HOW CAN I GET INTO SHAKESPEARE? 3 tips for beginning Shakespeare

[@skeletalmarionette]

I love you and your channel! Thank you for these excellent videos. Keep them coming!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

And I love you too Wicked Child!😁 thank you for being so supportive and wonderful.

[@gaylep4404]

Starting my journey with Shakespeare by watching this video

[@CarlosSainz-fm8wy]

How is it going cause I wanna get started tooooo

[@bryanmelton5538]

Me too

[@jennyaldridge4186]

This popped up in my KZbin notifications yesterday, 2 years late but hey ho. It was a great reminder for me to pick up my complete works of Shakespeare again and push on with Macbeth. I find the more I read Shakespeare the better he gets. There’s so much to reflect on if you take time to analyse each play. There’s always something new in each reread and so many options for staging the plays. We are so lucky to have access to online videos of the plays with amazing actors which are mostly free to watch.

[@faithharbour]

I love this passion you exude. (Btw “wherefore” means “why”, not “where”, she’s asking why he has to have that name because it means he’s a Montague. This changes the reading of the beginning of the scene. She isn’t looking for him :) )

[@kengillespie7797]

I was going to say the same thing!

[@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD]

Wow!! You've convinced me to give Shakespeare a try again. I haven't read any since high school!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

That's incredible Penny! You've made my day ❤ I have a whole playlist called Shakespeare Explained if it helps.😃👍

[@goodlookinouthomie1757]

I have just got into Shakespeare in the last few weeks after school curriculum pute off him for the last 30 years. Started with King Lear, then Much Ado about Nothing, now I'm onto Othello. My method was to listen to the plays multiple times. Each time you will build a clearer idea of the plot and as passages and phrases are repeated you imbibe their meaning. I have the luxury of being able to listen to audiobooks all day long while I'm at work.

[@larrymarshall9454]

These are certainly problems for those coming to Shakespeare but there's another that aren't obvious to people who are wide-read. It is that most people walking around in the 21st Century have never read plays. They're used to "he said" following spoken word. Unspoken descriptions, in contrast are 1)more complete than in plays, and 2) are easy to identify because they're not surrounded by quotes. I LOVE reading Shakespeare but much of my early confusion came from ME not carefully reading the names of who was talking. That may seem silly to you but the skill of reading/imagining plays is a skill that must be learned. Love your channel.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

That's a really good point. Thanks for addressing it. 😀

[@PoiemaLee]

What an excellent encouragement! Thank you.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

So pleased that you found it helpful Terri. Thanks for the encouragement 🙏

[@doug764]

Well done-the journey begins.

[@tamaragrottker7677]

We had to read Shakespeare plays throughout high school. I wasn't totally turned off. But, then I got to study the history of English literature in the summer of my last year of high school. We got to go to the Old Vic where we saw a production of A Midsummers Night Dream. It changed my whole relationship with this literature. I could not believe I was actually laughing! It was the best experience of my life!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

That's amazing. Seeing Shakespeare performed is something else. I once watched macbeth performed in the ruins of an old castle. It was so atmospheric.

[@daydream1066]

I can't wait to reread the plays I am doing my first read now. I did reread "Romeo and Juliet" and when I read it in high school I hated it. But now on rereading I LOVE it! Such a guilty pleasure read for me because of how campy it is! Also read it with romantic music playing in the background! :)

[@kandywestmoreland5164]

Tristan, you are the best. I love your channel. I’ve resisted Shakespeare for years and now I want to jump in. You’ve encouraged me. Thank you. I’ve been reading the sonnets before I go to bed. 🥰

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Aww thank you Kandy. You are the best 😃 pleased you are diving into Shakespeare. Don't let any difficulties put you off. It gets easier and you get to bask in the most beautiful language. I'm currently putting together a course on Romeo and Juliet.

[@yuriybesarab11]

Thanks aplenty for “Shakespeare gives us inwardness”! Great video!

[@AnLi84]

Tristan I love your enthusiam for literature and I feel so understood. I wanna read more Shakespeare again and this video makes me really wanna do it right now! Thank you!

[@ss9889]

Tristan, such a great video. Thanks for sharing! You insight is very helpful for me to continue to read and understand Shakespeare! Totally agree that Shakespear is the best and unique literature all about human nature and ourselves!

[@mikedl1105]

The Folger Shakespeare Library helps me. It's got good footnotes and summaries

[@rhys3922]

I am so glad I randomly found this video. Absolutely fantastic.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

So pleased to randomly make your acquaintance. 😀❤️

[@troytradup]

Hm. I posted last night, but apparently KZbin didn't like something I said. I'll try a repeat of the core message: I've had a lot of luck tutoring Shakespeare-resistance people with Folger Shakespeare Library editions. They provide a nice little synopsis of each scene before you read it, and offer copious notes on the facing page of every page, so you don't ever have to hunt for a meaning. Excellent books to help with both plot and language comprehension.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

That's brilliant Triy. Thanks for the recommendation. I've not checked the Folger editions. I like the RSC editions a lot.

[@HowVeryNovel]

Great video! Although I do admire and appreciate Shakespeare, I don't think I've ever read his works without it being in the context of analysis and therefore stopping and starting. I've never read them just for the sake of enjoyment or entertainment. Some really valuable tips here, and your Shakespeare passion is contagious!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Funny isn't it that we the greatest works of literature continually in a way that they were not meant to be read 😉 I discovered Shakespeare when I was 11 and loved it. It was when we read it in high school that it was stripped of all its fun. I had a good teacher too but they failed to just let us read it as a play, which disappointed me. We studied MacBeth for 2 years in this way and, when I sat my examination, I wilfully chose to take the paper on Hamlet (which we never looked at in school) instead of MacBeth, just to make a point. Most enjoyable exam it was too. It took me years to like MacBeth again.😅👍

[@ganesankalimuthu7122]

@@tristanandtheclassics6538 very good an open minded confession, you are great

[@taaptee]

Oh you make me cry. So wonderful. I was searching for these introductory sort of videos all over just a month ago when I decided to pick up my first by him, Macbeth. I'm excited and so deeply grateful for what you've come up with and will continue to!!! The Romeo & Juliet explanatory segment was lovely, I wish I could just come over anytime and talk literature with you, haha. Thank you 💚

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thank you Tee!!! It's good to hear from you again. Love that you're getting into Shakespeare. The effort is immeasurably worth it. Macbeth, you say?! What an amazing play It's written at a time that Shakespeare has become so familiar with his abilities that he is producing works which precede psychological discoveries that were only recognized 2 centuries later. If you need any help at any point, message me. Also, I am releasing an hour long Shakespeare lesson on my channel in the next couple of hours. It might be beneficial.

[@taaptee]

@@tristanandtheclassics6538 Yes, I'm halfway through your next video and it is wonderful of course! I'm only past Act 2 of Macbeth but it is already one of the best things I've ever read. Thank you for your help and your time.

[@fangirl1981]

I've been watching adaptations, mostly on Brit Box (I'm in the us) and also reading the No Fear Shakespeare books that give you the original text on one page and a "modern translation" on the opposite side.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

The full modern translation is ever so useful. I use that in moderation so as not to lose the rhythm, verse and power of the original. But it is such a great tool to have in the kit.

[@KasiaSzatkowska]

English is not my first language, so I hardly had any Shakespeare in school (perhaps for the better of it). However there are some popular expressions in my language, that come straight from the translations of Shakespeare's plays and it's hard not to acknowledge his input in European culture as a whole. I recently got pulled to Shakespeare and found (by reading original and translations side by side) how inaccurate the translations are. My question is: how would you approach the Bard in another language than English? Would you recommend reading it in translation or rather prepare for a hard battle and take it on in English, because the rewards are higher? And another one: you yourself once mentioned that Tolstoy did not like Shakespeare. I also have read somewhere that Tolkien disliked him strongly (as much as to "correcting" Macbeth in LOTR). How would you address those dislikes? Actually I am quite on board with Tolkien saying that Shakespeare was too constrained by the the physicality of theater of his times (like the forest marching forth was simply non-doable), and that actually made his writing poorer than it could have been, had the possibilities were limited by imagination only. I obviously quite get that what Shakespeare was actually after was human condition and examining of human feelings and dispositions, rather than the story (fantastical story, let's say) itself. But.. well :-) How would you comment on Tolkien's or Tolstoy's or any other's dislike of Shakespeare? Thank you for your magnificent content and for your smile, that is rather infectious :-)

[@bryanmelton5538]

I like Shakespeare but i have a hard understanding this helps a lot

[@ralphjenkins1507]

Grâce à toi, I'm attempting to read the complete works of the Bard in 2023. Just finished the amazingly remarkable Hamlet. Last night, I started my sojourn with the tragic couple, viz., Romeo and Juliet.

[@ralphjenkins1507]

You rock!!

[@dorothysatterfield3699]

Hi, Tristan. I just discovered your channel two days ago and I've been avidly sampling your back-catalog of wonderful videos ever since. I've been learning a lot, especially about great books by non-English-speaking authors. And your lesson on iambic pentameter was simply marvelous. You're an inspiring teacher, but even the most inspiring and knowledgeable of teachers gets something wrong now and then, so I hope you won't mind my pointing out an error in your reading of Juliet's balcony speech. Many, many people make the same mistake. When Juliet says, "Wherefore art thou Romeo?", she's not saying "Where are you, Romeo?". She's saying "WHY are you Romeo?". In other words, she's asking why he has to be Romeo, a scion of the Montague family, an enemy of the Capulets. So "wherefore" has pretty much the same meaning as "what for," or "for what reason." And now the following lines ("Deny thy father and refuse thy name . . . .") make more sense as follow-ups to that introductory question. Thank you again, Tristan, for your eye-opening videos. You have at least one fan in Wilmington, Delaware.

[@muhlenstedt]

I love your videos and I love the idea of being able to go deeper into Shakespeare´s works with your guidance. Normally I try to find a two language version of the plays ( german-english), but many times I just read the english one for the pleasure of the language...so beautiful, I do not mind to understand everything, the language alone makes me feel like under magic. Thank you very much, your channel is a real treasure !

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Hiya Muhlenstedt!!! So good to hear from you. I hope you are well. Like you I love to let the rhythm of the language just wash over me.

[@althompson3085]

I really like your physical background in this presentation.

[@carolynwestlake7670]

Hurray! I recognised the iambic pentameter when you were speaking! Progress! I didn’t know what it was till I watched another video of yours yesterday😊😊

[@RudiRaubenheimer]

Fantastic content, thanks.

[@denisehall5145]

Thank you.

[@christbianchi]

Excellent video Tristan! Completely agree with you! Julius Ceasar is what got me into Shakespeare!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thank you Chris. How marvellous, Julius Caesar was my first Shakespeare too!

[@knittingbooksetc.2810]

I have the complete works of WS on audio. I read the play while listening. They’re actors performing. It’s such a great experience.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

That's just the perfect way to read them! My problem is that I close my eyes and fall into the performance and before I know it I am asleep 😴🤣🤣🤣

[@sylviabowersox1114]

You are amazing! Thank you....

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thank you Sylvia. I think you're amazing too.❤

[@zorankolar2083]

Keep up the great videos my man, love the enthusiasm. I do think that one of these days I'll give old William a go

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Well, that is splendid news, Zoran. Let me know when you take the dive into his works. Do any plays particularly appeal to you?

[@zorankolar2083]

The one that I have on the shelf waiting for me is a midsummer night's dream, so that will be the ice breaker

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

@@zorankolar2083 Great choice.

[@938quilt]

I wish my teachers back in the day had taught like you. I only had 1 that bothered to explain anything that was going on and even that just this 30 min video would've been better

[@stephencharlton2024]

Excellent … your posts keep getting better and better

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thank you Stephen. Your praise means a good deal.😃👍

[@charmainesaliba5546]

I have never read anything by Shakespeare even though I have a couple of his plays. I feel very intimidating by him. Your tips are helpful and I will give his work a try. Thanks so much Tristan for sharing this video and for all your work really appreciate it ☺️

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Hey Charmaine! I appreciate being intimidated by Shakespeare. He can feel a little unusual to begin with. But there is simply such a large reward in getting into his plays. The splendour of his lines are soul moving. You may find following along with some of my Shakespeare videos helpful.😃👍

[@charmainesaliba5546]

@@tristanandtheclassics6538 I will definitely follow your videos for help thanks Tristan ☺️

[@ralphjenkins1507]

You're the best!

[@ShelbyLovesShakespeare]

Great video Tristan!! LOVE the idea of Shakespeare giving us “inwardness” …wow 😌✨And I’m going to be covering that Juliet speech this month 😍 We hath synced again!! Thanks for sharing the joy of Shakespeare ❤️ Can’t wait for Richard II next week!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Oh goody. Can't wait to see what you do with Juliet. How serendipitous!😃

[@Marladeboy]

❤❤❤❤❤ thank you so much❤

[@davidmokoena]

Wow!

[@susprime7018]

You may not always understand everything such as "strained," instead of "forced," but you will get the gist of it. It is true that it is easier to understand with a good director (teacher), such as Tristan, prithee goode Master.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Verily you speaketh much that is sense. Tis not uncommon one doth strike against a word which meaneth something much different in our new fangled tongue. Then doth one come a cropper.😅

[@adrienne4028]

Excellent presentation! I have watched and enjoyed all your videos. I subscribed after viewing the first one. I will continue to watch all the wonderful content on your channel. 😄

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thank you so so much Adrienne, that was such a lovely comment to recieve. I'm genuinely touched. I hope that you find a large diamond or bar of gold in your garden. You deserve it for being so wonderful☺

[@audreydimbleby8774]

Thank you Tristan for another great video. I throughly enjoyed it. I am so looking forward to the upcoming videos you mentioned today. I always share your videos - particularly those on Shakespeare's work. I find those videos where you single out extracts from his work and provide interpreptation and understanding particularly useful. Do keep them coming. Your efforts are very much appreciated.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thank you Audrey for your continued encouragement. And thank you for sharing my videos with others. You are a pearl of high value. 😃👍

[@carolynwestlake7670]

Check out the 2004 Merchant of Venice film with Al Pacino. Fabulous!

[@PhantomAlucard]

Thanks!

[@hpfanify]

You are doing such a great service to people having interest in literature! Thank you so much. I love your videos and find them very informative and useful. Please continue doing this great work. Wishing that you hit 100k subscribers soon! Love from India❤❤❤

[@Bizzle101ify]

I really enjoy your passion, that alone earned my sub

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thank you so much. Shakespeare is worth getting passionate over😁👍

[@michaelhurley3171]

I recently saw Kenneth Branaugh Shakespeare Hamlet. It was so violent and bloody I think a Quentin Tarantino version would be great. I really think he should do it with his kind of screenplay!

[@mariamurmis4915]

So happy to have discovered your channel. Do you have Shakespeare reading groups?

[@SteveFollansbee]

What's in a name? Without good name a man is merely guilded loam or painted clay. Good name is the immediate jewel of a person's soul. Romeo and Juliet are guided by the force of their will rather than reason. Reason should not pander to will.

[@yoongforever]

This is so helpfull thank you

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tommonk7651]

Tristan, I love your videos. I have watched many of them. But man, please get a mic. LOL The volume is very low. Beautifully explained, by the way....

[@elishevabarenbaum5319]

I really liked the video. What I would like in a course is Shakespeare as seen in his time. Was he considered exceptional then?

[@johnwheeler4034]

Tristan: could you or someone write the hyperlink summaries or at least the times where each tip starts on the vid. Thx

[@debraparker971]

Tristan, can you tell us what book you are reading from for Shakespeare's works?

[@andreasneumann-pw1zw]

Sometimes the German word order is closer to Shakespeare then that of the English one.

[@yuanjiang4808]

If you wear in a much more casual way, it will be much better! You looks like a lecturer now

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thanks for the feedback Yuan. I had just come back from a meeting and had only had a short amount of time to record before going to another meeting.😃👍

[@donnanobel514]

Isn't Juliett standing at a window?

[@GreggMikulla]

I love Shakespeare, but I would not recommend him to anyone without a deep knowledge of literature. Theme and symbolism run deeper in his works than the sum total of feet that any two gravediggers have ever dug: you have to know Ovid, all the Greeks and all their tragedies, you have to be a Biblical scholar, if not at least an expert, every epic poem, every Arthurian legend, every European folktale...really, it's much too heavy a burden for those seeking enjoyment.

[@July4.1776]

Your shirt hurts my brain