Have You Read All Of Shakespeare?
I wonder… how many people would you guess have read everything contained in a volume of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare? All 37 plays, all 154 sonnets, A Lover’s Complaint, The Passionate Pilgrim, Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, and The Phoenix and the Turtle.
I’d imagine not many have. I’ll admit that I haven’t, but I’m working on it. I’ll be there soon! I keep putting off reading certain things which is rather silly of me. Do you know anyone who has? Have you? If so, do you brag about it often? I know I will as soon as I finish! Well maybe not often, but I’ll brag every now and then. It’s fun to brag.
More importantly, what insights, understanding, and wisdom do you think one gains from reading all of Shakespeare’s works in comparison to reading just the popular ones? If you’ve read most of them you’re also welcome to answer the question.
Having read MOST of the works I enjoy seeing similar passages, images, or situations in multiple plays. I say “Oooh, that’s kind of like when X says Y in the play Z!” There are a lot of other happy happenings from reading most or all of Shakespeare, but I’d like to hear your thoughts.
Duane Mar 20
There’s a website called 43things where people announce their “life to-do list” and get encouragement in the things they want to do. People who have done it comment on whether it is worth it. “Read all of Shakespeare’s works” is a very popular item, which I checked as “Done it”, but my response was “Not worth it.” Not because I’m not a fan (you know enough about me to know that!) but because feeling like you need to read them all, powering through them like they’re one big War and Peace, just to say “Phew! Finished! Check that off my list!” sort of misses the point.
It is an accomplishment to be sure, and whenever any of the plays comes up in conversation, or as a point of cross reference, you’ll be able to recognize it (or even better, be the one who cited the cross reference).
Honestly, I read and enjoy Shakespeare because I think it makes my life better. I think that it shows me things about the complexity of humanity that I can’t get anywhere else. But I’m not rushing out to look for the meaning of life in Pericles. I find plenty of stuff to be fascinated with in the “big” ones.
Craig Mar 20
I think every Shakespeare fan should make the effort, not for the sake of completing your Shakespeare Merit Badge, but because of the buried treasures that you are certain to find in the dustier parts of the canon–and they’re bound to be different for every reader. For my part, the last Shakespeare plays I got around to were the second and third parts of Henry VI, and I still can’t get over how much I love them, rough edges and all–the awesome character of Queen Margaret, whose rise and fall unfolds across four plays, the death of Richard Duke of York in Act I of Part 3 (one of the most gripping scenes in all of Shakespeare), the apocalyptic vision of the civilization falling into chaos…I can’t believe I deprived myself of those plays for so long. (It always helps to see them before you read them, I think, and the BBC versions are really excellent.)
Of course there’s an aspect of endurance to such a project as well–there are thousands of lines of Shakespeare that I find pointless, boring and/or offensive. I barely got through the long narrative poems, and I detest Two Gentlemen of Verona, aprart from Launce and his dog Crab. And there is the nagging guilt I have about all the attention we pay to Shakespeare as the end-all and be-all of the Elizabethan age, because it is certain that he did not write the 1st through 38th best plays of the period.
But on the whole, I have to disagree with Duane’s comment about it being “worth it.” I read (or re-read) the entire canon and saw (live or recorded) all of the plays over the course of a year, and, while I can’t say that every minute was pure Shakespeare satisfaction, it had many wonderful surpirses, and I know I got a much stronger feel for Shakespeare’s work as an organic whole: the connections, the currents that run through it all. Very much worth it!
Nicole Mar 20
Of course I haven’t read all of Shakespeare. I would like to say that I have, and then have a decided opinion about whether or not it was worth it, but I don’t. The truth is, having managed to escape the assigned reading of King Lear on two separate occasions, I honestly don’t feel the need to read them all. I know that I have read more of Shakespeare’s plays that almost every person I know, except my Shakespeare professor, of course. I know that I appreciate Shakespeare more than almost every person I know. That has to be enough. Seriously, after Julius Caesar, I decided that the histories weren’t on the top of my Shakespeare reading list.
Maybe I’ll read them all eventually. For now, my focus is to get through all of the comedies, both on paper and on film (all versions). Once that is done, I might move on to the tragedies. Perhaps by the time I’m teaching Shakespeare in a university somewhere, I’ll have them all finished.
Bill Mar 20
I never wanted to do that just to do it, but will probably do it eventually. I have found that many people who claim to have read the Complete Works (present company excluded) generally are not very good at discussing certain plays. That’s because they read them only once, and gave them a quick cursory reading at that. I only just finished the 37 plays last year. Friends would ask me why I wouldn’t just go ahead and read the last couple of plays I hadn’t read, but I wanted to wait to read each play until I had the time to do it right. When I study a play, I like to read it, and re-read it. I like to check out the footnotes and background material. I like to consult what others have written about it. It took me over 20 years to read the 37 plays. In the meantime, I’ve taught graduate-level courses in Shakespeare, founded a Shakespeare reading group, and started a (somewhat) Shakespeare-themed blog. I was able to do all of this without having read Coriolanus (the last one I read), and I don’t look down on anyone who still hasn’t. After all, if I wanted to say I’ve read the Complete Works, I could easily finish off the few poems I haven’t read this afternoon. It’s just not that important to me. I’d rather spend the time learning more about Cymbeline, which I’m currently teaching to a particularly bright 8th grade class. For studying Shakespeare, I advise depth over breadth.
A.K.Farrar Mar 20
More than once – and several things possibly by him not in the complete works.
First complete read through was as a teenager in the UK – I suspect quite a few do it there.
Again in my 20’s – started to add the extras then – ‘Two Noble Kinsmen’ for example.
The BBC Shakespeare, of course helped – saw the original broadcasts and since on DVD.
Radio in the UK also has a habit of tackling the poems and giving regular productions of the plays.
I wouldn’t advise anyone to read all of them unless you have a serious interest in the period and the literature of that time – I happen to have one (so I’ve also read many other works of the time – from the obvious Marlow (I refuse to add the e) to some of the more obscure – like the original King Lear.
Still think the best way to encounter Shakespeare on stage.
Paradox Mar 20
As a high school student, I have only just begun my efforts at reading all of Shakespeare’s works, but I have made significant progress; enough to be reading the more obscure plays. A favorite is King John; underestimated in its relevance because of its insights into the role of religion in all levels of society.
I will be studying English in college, which will certainly give me the opportunity to read more. Goodness knows I need to take advantage of the two copies of his complete works that I bought:)
And I agree; nothing compares to seeing Shakespeare come to life on stage.
Dove Mar 20
I have not read the complete works though I am working through this and many of them will most definitely require more than one read through. I am not doing this because I feel I have to or because I am studying Shakespeare but because I simply enjoy reading his works and do find it enriches my life as a fan of classical literature.
william s. Mar 21
Yes. I didn’t plan to do it, it just happened. Henry V111 was probably the hardest to get through, but it has relevance historically as the Show that brought down the house at the Globe in 1613!
I remember going to see a Pericles in a garden setting in London and my companion said, ‘this is the last of the plays that I need to see and I’ve seen the lot.’ I realised at that moment that some people enjoy this ‘collecting the set’ mentality and that I too had seen all 37 plays of the folio. Again it just happened.
Also when you start reading about him and the inevitable analyses of his plays, you cannot escape the clever clogs who have read them and use them in their arguments. His contemporaries are also worth reading, just so he doesn’t remain in such elevated isolation.
But the plays are a gateway to a whole world of knowledge and knowledgeable people and that’s why I continue to read his words and speak and act his words some twenty years after Richard 2nd (Derek Jacobi) first blew my mind open at the British Council screening here in amsterdam.
David Blixt Mar 21
28 so far, including Edward III and Cardenio. A smattering of sonnets.
As far as the plays go, I tend to read them when I do them. Hence I’ve read Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet far too often, in all their various forms – first folio, penguin, bad quarto, riverside, etc. So some plays I simply know too deeply. Others, like Troilus or Love’s Labors I read only fleetingly. And Timon of Athens is the one Tragedy I haven’t read – yet.
Gedaly Mar 21
So many responses! Hurrah! I agree with a lot of what is said… it teaches and enriches, but so do Shakespeare’s contemporaries. It’s definitely important to be well read in the works of multiple authors.
Amen Alan and Paradox, nothing compares to Shakespeare onstage, but some aren’t produced very often. Thank goodness for the BBC videos. I also listen to the Arkangel Shakespeare audio series. It’s a nice way to pass the time while driving.
William, I think a lot of people reading them all does have to do with a “collecting the set” mentality. Part of my motivation to read it all has to do with that. I think it’s a good thing. It’s a completion of something. An accomplishment. But I also agree with what Bill said that reading them all isn’t everything. Studying a play, re-reading, spending some time with it is also important. I suppose a different question I could ask and get far fewer affirmative responses is, “have you STUDIED each of Shakespeare’s works?” That’s next on my to do list. :-p
David – Where on Earth did you find a copy of Cardenio to read? To the best of my knowledge this play no longer exists!
A.K.Farrar Mar 21
Cardenio is a lost play – so either someone has a multi-million pound earner, or they got hoodwinked.
I’ve read all of Terry Pratchett too – and all of the Bronte works, and all of Dickens (that WAS hard work), and Hardy; read all the existing Ancient Greek plays translated into English, everything by Beckett, etc, etc.
Collectors mentality? Possibly – but also too much free time and a professional interest in Literature.
The hardest for me has been Hamlet – perhaps Shakespeare’s most over-rated play.
Rebecca Mar 22
I definitely haven’t read all of the plays, but I’ve read about 20 of the 37 and all of the sonnets. I’ve also read 12 of the plays of Shakespeare’s contemporaries. My favorite is The Revenger’s Tragedy. Hilarious.
The only person I know who has read all the plays is my Shakespeare professor, but as I hope to become a Shakespeare professor myself, I am slowly but surely making my way through the plays. For anyone who claims not to like the histories, try Henry V. It’s so great that I cut Macbeth from my curriculum in favor of it. There are also a lot of cultural references to it that escape the notice of anyone who has not read it.
Cardenio is a lost play, but there is a play called Double Falsehood that is thought to be taken from Shakespeare’s version, and perhaps even contains some of Shakespeare’s text, so it is possible for someone to have read Cardenio, in a manner of speaking. If anyone is interested in the story, read “Interred with their Bones” by Jennifer Lee Carrell. It’s a novel about the authorship question and the search for Cardenio. It has a lot of fact mixed in with the fiction, although the implication at the end might not make you happy if you’re a strong Stratfordian (as I am). It’s still worth the read.
Craig Mar 22
“Double Falsehood” is getting so much cred these days that it appers that the widely respected Arden Shakespeare is preparing to publish an edition of it. I am very eager to get my hands on a copy and read the editor’s case for the play.
Jettison Macbeth in favor of Henry V? Tough choice. I don’t know if I could bring myself to do it, although the topicality of the latter right now must make for some good discussion. I have always loved how that play seems so straightforward on the surface, but turns out to be deeply equivocal about its subject when you dig into it. So much of Shakespeare is like that.
A.K.Farrar Mar 26
I actually blame YOU! Starting a re-read: Attempting to do it chronologically this time, as going to watch every one in order.
Should give another perspective on the works and the man.
Jeff Jul 20
AK Farrar: have your extensive readings included Proust? And if so, how do you compare him to the others you listed? I just finished Proust (ISOLT only)and am pausing a bit for my thoughts to gel on just what that reading meant to me. I am 50 now and am thrilled to decide what to read next– maybe I’ll just start over on ISOLT, maybe pick up Jean Santeuil, or, consistent with the reason I came upon this blog, I’ll continue my lifelong reading of all of Shakespeare. I’m at around 16 of the plays and reading Richard 3 at the moment.