Why is Shakespeare so tough?

As part of the second Notions of Theatre lecture, we had to read 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Hamlet'. I consider these to be two of the better his better works. I have enjoyed seeing various performances of 'Dream', and 'Hamlet', but I had never read 'Hamlet' in it's entirety before.

So, I started with 'Dream', I set aside a couple of hours on Saturday morning and ploughed through. The text is enjoyable, the poetry and prose of the different characters reminds me of their different statuses. Having read 'How to Read a Play' by Hayman, I felt suitably equipped to tackle the challenge. 'Dream' is very enjoyable, and therefore very easy to pick up and read. As I read through the play, I was reminded of the different versions I had seen on film and onstage, and in many places they blended into one. However, something new hit me with this reading, why does Shakespeare reference to moon so much, and who is 'Diana' that is mentioned frequently. Thanks to the footnote in my copy of the text I was quickly enlightened. The moon and Diana are used to refer to the fertility cycle, with Diana being the roman goddess of chastity. I also looked up the meanings behind some of the characters' names, for instance what does Bottom mean and imply? He is a weaver, and Bottom was an instrument used in weaving, and did not have the modern sense of 'arse', how I had misread that in the past. During a group discussion I was pleased to learn that Robin Goodfellow (Puck) was genuinely believed to have existed during the Elizabethan period. I learnt that people believed that he had an effect upon to seasons, harvest, and their faith in the measures to appease Goodfellow was staggering.

But onto the question, 'why is Shakespeare so tough?'

As I have mentioned, reading 'Dream' was very enjoyable, and therefore seemed to take no time at all. However, 'Hamlet' was another thing altogether. This play is possible one of Shakespeare most epic pieces, and contains what I think are the six most famous, and most quoted words, 'To be or not to be...' Why therefore did I approach this text we trepidation? I think this was because 'Hamlet' is so very long, complicated and at times very difficult to read. Having seen David Tennant in the title role, I came to the text with some prior knowledge, but I did not anticipate the struggle that was ahead of me.

I had set aside an afternoon on a day when I had no classes, to sit down and steam through the text. I have to admit that it failed. I did enjoy reading, however the play beat me, and I had to do it in sections. Firstly because there was so much to take in, when was Hamlet pretending to be mad?, when is he addressing the audience?, why was he doing so? And secondly because the scenes are so long, and so much happens, that I found I needed to break regularly in order to keep focus and to keep enthusiasm.

I can easily understand why so many people get put off so quickly when they try and read Shakespeare, why my mother hated English Literature at school, sitting, reading a learning vast speeches from the History Plays. I hated reading 'Macbeth' at school, but now sitting and visualising the different elements of the production, whilst reading, I can honestly say that the play 'came alive'. I was a joy to spend a good few hours imagining where the actors would stand, how they would deliver their lines, what their costumes would look like, and how I would design the set.

I was reminded of something my drama teaching drilled into us...that plays were 'written to be performed, not to be read'. So, why is Shakespeare so tough? Well, because the satisfaction and fulfilment after seeing a production in you mind's eye is so good.