agree that Hamlet is my favorite of the tragedies as well. I specifically find the scene where Hamlet confronts his mother about her wrongdoing to be a particularly good example of the kind of wordplay Shakespeare weaves throughout all his plays. The play-within-a-play technique is also something I'd like to try in my own writing as I feel the actors in the second play (the one inside Hamlet) serve the purpose of illuminating the story's main conflict, which is that Hamlet wants to take revenge on Claudius for his father's murder, but is too scared and/or pensive to act in time.