Hello everybody, my name is Cara, and
today I'm here to talk about some tips
and tricks for getting into Shakespeare
or getting used to his work or to
getting started reading his plays.
Basically, [a] beginner's guide to
Shakespeare and how to read him, I guess. *laughs*
But before I get into that I want to once
again draw your attention to the
description box,
I am pre-filming this but at the time of
filming this Breonna Taylor's murderers
have still not been arrested, I will link
some information specifically about that
down below. So now into the tips and
tricks. I--even though I kind of
described this as a like "Shakespeare
beginner's" video or like "how to get into
Shakespeare, how to read Shakespeare" -  like
even though I kind of described it as a
guide, this is really just going to be
kind of a loose series of tips and
tricks that I think might be helpful, but
the bottom line for this video is
whatever works for you is a good way to
get into Shakespeare. So it might be that
some of these tips work, it might be that
none of them work: just keep trying stuff
basically and pick what works for you. If
you try a certain approach and it
doesn't work for you, then, you know, try
something else, don't give up. But yeah
just not the same thing is going to work
for everybody else and speaking of which,
Julia and Olivia I believe are both
doing kind of similar guides or intro
videos so I will link those down below
if those are already up. This video is
also in connection with our All the
World's a Page readathon which will be
happening in July, which we are all so so
excited about, so that's why I decided to
do this video now even though it's been
something I've been thinking about doing
for a while. So I have these tricks kind
of loosely grouped into categories and
the first one I'm gonna start with is
"before you read." So some things to
consider while you're kind of preparing
to read Shakespeare for the first time
or just getting back into his work for
the first time and also kind of how to
pick which play you want to start with.
I will mainly be talking about his
plays, although of course he also wrote
sonnets and narrative poems, but I will
be kind of focusing on his plays today.
So the first trick I have is kind of
self-explanatory - which probably several
of these will be - they seem kind of
obvious but I think they bear reminding
people of because I think there's a
tendency to treat Shakespeare as like...
as something that's almost like
separate from normal reading. And even
though I love Shakespeare and there are
a lot of things that are special about
his work, it's not like his work is so
different that you can't apply your
normal reading tastes and habits. So the
first trick I want to talk about is just
basically reading something that you
care about, like that you're interested
in. Like if you like stories with fairies
in them, read A Midsummer Night's Dream.
If you really like tragedies maybe
Hamlet would be a good one. If you like
comedy and banter and hate to love, Much
Ado [About Nothing] is a fantastic play to start with. So
this can--this trick can really vary a
lot depending on the person but
basically just pay attention to what you
enjoy
and pick a play accordingly. I know that
can be a little harder if you're not
familiar with Shakespeare because you
don't necessarily know which plays have
which elements, but there are guides out
there, or you could definitely ask
somebody you know who is like really
into Shakespeare, they would probably
have a recommendation for you. Like if
for example, if you hate tragic love
stories, maybe don't read Romeo and
Juliet as your first Shakespeare play.
And then as kind of a related trick,
I do have a couple of plays I think are
probably really good ones to start with,
although again this can vary between
people, but Much Ado About Nothing, in
addition to just being one of my
favorite Shakespeare plays, I really do
feel like it's a great place to start
because the characters are fantastic,
like the relationships and the dynamics
are so interesting, Beatrice and Benedick
have one of the greatest like banter,
hate-to-love relationships I have ever read,
they're kind of like the prototype for
me. There's also some great female
friendships in that play and even
though it is a comedy, there is some like
upsetting or kind of serious themes that
are dealt with and I think for the most
part those are done well - because it is a
comedy some of them are resolved in ways
that I don't personally enjoy, and I feel
like if we were telling this story today
things wouldn't turn out the way they
did, but overall I think it's a really
well-rounded play: the comedy aspects are
great, the relationships are great,
the characters, the humor is absolutely
fantastic - like Shakespeare's a very
clever writer and I feel like Much Ado is one of the plays that shows that
off the best. And like I said there are
definitely still high stakes in this
play as well so it definitely moves
pretty quickly. So I think that could be
a great one to start out with. And then
the other one is Macbeth. I feel like
that could also be a good one because
there's some really great like villains
or [morally] grey characters and it's also very
short, I think it's one of his shortest
plays. I actually know a lot of people
who this is one of their favorite
Shakespeare plays, so I just feel like
this one would be a great one to start
with if you really want something that
kind of examines morality, that has like
morally grey characters, and a lot of
plotting as well. Also there's a lot of
famous lines from this play so if that's
something you think is interesting
Macbeth would also be a great pick for
that. My next tip is to try a lot of
different things. So it might be that the
first play that you pick up is one that
you really enjoy and that kind of helps
you like grow in confidence as you get
used to reading Shakespeare, so that
would be great. But sometimes as with any
genre or any kind of book that we're
getting used to, sometimes the first
thing or the first couple of things we
try don't actually work out that well,
and so this is just kind of like the
perseverance *laughs* aspect, is I know it can be
frustrating, but Shakespeare wrote so
many different stories and so many
different kinds of stories that just
because you don't like one or two or
even three or more, that doesn't mean
that you can't find something of his
that you enjoy. Like that doesn't mean
that he's not for you; or I know some
people sometimes feel like they're not
like smart enough for Shakespeare or
educated enough, and that is absolutely
not the case. Like everybody is capable
of reading Shakespeare. I think there are
definitely advantages to having it taught
to you in a certain way - I didn't really
start loving Shakespeare until college
because I had some--like an amazing
professor which [experience] kind of continued my love
that had sort of sparked earlier, so
there are definitely things that can help
people I think be more interested or
more open, but if you're worried that
like you just won't be able to follow or
you won't be able to understand, I don't
think you should--I don't think you
should feel like that. There is an
adjustment period as with any very
different style of writing, but I don't
think it's insurmountable, and that's just something [the not smart enough comment], like I know a lot of
people are joking when they say it, but
it always makes me really sad when
people say that they're not smart enough
for Shakespeare because that's
absolutely not true. And then my final kind of
like "before you read" tip is to watch
some adaptations. And this one I kind of
recommend tentatively because in general,
like I read quite a few classics and in
general I recommend not spoiling
yourself for the entire story before
going in, but I think with Shakespeare,
getting used to hearing people speak
like that can really really help if the
writing style is kind of what's putting
you off with Shakespeare. And the great
thing about adaptations - obviously like
because theaters are still closed at the
time of filming this, this will probably
be like through film or something like
that - but whether you're watching a movie
or watching a live performance or
anything, if you have a good performer,
you will be able to follow what is
happening in the scene. You might not get
all of the details but because of the
actors' like tone and intonation and the
way that they're--the way that they're
reacting to other things, you'll be able
to pick up on like how characters feel
about each other, kind of the general
idea of the scene, you'll probably be
able to pick up on some of the jokes as
well; so I think watching adaptations or
watching even just part of an adaptation,
it can definitely get you kind of
situated in that older style of speech, but
again I would kind of caution you, don't
just like read the entire Wikipedia page
probably. I know it's tempting to just
want to know the whole story so that you
can feel confident you'll understand
what's going on, but I really do feel
like one of the exciting things about
classics is going into one and not
actually knowing what's going to happen -
like there's just something very special
about reading something that's like four
hundred years old and being surprised at
the ending. My next kind of category are
things to do "while you're reading" or
that are related to the actual...point
when you're actually reading a Shakespeare play, and the first one I have is
about choosing an edition that you like.
I mean if you're taking a class you'll
probably have like a textbook kind of
copy and those can be great, I know a lot
of people love the Folgers editions,
I think Pelican Shakespeare's another
one people like, so there's a lot of
different editions out there and it
depends on how much like effort you want
to put into finding a particular edition,
because I understand that's not *laughs* something
everybody would want to do! But if you do
really care about getting like the
perfect edition for you, like read some
reviews, kind of ask around, try to figure
out what the differences are with
editions, like maybe some of them have
more historical notes than others.
Basically this tip comes down to I think
the edition can sometimes make a
difference, especially if you're just
getting started out. And I would also
kind of mention, a lot of - I think
basically all - editions come with
footnotes where they explain [words or references], and
as you're reading I would maybe suggest
not getting too caught up in reading
every footnote or every like note in the
margin where they translate a
Shakespearean phrase or something.
I'm definitely not saying don't use those, I
think those are super helpful, but if
you're kind of getting really into the
flow of a scene or of a monologue or a
speech, maybe you don't need to go back
and check those until you get to the end
of the page, you know? If you're somebody
who can just read side notes and then
jump right back in, then that's great, go
ahead and do that; I personally have
always found it kind of difficult to
like jump back in without losing the
flow of the story if I get too caught up
on the footnotes - I have that tendency so
I'm just mentioning that in case other
people have a similar thing. So again
this is one of those tips where it's like do
whatever works for you: if you're
somebody who likes to have every single
footnote at the second that you read it,
then do that; if you're somebody like me
who feels like it kind of detracts from
the flow of the story, maybe come back to them at the end [of the page or section]. But yeah just basically
do what works and I think especially as
you read more Shakespeare you'll find
more and more that you don't actually
need to rely on those translations as
much. Another great resource that I
highly recommend for beginners...or
actually intermediate or advanced! is No
Fear Shakespeare, which is online, I don't
know if you can actually get it
physically [you can!] but it's an online resource
and what they do is they have the
original text of Shakespeare on one side
of the screen and then right next to it
they have translated it into modern
English, and I think that is such a
useful tool. This is something I also
would recommend using kind of sparingly, um,
basically just use it to check yourself,
like if you feel like you're at a
pivotal moment in the play and you're
not quite sure you're picking up on all of
the nuance, then go to No Fear
Shakespeare. I have definitely used it
for like monologue work and things
before because it's really great for
making sure you know
every single detail of a particular
scene; but don't go overboard with it
because I think Shakespeare is one of
those things where people understand it
a lot better than they think. As you're
reading and especially as you continue
to read Shakespeare I think you will
definitely understand what is going on a
lot better than maybe you expected or
even than you think. Like it might feel
like you're missing a lot of stuff but
especially if you go back and check
yourself I think you're probably going
to realize that you actually were better
at it than you thought - at least that has
definitely been my experience when I was
starting out with Shakespeare. Another
tip that can be useful and also just
kind of fun is to read out certain
sections out loud, like if you're having
trouble with a speech or you can't
figure out the rhythm or what it means
or anything, try reading it out loud
because, you know, Shakespeare was
intended to be heard, they were--
they were actually written as plays to
be performed and viewed rather than read - even though I love reading them as well!
So sometimes being able to actually
listen to it as you speak it, that can
sometimes be what clicks and what makes
you finally understand the passage that
you're reading. And my last tip in this
category is to take notes if you have to.
Again this is one of those that sounds
very basic, but don't be afraid to do it
in a funny way or in a way that is
helpful to you but that other people might
not understand. There are quite a few
like note sources out there for
Shakespeare, so you know you can
definitely check out one of the ones
that other people have created, but as
you're reading if you need to make like
a family tree or if you need to look up
a family tree - I know I had a page open
on Wikipedia when I was reading
Richard III because *laughs* I could not
keep--I could not keep straight the
different characters in that play! So if
you need to pull up other people's
resources, if you need to use sticky tabs,
if you need to like come up with funny
nicknames for characters so you remember
who is who, just basically do whatever
you have to do as you read; although this
is another one where don't get so
caught up in note-taking that you kind
of lose the flow of the play. And then
finally my last few tricks are just
basically come under the heading of "fun" or
just "find ways to make it fun for you", to
get excited about reading Shakespeare
rather than seeing it as an assignment
or an obligation. Like I don't know if
you guys follow SparkNotes on Twitter
but they have some amazing literature
memes, quite a few of them are
Shakespeare-related, and it seems like a
silly thing to recommend but honestly I
feel like one of the ways to enjoy
Shakespeare is to realize that--that it's
a story to get excited about like
anything else that we do here in book
blogging land. *laughs* Like there's fanfiction,
there's memes, there are Shakespeare
retellings - which again check out All
the World's a Page because we're very
excited about that! -
like there are lots of ways that you can
kind of apply modern enjoyment to
Shakespeare that I think adds like an
extra dimension of fun. Like basically
don't treat Shakespeare as
something that's like so special and so
sacred that you can never like joke
about it or like do something silly with
it because that's not true, and also I
don't think Shakespeare would have even
liked that. His writing was hilarious
and he probably would have thought it
was weird that we were treating it like
it was something untouchable that you
could never laugh at it. Another
suggestion is consider reading it with a
buddy; if you want to do like a
structured buddy read or if you even
just like have a friend who enjoys
Shakespeare and you kind of want to talk
to them about the play as you're reading it,
that can also be another fun thing to do.
And then my last kind of like "for fun"
suggestion *laughs* is just related to
something I mentioned earlier, which is
that Shakespeare was--like his writing is
very funny; even the plays that are not
comedies have a lot of humor, a lot of
wordplay, and just something to remember
*laughs* about his plays is I think like the way that
they're taught in schools a lot of times,
the teachers kind of gloss over the
funny or the dirty parts, and I just want
you guys to know (this will also help you
understand the plays better): if it sounds
dirty, it probably is. Like Shakespeare
loved his dick jokes, he loved his puns
and plays on words, which again were
often also very dirty. A lot of the
references in his plays were jokes, many
of which were inappropriate *laughs*, and I feel
like that's something that's important
to know because for one thing it helps
make the plays make more sense, and it
also kind of makes them more fun to read
because you're acknowledging that
there's humor in them. Okay everybody, so
those are some of my tips and tricks for
getting into Shakespeare and to being
just a little less intimidated when
starting [or continuing] to read his work. Like I said at
the beginning, the most important
takeaway from this video is use what
works for you and don't worry about the
rest, but hopefully some of these were a
good starting point for you guys. Please
comment down below and let me know if
you're going to try any of these tricks,
or if any of these have worked for you,
or if you have different suggestions of
things that have worked for you. And also
let me know if you're going to join us
for All the World's a Page which is
happening in July, we are all so excited
and we would love to have people join us.
Thank you guys so much for watching, I
will see you soon with another video, and
I hope you love the next book you read. Bye!
