In my experience as an English/teaching major, a writer, and an actor/director of school plays, I've had to work with Shakespeare on various occasions, and you know, I sort of have to agree with you a little bit on that, Becca. His work is definitely overrated. I haven't read everything he's done, so I can't comment on all of it, but although some of it is brilliant, others fall short.
Hamlet is easily my favorite of his works. That's one that I respect a lot. There are some things that I feel could be tweaked, but then again, every writer has their faults. Hamlet is a difficult read, and its sort of along the lines of the film "2001: A Space Odyssey" - its a bitch to get through, and you might not appreciate it the first time around, but if you study it a little bit and watch it again, it almost instantly earns great respect. I often quote some of the better lines in Hamlet, such as "Get thee to a nunnery", or the classic "To be or not to be, that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind...." (not gonna write the entire soliloquy out lol). "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio. A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy" is a line that most people don't understand, but if you look it up, it essentially means "Oh crap, poor Yorick. I used to know him, Horatio. He was a good guy...really funny." The line "Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables." is saying "The wedding was practically scheduled so soon after the funeral that they could serve the same leftovers." Plus if you're a fan of The Lion King, you owe Hamlet, as TLK is basically a reinterpretation of Hamlet.
Back when I was a senior in high school, I was Claudio in our production of Much Ado About Nothing. Brutal as an actor to break through the barrier of his dialogue at first, but once you crack the code, it was hilarious. I mean, in all honesty, I had jokes about erections in some of my lines lol. "If he be not in love with some woman, there is no believing old signs" = "If he doesn't like her, why's he got a boner?" Crude, but funny lol. Many kids had difficulty getting through the play and understanding what their characters were doing as they didn't do the research to look up what the lines actually meant.
When I graduated, I came back for the next two years to be the assistant director of the plays. The first year, we did The Crucible, but the second year, we did A Midsummer Night's Dream. Again, the kids had trouble with it. Not exactly the most wonderful play out there, I agree Bec. But again, new life is brought into it if you can look at it in a more modern context.
Romeo and Juliet I found hard to get through, but the story itself is wonderful. Macbeth, not too big of a fan of it, but I've read worse things out there. Othello I thought was pretty decent, but I was rooting for Iago actually haha.
Shakespeare is overrated in the way that the Beatles, Elvis, the film Gone with the Wind, and all other classics are: people consider them perfect because they're old and easily recognizable. The toughest thing with Shakespeare is to get past the language, just like its rather difficult to appreciate a fantastic older film like "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" due to its cheap special effects, black and white grainy picture, and older atmosphere. But if you can jump over the hurdles, there are definitely many things to be a fan of. What's difficult is that too many people can't get over those hurdles (myself included with a lot of Shakespeare things and older films that push it to the extreme) but on the opposite end of the spectrum, too many people refuse to take an objective stance and truthfully rate something. Its a bit of a travesty when people dislike Shakespeare just because it isn't something they're familiar with (not saying you do, though, Becca, he might just not be your cup of tea) but its equally a travesty when people automatically think just because something is labeled a "classic" that its immune to criticism.
Jeez...the English dork in me came out haha.
