Reading Shakespeare isn’t for everyone. Even some English teachers have argued that Shakespeare should be cut from the curriculum for a variety of reasons, including that it’s just plain hard. It can be as tough as reading a foreign language. As someone who’s had to defend Shakespeare against this argument (mostly recently with my plumber) I always say, stick with it. Understanding Shakespeare is a process. You’re not going to check it off your bucket list in an afternoon–at least not if comprehension is your goal. And if you’re really committed to understanding Shakespeare, let an expert help translate it into a language you can comprehend.
Here’s the advice I gave my recently retired plumber
1. First, select a category of Shakespearean drama. If you love a happy ending, pick a comedy (not from the list of problem plays). If you’re an English-history buff, try one of the histories. The tragedies have history too of the Roman variety. The tragedies also have romance, intrigue, and backstabbing (literal backstabbing as well as metaphorical). Decide what you’re up for to narrow down your options.
2. Next, pick a play you think you’ll like from within your selected category. Read the blurbs, the dust covers, the Wikipedia plot summaries, and homework help websites. Knowing what you’re getting into is always a good starting point. And picking a play to read is just like selecting any other book. You probably don’t blindly pluck a book off the shelf because someone told you that you should. Go through whatever selection criteria you typically use to pick a book from a recommended author.TIP: Pick a play that has a movie version available or that’s coming soon to a theater near you. A quick search on IMBD can tell you what’s on streaming video.
3. Then, buy a scholarly edition. Get one with scene summaries and footnotes. Nobody–I mean nobody–reads Shakespeare without help. Even the experts double check the scene summaries and reread the editor’s notes. These notes are there to translate words, lines, and entire scenes.
4. Read the play.
5. Watch the movie.
6. Read the play (again).
7. Rinse and repeat steps 5-6 until you’ve really got it.
Theater is meant to be a visual medium. Reading is too, but in a very different way. When reading, you translate the words on the page into images in your head. But when the language is written in late 16th century verse, your brain is already translating it from Renaissance English to contemporary English or American-English which can be like a whole n’other language.
Which is why it’s not cheating to let the experts do the translating for you.
Visualizing Shakespeare 