# That's IT, I give up! Shakespeare - you suck

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-it-i-give-up-shakespeare-you-suck/467454>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 11, 2008, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-it-i-give-up-shakespeare-you-suck/467454 "2008-10-11T10:43:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-it-i-give-up-shakespeare-you-suck/467454/101 "2008-10-21T06:09:35Z")

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back in high school I used these. They were great:

[Shakespeare Made Easy books by Alan Durband each have the complete original text laid out side-by-side with a full modern English translation.](http://www.shakespearemadeeasy.com/)

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**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-it-i-give-up-shakespeare-you-suck/467454/102 "2008-10-22T13:52:59Z")

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> [@rowrrbazzle](#):
>
> Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare is highly recommended [post=4632072]here[/post].
> 
> He is a great explainer. If this doesn’t do it, nothing will.

Seconded. Out of print, but you can probably find used copies on line. (Mine burned up; think I’ll try and replace it.)

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-it-i-give-up-shakespeare-you-suck/467454/103 "2008-10-23T17:50:09Z")

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"‘I don’t see why they give us this old-fashioned junk by Milton and Shakespeare and Wordsworth and all these has-beens,’ [Babbit’s son, Ted] protested. 'Oh, I guess I could stand it to see a show by Shakespeare, if they had swell scenery and put on a lot of dog, but to sit down in cold blood and _read_ ‘em – These teachers – how do they get that way?’

“Mrs. Babbitt, darning socks, speculated, ‘Yes, I wonder why. Of course I don’t want to fly in the face of the professors and everybody, but I do think there’s things in Shakespeare – not that I read him much, but when I was young the girls used to show me passages that weren’t, really, they weren’t at all nice’.”

– _Babbitt_, by Sinclair Lewis

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**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-it-i-give-up-shakespeare-you-suck/467454/104 "2008-10-23T22:58:51Z")

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I think this is the best version of Hamlet ever filmed.😃

[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cNN5zwEcXM)

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