For a long while I have had a dark secret. I don't understand Shakespeare at all. This probably would not be a big deal to most people, but throughout the years I have realized that books and movies that I have liked have been heavily influenced by him. It irritates me that whoever wrote the book or movie is able to get something valuable out of a work that sounds to me to be gibberish.
For example, a very famous passage from Hamlet is here. It bothers me deeply that I have to read and reread this passage to understand what he is saying, and I still am not sure I fully get it. I think this is about being too cowardly to commit suicide, but I am not certain. Am I the only one?
I started thinking about this recently when I was talking with Golden about when I started studying the Bible. Around the time I turned fourteen I got an NIV study bible and for the first time I understood what I was reading. Prior to this the only bibles I had were of the King James variety, which sounds very much like Shakespeare. I rarely understood anything that I read in the Bible up to that point. While I am sure that a lot of this was because I was a kid, most of it had to do with the fact that I naturally have a hard time understanding Old English.
After I got my NIV I was often glued to my Bible because I could understand large portions of it for the very first time. It is for this reason that I am not particularly fond of the King James Version. If I can't follow it, I don't see the purpose.
As always, it is possible that I doth protest too much.
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3 comments:
Nobody understands Shakespeare. That's why you read it in high school and the teacher tells you what it means. So, your mom never had you read Shakespeare?
I see why Shakespeare is considered the greatest writer of all time. I can take his work in small amounts, other wise I get overwhelmed very quickly.
I have not read much Shakespeare other than what was required of me in school. I do enjoy the movies and the plays.
In futuristic movies where books are banned or obsolete, there always is someone with a copy of Shakespeare or someone who can recite from him. In the future that probably won't be me.
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