Favorite Shakespearean Play

This is a poll to find the most popular Shakespearean Play among the TWC community. Why do you like a particular play above all the others. Hopefully we'll have enough well read Shakespear fans to get a lively discussion going.

I'll go first. I pick Hamlet(safe choice) for the clarity of it's prose, the depth of it's characters, the postponement of the finale and the quotability of it's soliloquys. As much as I adore so many other Shakespearean plays, it's hard to find one to top Hamlet.

To be or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn(e)
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.-Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia, - Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

Hamlet's soliloquys are excellent but its best speech is not in fact a soliloquy; "To be or not to be, that is the question" is, if I remember rightly, spoken to Ophelia to deceive her into theinking Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is mad.
MacBeth, the Scottish Play, is good in terms of plot and language too; "Is this a dagger I see before me, its handle pointing toward my hand" and so on, elements of the supernatural, and so on... excellent play.
Those are my top two and I really can't choose between them... they're both excellent. Far superior to his repetetive comedies which have about two plots between the lot! (I've also realised that I have seen all but 2 of the plays on that list!)

In the end I've gone with Hamlet. It has one point over Macbeth, and that is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and also all the pipe philosophy.

To be honest, I don't like shakespeare. Sure, he uses drama and plot elements to it's height of mastery, but it's all kinda weird and too melodramatic. It's not realistic, even for shakey's times.
Besides, Shakespeare most likely sounded like a hillbilly, considering the linguistic history of the Appalachians and England.

Originally Posted by Hapsburg

To be honest, I don't like shakespeare. Sure, he uses drama and plot elements to it's height of mastery, but it's all kinda weird and too melodramatic. It's not realistic, even for shakey's times.
Besides, Shakespeare most likely sounded like a hillbilly, considering the linguistic history of the Appalachians and England.

You don't like Shakespeare . Oh well to each his own. But even if your not the biggest fan of Elizabethian prose, Shakespeare has such a variety of material that it seems hard for anyone to not like all of it. Thanks for voting though.

Originally Posted by IamthePope

You don't like Shakespeare . Oh well to each his own. But even if your not the biggest fan of Elizabethian prose, Shakespeare has such a variety of material that it seems hard for anyone to not like all of it. Thanks for voting though.

Prose? Prose? Shakespeare wrote verse, man! Iambic pentameter if memory serves. Its what keeps the speeches flowing; isolate them from thier context and they are, rather than a speech, a poem, if you think about it. Look at the speech in your first post - icidentally one of my favourites from the Bard - and tell me that that is not in verse!

Originally Posted by IamthePope

You don't like Shakespeare . Oh well to each his own. But even if your not the biggest fan of Elizabethian prose, Shakespeare has such a variety of material that it seems hard for anyone to not like all of it. Thanks for voting though.

Well, if I could say I "liked" any of them, it'd be Julius Caesar. But, I absolutely hate Romeo and Juliet

My vote goes to Hamlet.

TITUS ANDROGYNOUS! oops, i mean titus andronicus.

Originally Posted by Artemas Ward the XXIII, Esquire

TITUS ANDROGYNOUS! oops, i mean titus andronicus.

I thought I'd be the only one to pick that.

Macbeth comes is a very close second. Hamlet doesn't even make top five, and I'm not really sure why since I absolutely adore all the Shakespearean tragedies.

Originally Posted by Grim Squeaker

So... that's one wierd definition of funny if you don't mind my saying so. How funny do you find... say... Macbeth? Hamlet? Tempest?

I find Hamlet very humorous, as do I Macbeth, though to a lesser extent. Shakespeare's tragedies have a dark tragic humor that draws me to them. On that note, I quite liked Taming of the Shrew, even if it wasn't a tragedy, but that's because it has one of my favorite dialogue exchanges. It's also a fascinating play if you look at theatre production and how the ending is directed differently in different time periods and places.

Originally Posted by Grim Squeaker

In the end I've gone with Hamlet. It has one point over Macbeth, and that is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and also all the pipe philosophy.

Since you mention them, I just have to ask: have you seen Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead?

Originally Posted by Gwendylyn

I find Hamlet very humorous, as do I Macbeth, though to a lesser extent. Shakespeare's tragedies have a dark tragic humor that draws me to them. On that note, I quite liked Taming of the Shrew, even if it wasn't a tragedy, but that's because it has one of my favorite dialogue exchanges. It's also a fascinating play if you look at theatre production and how the ending is directed differently in different time periods and places.

Facinating and funny are different things. I am fascinated by both Macbeth and Hamlet, but they cannot be said to amuse me. they do not appeal to me for dark humour, rather as psychological plays exploring "the darkness in man's heart" and the evil that is within man's grasp without religion being involved and spoiling such nice drama. Plus they have good speeches of course. But humour? No.

Since you mention them, I just have to ask: have you seen Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead?

Heads!

Hamlet.

Richness of characters. Interpretation. Thought.

It wins.

Originally Posted by the Grim Squeaker

Facinating and funny are different things. I am fascinated by both Macbeth and Hamlet, but they cannot be said to amuse me. they do not appeal to me for dark humour, rather as psychological plays exploring "the darkness in man's heart" and the evil that is within man's grasp without religion being involved and spoiling such nice drama. Plus they have good speeches of course.

Yes, well, that's normally the draw to tragedies. I am personally amused to the point of laughing aloud when reading them (irony does that to me) and I know I'm not the only one.

Taming of the Shrew isn't a tragedy though, which is why I said iI liked it for those points, and I'll willingly point out that what fascinates me (the literary stuff) won't bring enjoyment to everyone else. I don't actually find any of Shakespeares comedies as rewarding in terms of both enjoyment and humor as I do his tragedies. His comedies are just too light for me.

Heads!

Far too many good quotes from that play to respond with...

Originally Posted by Gwendylyn

Yes, well, that's normally the draw to tragedies. I am personally amused to the point of laughing aloud when reading them (irony does that to me) and I know I'm not the only one.

Irony is in there, but not that much, really. Except Macbeth, but that has more philosophy... what would have happened had Macbeth not met the witches and similar. You can tell I studied it for GCSE and enjoyed so doing.

Taming of the Shrew isn't a tragedy though, which is why I said iI liked it for those points, and I'll willingly point out that what fascinates me (the literary stuff) won't bring enjoyment to everyone else. I don't actually find any of Shakespeares comedies as rewarding in terms of both enjoyment and humor as I do his tragedies. His comedies are just too light for me.

The comedies aren't funny. They have maybe two plots.... between them. The Shrew is closest to the tragic as anything else, really... and have you ever seen John Fletcher's Tamer Tamed? Good play!

Far too many good quotes from that play to respond with...

Yeah, but "Heads... heads... heads" is iconic.

I really have a thing for Romeo and Juliet. That is probably my favorite of his plays but I like most of them.

In fact, I am half tempted to change my username to Tybalt......

El mercader de Venecia

Taming of the Shrew. Very funny.

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray

Taming of the Shrew. Very funny.

If by funny you mean misogynistic and cruel, and with merit only if you don't analyse meaning... yes.

Originally Posted by the Grim Squeaker

If by funny you mean misogynistic and cruel, and with merit only if you don't analyse meaning... yes.

That'd be the one...

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray

That'd be the one...

So... that's one wierd definition of funny if you don't mind my saying so. How funny do you find... say... Macbeth? Hamlet? Tempest?

Twelfth Night and Taming of the Shrew. :original: Witty and fun yet profound.