We Love Shakespeare Week - Tag

It's finally here!

Now I will admit, I have never been a reader of Shakespeare. 

However, I have watched several screen adaptions of his plays and have loved all of them!

For this week I'll be reviewing:

Much Ado About Nothing - 1993 film by Kenneth Branagh

The Hollow Crown Series

Richard II

Henry IV Pt. 1 and 2

Henry V

Tales From Shakespeare

by Charles and Mary Lamb

I finished my review for Much Ado About Nothing on Friday, I'm about to start on Richard II and as I write this I'm watching Henry IV! I did sign up for quite a bit, but that's the fun!

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Here's a link to >>>Hamlette's giveaway <<<post and she has some great giveaways!

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Before I start Hamlette's tag I wanted to post a video of one of the most prolific Shakespeare devotee of my generation (and he is in two of my reviews). 

 

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Hamlette's Tag

1. When and how did you first encounter Shakespeare's plays?

- I grew up with learning about Shakespeare's plays, but my first actual introduction was Kenneth Branagh's 1993 film adaption of Much Ado About Nothing.

2. What are your favorite Shakespeare plays? (Go ahead and list as many as you like!)

- Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V and The Merchant of Venice

3. Who are some of your favorite characters in his plays? (Again, list however many suits you.)

- Lord Benedick of Padua, Henry V, Henry IV, Portia (from The Merchant of Venice), John of Gaunt

4. Have you seen any of his plays performed, whether live or on film?

- Yes, but all in films

5. Have you read any of his plays?

- Only through Tale From Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb

6. Share a dream cast for one of your favorite Shakespeare plays.

Much Ado About Nothing

20??

7. What draws you to Shakespeare's plays? (Language, themes, characters, the fact that they're famous, whatever!)

- His understanding of people, all people. He knew how to write about dysfunctional families and loving families. He also held woman in high esteem. He wrote them as strong and intelligent and were frequently heroes of their own respective stories. Shakespeare also wrote many plays of relationships between fathers and daughters, a theme you don't often see in writing at that time. 

8. Do you have any cool Shakespeare-themed merchandise, like t-shirts or mugs or bookmarks, etc? Share pictures if you can!

9. How do you go about understanding his language? (Do you prefer copies with translation notes, look things up online, or just read so much stuff written in Elizabethan English that you totally know what everyone's saying?)

- Sometimes just listening and letting the translation come gradually. 

10. What are some of your favorite lines from Shakespeare? (Maybe limit yourself to like ten, okay?)

“I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.”- Much Ado About Nothing

“Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably.”- Much Ado About Nothing

“This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands,--This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.”- Richard II

“O God of battles, steel my soldier's hearts.
Possess them not with fear. Take from them now
The sense of reckoning ere th' opposed numbers
Pluck their hearts from them.” - Henry V

“God shall be my hope, my stay, my guide and lantern to my feet.”- Henry V