# Favorite Shakespeare? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925 "2005-05-08T15:30:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/21 "2005-05-10T16:37:39Z")
_West Side Story_ ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/22 "2005-05-10T16:39:32Z")
_A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew,_ and _Much Ado About Nothing_, in that order. Yeah, I like the comedies, so what? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/23 "2005-05-10T17:08:56Z")
_Measure for Measure_ is (IMHO) an underappreciated gem–really, one of the first “modern” dramas ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/24 "2005-05-10T17:24:06Z")
Hamlet and Twelfth Night, I’d say. I’ve never read Henry V but I loved the movie. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/25 "2005-05-10T17:39:22Z")
My favorite is _Measure for Measure_, followed closely by _Much Ado About Nothing_. I love the Kenneth Branagh/Emma Thompson version, too. I was so sad when the actors divorced; it was like Beatrice and Benedick splitting up! My love for _Measure for Measure_ is due in part to a monologue from a different play called _The Girlhood of Shakespeare’s Heroines_ by Don Nigro, and also to the amazing and beautiful production I saw at Stratford-upon-Avon. I think part of why I like _Measure_ is that it’s not necessarily an easy play, especially at the end. It leaves you thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/26 "2005-05-10T18:48:53Z")
> [@Panzram](#): > > What’s your favorite Shakespeare? I’m going to say - William. 😃 Someone had to say it. Seriously - Lear and Henry 4th Pt. 1. ---
**Author:** ![wampeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@wampeter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wampeter)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/27 "2005-05-10T23:24:55Z")
As You Like It Oh Rosalind, I love you so! (and I’m a heterosexual chick!) ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/28 "2005-05-10T23:34:00Z")
Probably King Lear or The Tempest. A while back I would have said, “I love them all!” but recently saw a production of As You Like It that, literally, put me to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/29 "2005-05-11T13:17:48Z")
For me, **Macbeth** fro the serious plays and **The Tempest** from the comedies. I love them both, and have seen them performed (and performed in them). I’m not really that fond of Hamlet, despite its general popularity. Must be the supernatural elements of Macbeth and The Tempest that appeal to me (and the link to Forbidden Planet). ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/30 "2005-05-11T14:12:45Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > _Titus Andronicus_. Shakespeare’s chainsaw movie Me, too! I love it because it’s a great picture of what Elizabethan tastes in theater were-- bloody, greusome, full of revenge, murder and mayhem. Didja ever see the Anthony Hopkins film version? It’s the film I recommend for those who think that Shakespear is prim and boring and high-brow. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/31 "2005-05-11T16:04:51Z")
My favorite, reading: _Much Ado About Nothing_. I loves me some screwball comedy, even a few centuries too early. The best Shakespeare production I’ve seen: _Troilus and Cressida_ done in Stratford almost 20 years ago, with Ralph Fiennes and Amanda Root in the title roles long before I saw them in any movies. Great, great, great theater in the round with a truly malevolent Achilles and production design heavily influenced by WWII iconography. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/32 "2005-05-11T19:57:03Z")
> [@N. Sane](#): > > A Midsummer Night’s Dream > > I’ve got the hots for Oberon, and adore Puck. Dang, **jimpatro** beat me to it. I also have played Oberon, opposite a very pleasantly slutty Titania. Sigh. Good times. Was also Signoir Leonato in _Much Ado About Nothing_. Yes, my directors enjoyed the comedies. As to the OP: Overall favorite is _Midsummer Night’s Dream_. Performing it in a larger role really required delving into the meat a bit more than a casual read (not to mention memorization). It’s just a fun, thoroughly hectic trio of tales crammed into one. Since I already said comedy, I’ll with with the predictable answer of _Hamlet_ for favorite tragedy. It’s the one that I’ve read the most, as three or four classes between middle school and college required it, and one of the times I had to lead a class discussion on it. Once again, that means digging deeper than just a read or performance attendance. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/33 "2005-05-11T20:00:23Z")
My favourites are _Twelfth Night_, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_ (classic!), _Much Ado About Nothing_, _Henry IV_, part 2, and _Henry V_, _Romeo and Juliet_, _Hamlet_, _King Lear_, _Macbeth_, _Julius Caesar_, _The Winter’s Tale_ and _The Tempest_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925/34 "2005-05-11T22:20:25Z")
My favorite is definitely _The Tempest_. Storms, magic, monsters, spirits, and True Love at First Sight. What’s not to love? Plus I’ve always appreciated the character archetype of the meddling matchmaking parent. Next up, probably the Scottish play. Truly great, murder, mayhem, and magic, with a curse on its name just to keep things interesting. This is probably largely influenced by the very well-done performance I saw of it some years back. And an honorable mention to _King Lear_. I recognize how great it is, but I’ve only ever read it, not watched it, so it’s hard to have a full appreciation for it. I’m firmly in the camp that Shakespeare was meant to be watched, and feel no disdain for those like **Cliffy** who’ve seen a movie but not read it: Reading the plays is for those you haven’t had a chance to watch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-shakespeare/302925.md?page=1)