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/lit/ - Literature

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20896705 No.20896705 [Reply] [Original]

I can hardly understand Shakespeare and I can't enjoy it at all. I tried reading Hamlet and Macbeth but it was really hard to follow and I got bored. Am I a retard?

>> No.20896719

>>20896705
Get an annotated edition like Folger. I had a blast with both of those plays.

>> No.20896725

McWhorter argues that Elizabethan English is old and distinct enough from contemporary to be considered an almost unintelligible dialect, although I don't know that I agree with him. It is different, though, and requires practice. I'd recommend just reading some books backwards from today, fifty years at a time. Only takes eight books, and should ease you into the language pretty effectively.

>> No.20896744
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20896744

>>20896725
For me I just have to read it slowly, then I understand it nearly fully but if I’m just watching the play on youtube (and I’m almost always stoned as hell when I do) I just have a tough time following The plot n dialogue. Plus some jokes and phrases take a second to “get” anyway

>> No.20896753

>>20896744
I can't parse the iambic unless I say it out loud, but as long as I'm reading it that way it's usually pretty clear.

>> No.20897408

>>20896719
Fpbp. Do this.