So I'm going to assume here that everyone reading this blog knows who I am, but if you don't know me, congratulations for coming across one of the loneliest blogs on the internet, and just read the rest of this post knowing that I might possibly want to major in English if I ever get in to college. Therefore, the title of this post is probably confusing your brain, too.
How can an English major not appreciate and love the works of Shakespeare?? It's a very good question indeed, but one that is entirely answerable (I think). So let me first make a minor correction to the title. This post should actually be called "Why reading Shakespeare confuses my brain." Technically the entire title should also be capitalized, but I'm lazy.
When I first started reading Hamlet, I thought I had lost my marbles, and had to read something else to make sure I hadn't completely forgotten the language of English. It also happened to be at the same time that I thought I had a concussion because of a bump in the head at work, but it turns out I'm just not good at concentrating on things in general. Yes, I appreciate Shakespeare's wondrous ability to play with words and his sense of humor... No, I do not appreciate how hard it is to imagine what's going on in Shakespeare's plays with no visual context. Other than the occasional painting or photograph on the left side of the book, there's nothing but dialogue telling the reader what's really going on. (Also, thank you so much, Folger Shakespeare Library, for showing me what a sword looks like. I would've been completely lost and clueless without your help...) Even reading it in screenplay format would've been easier! An occasional "(sarcastically)" or "(angrily)" would definitely clear up some confusion.
But what's that in the distance? It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a film version of Hamlet, come to save the day! The Royal Shakespeare Company really did a fine job with this one, even if every time anything comes out of Hamlet's mouth, all I can think of is Barty Crouch Jr., and having the same man play Claudius and the Ghost is complicated enough without Professor X in there. Anyway, it's a fantastic production, with weird camera angles (even a security camera perspective once in a while), classy and contemporary costumes, and above all, great acting. Oliver Ford Davies, who plays Polonius, does a fantastic job playing the clueless father who rambles on and on in such an endearingly humorous way.
And see, that's just the point of acting out Shakespeare's plays! I'm no actress, so it's a little hard for me to simply walk around my bedroom floor, reading a paragraph and interpreting it through acting. I usually end up making random hand motions, forget to process the words in my brain, then get frustrated. It's not pretty. There's also the read-it-out-loud-in-class method, but sometimes it's not fun to find out that you're not the worst actor in the room. Awkward...
Do you see now why I dislike reading Shakespeare? Allow me to reiterate: There's a reason why Shakespeare wrote his plays... as plays... They are to be acted, or at least spoken with some dramatic impact. Call me dumb, but I cannot get any of that through my thick skull without some help. I need a little more than a picture of a sword to understand the inner workings of these plays (notice how I didn't call them books?).
I'll run away before I'm trampled by smart people who can read and understand Shakespeare without movies... Meh.
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