# The best Shakespeare play **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620 "2010-12-10T03:09:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/41 "2010-12-12T11:22:09Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > … and Romeo is really a lot more of a bastard than I remember him being. > … Kills Paris, but does that make modern adaptions? Nooo. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/42 "2010-12-12T11:23:31Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Mine too, hands down. Brilliant movie. I love the swing band rendition of “Come Live with Me and Be My Love” opening the film instead of jumping right into the “winter of our discontent” speech. Marlowe btw, which is a twist with intrigue. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/43 "2010-12-12T11:33:43Z")
_Coriolanus_ belongs on the list. Falstaff is the king of characters in a democratic world and that is a big thing. Hamlet in a monarchy. Lear, Prospero, Romeo Juliet, Cleopatra, Othello, the suite of comedies, all very grave & good choices. Macbeth has nudity. ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/44 "2010-12-12T13:51:04Z")
There are so many greats, but **King Henry IV Part II** is the greatest. My oldest son is named Henry, and we call him Prince Hal. Not a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/45 "2010-12-12T23:14:03Z")
I can’t say I’m very familiar with all of them. I’ve studied a handful in depth for English classes (mostly the tragedies), read others (or translations of varying qualities) for research papers, and have seen a couple stage versions of Macbeth. Of the ones I’ve spent a semester on, I think I liked Macbeth the best. Lots of bloody action. We also did Hamlet in twelth grade, and Romeo and Juliet in ninth grade. Actually, the R&J one was from a translated book that appenrly was also censored- I was quite suprised when reading the original to discover all those filthy jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/46 "2010-12-13T01:59:48Z")
Had to vote for _King Lear_ and _Macbeth_; and _Much Ado_ got a vote from me too. I deliberated over _Henry V_, since the best part of that (IMHO) is the St. Crispin’s Day speech–but in the end, I had to give it a vote, simply for that speech. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/47 "2010-12-13T13:57:25Z")
Hamlet, but I also deeply enjoy Othello and Twelfth Night. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/48 "2010-12-13T14:01:37Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > I’ve gotten more out of _Titus Andronicus_ than any of these, but that’s another story. \*Titus \*is my personal favorite and the Anthony Hopkins version is not to be missed. Last year I downloaded all of the BBC circa 1970s filmings and have been watching them rather systematically. Damn, there are some fine performances from that series but I love watching what modern filmmakers are doing with Shakespeare. I wish Branagh would get his head out of butt and get back to it… ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/49 "2010-12-13T14:59:45Z")
> [@Sevastopol](#): > > But don’t you regret it now? I regret not having published on it. Yet. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/50 "2010-12-13T15:17:12Z")
My only exposure to King Lear is reading it for 12th-grade English. Based on the responses to this thread, I really need to see a good stage production, and soon. I voted for MacBeth, which is my favorite by far. Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and Henry V are close runners-up, though. I’m actually hard-pressed to find a Shakespeare play I _don’t_ like, though Titus Andronicus probably comes the closest there. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/51 "2010-12-13T15:17:46Z")
> [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](#): > > \*Titus \*is my personal favorite and the Anthony Hopkins version is not to be missed. > > Last year I downloaded all of the BBC circa 1970s filmings and have been watching them rather systematically. Damn, there are some fine performances from that series but I love watching what modern filmmakers are doing with Shakespeare. I wish Branagh would get his head out of butt and get back to it… The best performance of Titus I’ve ever seen was a comedy. The show is so ridiculous that it does nicely as a Tarantino parody. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/52 "2010-12-13T16:01:10Z")
I appreciate the later comedies - _Winter’s Tale_, \*Tempest \*- but I went with the boring, but correct, _Hamlet_. The tragic flaw of the protagonist is the most relatable, for me, and the easiest to believe. And it’s such a rich play that endless variations have been made of it. Ophelia could command her own play. Rosencranz and Guildenstern, while most of their actual depth of character were created by Pinter in his play, nevertheless had a great perspective of the original play so the story wrote itself. A friend of mine wrote a great play from Horatio’s POV, about watching a friend you just know is making terrible choices and shaking your head. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/53 "2010-12-13T17:54:07Z")
\*Hamlet _and_ King Lear \*are definitely the two best. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/54 "2010-12-13T18:00:30Z")
The five most overrated Shakespeare plays: _The Tempest Macbeth A Midsummer Night’s Dream Henry V As You Like It_ The five most underrated Shakespeare plays: _Measure for Measure Richard II Coriolanus Henry IV, Part 2 Antony and Cleopatra_ ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/55 "2010-12-13T21:32:26Z")
I voted for Hamlet. It’s solid all the way through and a very entertaining read. I can read the first half or so of Romeo and Juliet over and over but by the time they get to the priest, the story get’s really boring. I think there were a few jokes in here that I laughed at. Taming of the Shrew was hilarious but reminded me too much of 10 Things I Hate About You. Macbeth was required reading in high school, therefore I hated it. I’m sure I’d have a more favorable opinion of it if I was to read it again. I’d like to get around to reading a few more but it’s been months since I’ve picked up a book. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/56 "2010-12-13T21:37:13Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Taming of the Shrew was hilarious but reminded me too much of 10 Things I Hate About You. You are hilarious. Give the Scottish play another go. It’s short and fast paced. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/57 "2010-12-13T21:39:59Z")
My vote goes to _Coriolanus_. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/58 "2011-02-14T04:22:30Z")
Cymbeline for some reason has always had a special place in my heart, even if it does tend to wander. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/59 "2011-02-14T06:41:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > My overall favorite is _The Tempest_, and had this poll been six months ago, I’d have picked that alone. But this summer, the local Shakespeare company put on the best performance I’ve ever seen of _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, so I voted for that, too. I finally realized that the best way for me to study Shakespeare is through following the editors of his works through their different permutations. I just downloaded Johnson’s editions–and he agrees with you. I might, but there’s also _Merchant_, and _Macbeth_, and _Twelfth Night_, and I have sort of a soft spot for unfinished _Timon_, and then there are the historical tetralogies, and… Oh, I’ll just take one of everything, plus _Two Noble Kinsmen_. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620/60 "2011-02-14T21:08:51Z")
I immediately narrowed the field down to my four favourites: Hamlet, Henry V, Richard III, and Romeo and Juliet. As has been noted already, Hamlet contains some of the best known dialogue ever written in the english language and features a brilliant look into the mind of a depressed and conflicted young man. For me, Richard III features the single best opening line of any play ever composed. And Richard really is the first truly spectacular and megalomaniacal Bond villain – Blofeld wishes he were that diabolical and fiendish. I’ve seen a number of versions of Henry V, in film and in live productions, and Henry’s various speeches never fail to bring a tear to my eye and fill me with inspiration and the need to shoot a Frenchman with a longbow. But I went with Romeo and Juliet as my fave. When done right, it is spectacularly funny (when people aren’t being killed and stuff), it has great moments of poignancy, tenderness, sadness, delight. It’s the complete package, for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-shakespeare-play/563620.md?page=4)